Well, it’s here. It’s happening. Can you believe it? Yes, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) staff has assembled a research team and has framed the questions it will answer about housing costs in the state. The study will look at what data best gets as the question of how to compare market rate and non-profit housing development. The push back from the non-profit people is that comparing a subsidized project to a market rate project isn’t fair; it’s not an apples to apples comparison, but an apples to oranges comparison. Remember they had it vetoed by Governor Inslee. One thing I have to remind them is that you can compare apples to oranges, they are both fruit after all. They are different, but that’s the point of making a comparison. Once variables can be found across the product types, then JLARC will ask why or if non-profit housing is more expensive and why?

My favorite question is the very last one, what are the cost drivers and what cost controls does the state impose and are there other ones.

I don’t know what JLARC will find. My guess is that the team will discover that all housing production in the state faces different hurdles, the biggest of which is regulation, essentially self imposed limits through taxes, fees, and process. I also think that the team is going to find that this is even more true for non-profit housing. Then we can at least advocate for a reduction of these costs across all housing types. We’ll finally have some numbers to work with. I’ll be heading down to Olympia this morning to hear the Committee talk about the project.