Our Thurston County Homes
Shouldn’t Come with a New
Expensive Government Mandate
Keep our area affordable!
Stop Mandatory Energy Scores
Housing is
Already Expensive
Enough
Families across Thurston County are feeling it. Buying a home is harder than ever, and selling one already comes with plenty of costs of its own.
Now local officials are weighing a new requirement that could add to those costs: a home energy score before a home can go on the market.
Energy efficiency is a good goal, and nobody here is arguing against it. But affordability has to come first. Our local governments should be looking for ways to bring housing costs down, not creating another expense that homeowners, buyers, and taxpayers must pay.
What is a Mandatory Home Energy Score?
A home energy score is meant to give a rough picture of how a home uses energy and what improvements might help.
Here’s the thing: homeowners can already get an energy assessment any time they find that information helpful and useful. That choice isn’t the problem. The problem is when that choice becomes a government requirement tied to listing and selling your home.
Under a mandatory program, you could be required to get an assessment or a score before you’re allowed to publicly market your own home. Someone is going to have to run that program, oversee it, and fund it—every single year!
Someone Will Be Paying for This New Cost
Whether the seller has to pay for the assessment directly, the government offers a subsidy, or our local revenue covers it, the cost doesn’t actually go away. One way or another, we’re footing the bill.
It might be paid by:
Families are already stretched thin on housing. Before creating a new program, our leaders owe us an honest accounting of what it would really cost to build, run, subsidize and enforce it. And, they should explain whether the program is worth the cost, especially when affordability is one of their consistent priorities.
Housing affordability can’t stay a priority while government keeps adding new costs to the housing market.
Don’t Put Thurston County Homeowners at a Disadvantage
Thurston County Commissioners have already adopted a mandatory Home Energy Score, and our neighbors in unincorporated communities are paying the price. Now, cities are considering adopting similar mandates. Before your city adopts another costly mandate, we need answers!
A city-by-city rollout means homeowners on one side of a boundary line could face requirements that sellers a few miles away simply don’t.
Once one city adopts a policy, the next is more likely to follow. This unusual local requirement could become a countywide expectation for all of our homes before we even realize it’s happening.
Thurston County shouldn’t lead the region into another mandatory housing requirement that nearby communities don’t impose!
That matters because buyers who are shopping for homes across the area will notice additional fees and prices. Homes shouldn’t cost more to sell just because of which side of a line it sits on.
Older Homes and Working Families Could Carry More of the Burden
Thurston County Commissioners have already adopted a mandatory Home Energy Score, and our neighbors in unincorporated communities are paying the price. Now, cities are considering adopting similar mandates. Before your city adopts another costly mandate, we need answers!
A city-by-city rollout means homeowners on one side of a boundary line could face requirements that sellers a few miles away simply don’t.
Once one city adopts a policy, the next is more likely to follow. This unusual local requirement could become a countywide expectation for all of our homes before we even realize it’s happening.
Information Should Empower Homeowners—Not Become Another Mandate
Nobody should choose between energy efficiency and an affordable home. We can have both. Local leaders can encourage better energy performance through:
Voluntary home
energy assessments
Rebates and
financial incentives
Utility assistance
programs
Education for
buyers and sellers
Grants for qualifying households
Support for voluntary home improvements
These tools give people real information and real help, without turning an optional resource into a required step in every covered home sale. Encourage energy efficiency. Keep the choice with homeowners.
One Community After Another
A mandate may start in one city, but it rarely stops there. Once one jurisdiction builds the program, its neighbors have a ready-made model to copy. That’s why this matters to every Thurston County resident—even if your own city hasn’t taken it up yet.
The time to ask questions is BEFORE a new mandate becomes the norm across the county:
Why Thurston County Residents Should Care
Mandatory point-of-sale energy scores could:
- Add another cost to an already expensive home transaction
- Put taxpayers on the hook for subsidies, staffing, and administration
- Hit older homes and lower-income homeowners the hardest
- Put local sellers at a disadvantage compared to nearby communities
- Set a precedent for the mandate to spread across cities
- Replace homeownership choice with a government requirement
Tell the Council: Reject the mandate, choose voluntary incentives instead!
Keep Thurston County affordable!
Paid for by Washington REALTORS® 504 14th Avenue SE, Olympia, WA 98501