Will Dreher

Although he does not have previous elected experience, Will Dreher showed a greater understanding of the underlying causes of our housing affordability challenges and the solutions needed to address them. Dreher is the only candidate in this race who understands why building market-rate housing increases affordability for most income levels through the proven concept of filtering, by which people in more affordable units move into the newly created units, creating vacancies for people who need the affordable units.

Dreher also proposed specific policies to increasing housing supply at all levels, including: further zoning reform; building code and permitting reform; a land value tax; incentives to support emergency shelters and housing with wraparound services; incentives for small-scale housing developers; and limiting challenges to infill development.

Will Dreher is a Democrat running for State Representative in Washington’s 46th Legislative District. He is a former federal prosecutor and public school teacher, and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. He moved to Seattle in 2019 to serve in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.