Washington Lt. Gov. Denny Heck has put forth a unique proposal to address the state’s housing shortage – repurpose vacant strip malls and big box stores as housing.
The state’s 2025 operating budget assigned Heck the task of identifying the possibility of using commercial properties for residential housing. The state estimated that it will need to build 1.1 million new homes in under 20 years.
“The ancient phrase is ‘There’s gold in them thar hills,’” said Heck in an interview with The Center Square. “By universal consensus, people believe that there is a potential here to add a significant number of homes. It’s not a silver bullet, but it can make a material difference.”
Heck added that the dominance of e-commerce has created a glut of commercial properties that are no longer profitable. Viewing this surplus as “low-hanging fruit,” Heck estimated these vacant sites could have a new life as housing.
“If done correctly, it’s a win, win, win, win, win,” he said. “It provides additional housing that we desperately need. You significantly increase the revenues that come to local governments because you’re dealing with assessed property values that’s a multiple of what it was when it was two little retail outlets in a strip mall.”
Heck also blamed some lawmakers for not taking the housing shortage seriously.
“Many of them are, frankly, nowhere near where they need to be in understanding the depth of this problem of the severe housing shortage and all of the cost that we bear collectively for that circumstance,” he said. “Washington state has had the single largest increase in housing costs over the last 40 years of all 50 States; no close second. So, the long-held American dream, and I still believe people do have this dream of home ownership, is rapidly slipping away.”
Photo courtesy of Lt. Gov. Heck’s Facebook page
