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In 2021, the Washington state legislature changed the way communities are to plan for housing. House Bill 1220 (HB 1220) amended the Growth Management Act (GMA) to instruct local governments to “plan and accommodate” for housing affordable to all income levels and added an equity lens to how communities plan for housing.
The Department of Commerce (Commerce) will now be projecting future housing needs for all counties in Washington by income level, including emergency housing and permanent supportive housing needs. Commerce will be providing guidance for how counties are to divide these housing needs among their jurisdictions and guidance on how they are to plan for enough appropriately zoned land for all housing needs. In addition to this projected housing needs work, local governments are now to identify local policies and regulations that result in racially disparate impacts, displacement, and exclusion in housing, and identify and implement policies and regulations to begin to undo these impacts. Local governments are also to identify areas that may be at higher risk of displacement and establish anti-displacement policies to prevent such displacement.
This session will share how this work relates to other planning work being done in the US, the new comprehensive planning requirements, the methodologies and guidance that are being developed for local planners, and how communities are working to incorporate the new provisions and address racial equity in housing planning. This session will include a representative from King County to explain how they will use the projected housing needs material from Commerce in their periodic update due in December 2024, and a planner from Renton who will share their work to date on housing equity issues and plans to incorporate the racially disparate impacts work in the future. The session will conclude with a time for Q&A of the project team and the county and city planners.
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Anne Aurelia Fritzel, AICP
Washington State Department of Commerce
Anne Fritzel, AICP, is the Housing Programs Manager with Growth Management Services, at the Washington State Department of Commerce. Anne oversees the development of guidance for implementing new housing-related planning requirements, including substantial changes to the housing element, three housing grant programs, and the multifamily tax exemption program. Since 2015, Anne has also been the coordinator of the Short Course on Local Planning, which serves about 600 people per year. Before joining Commerce, Anne worked for local governments in British Columbia and in Washington State. Anne has a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the Queen’s University, in Ontario, Canada.
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Laura Hodgson
Washington State Department of Commerce
Laura Hodgson is a senior planner in the Growth Management Services unit at the Washington State Department of Commerce. Laura currently manages the HB 1220 project to develop projections of housing need for all income segments at the countywide and local levels, along with developing guidance to help communities plan for and accommodate housing for all economic segments of the population, and address historic discrimination in housing and potential displacement. Since 2020, Laura has been working with communities on housing action plans, overseeing a $5M grant program and developing guidance for communities. Prior to Commerce, she worked for a local government in Maryland and did consulting work in transportation and urban planning. Laura has a Bachelor’s of Architecture and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech.
Kevin Ramsey, PhD
BERK Consulting
Kevin Ramsey is an Associate Principal at BERK, an interdisciplinary consultancy that integrates strategy, planning, policy development, and economic analysis. He specializes in demographic analysis, land use, and housing policy. Kevin manages the consultant team supporting Commerce on the development of guidance and data for implementing House Bill 1220. Previously he supported Commerce in the development of guidance for creating a housing needs assessment, housing action plan, and updating a housing element. He also has experience working with cities and counties across Washington State to assess housing needs and develop housing strategies. Prior to joining BERK, Kevin worked for the U.S. EPA’s Smart Growth Program. Kevin has a Master’s and PhD in Geography from the University of Washington.
Sunaree Marshall
King County
Sunaree is the Housing Policy & Special Projects Manager in King County’s Housing, Homelessness & Community Development division. In her current role, she leads affordable housing policy, planning, and regional collaboration efforts, including a recent focus on equitable development. She has more than 10 years of experience leading teams and working directly on housing and community development, sustainable communities, climate resilience, and social equity issues with the federal government in Washington, DC. This includes her work leading teams working on efforts to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing and implement the Sustainable Communities grant program. Through both of these efforts, Sunaree supported cities and regions in advancing access to opportunity through equitable community planning at the intersection of housing, transportation, and economic development.
Dawn Couch
BERK Consulting
Dawn is a Senior Project Manager specializing in community development, strategy, social and economic change, and stakeholder engagement, with a focus on building community understanding and vision to inspire action. She has more than 20 years of experience in applied research. She brings a social and economic research background to support municipalities and organizations in achieving improved outcomes. Dawn’s focus on housing began with studying large-scale redevelopment of public housing communities in King County Her research focused on the experience of displacement and relocation of tight-knit refugee and immigrant communities as their communities were redeveloped into mixed-income housing developments. She has led and supported numerous housing action plans throughout Washington state, including Leavenworth, Mukilteo, Kent, and Renton, as well as consolidated planning for King County.
Dawn received a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from Lewis & Clark College and an M.A. in Geography from the University of Washington. Dawn is a certified Measurement Process (PuMP) Professional and Grove-trained facilitator.
Hannah Bahnmiller
City of Renton
Hannah Bahnmiller is the Acting Community Development and Housing Manager in the City of Renton’s Equity, Housing, and Human Services Department. She previously worked at the Puget Sound Regional Council in the Regional Planning Division. Hannah received her Master’s in Regional Planning from Cornell University. Her work focuses on equitable outcomes in housing and community development.
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