Newhouse Asking Inslee to Consider Residential Construction Essential

4th District Representative Dan Newhouse recently sent a letter to Governor Jay Inslee regarding his proclamation allowing only essential jobs to remain open in Washington state.

Inslee and Newhouse have talked personally about adding residential construction as an essential industry. In a press conference Thursday, Governor Inslee gave no indication he would be adding residential construction to the list.

Newhouse said that construction employs a tremendous amount of people in the state, from builders to lumber and even the paper industry, which depends on sawdust and chips from lumber production.

The Sunnyside Republican added that continuing to leave residential construction off of the essential industries list exacerbates both the housing shortage as well as the homeless problem in our state.