Sen. Emily Alvarado and governor push bill to allow housing in commercial zones

Senator Emily Alvarado said she will partner with Governor Ferguson on legislation to permit residential and mixed-use development in areas currently zoned for commercial use within jurisdictions that use growth management plans.

"This bill legalizes housing in commercial and mixed use zones," Alvarado told attendees at Beacon Pacific Village. She said tens of thousands of parcels in urban growth areas are underused—strip malls, big-box sites and parking lots—that could be redeveloped for housing, and that removing barriers and increasing predictability for builders is a necessary step to increase housing supply.

Alvarado cautioned that zoning reform alone will not guarantee housing is built; she said regulatory changes must be paired with public investment to build and preserve deeply affordable homes and with measures to support permanent supportive housing. Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck referenced an internal report on "commercial to residential" conversions that found substantial opportunities to add housing through zoning changes.

The administration said the governor's supplemental budget would include funding to accompany the legislation and that additional bills could follow. Alvarado also said the legislature will consider ways to provide flexibility in existing fund sources to backfill operating dollars for housing providers if federal policy changes reduce federal support.

Next steps: the senator will introduce the zoning bill in the legislative session; the governor said his budget includes funding to support the legislation and local implementation.