WASHINGTON STATE — Microsoft and Amazon urged Washington lawmakers to treat housing supply as an economic competitiveness issue, warning that the state’s housing emergency is starting to shape whether the region can attract and keep workers, including people coming through visa routes such as H-1B, L, and Green Card pathways.
Brad Smith, Microsoft president, and David Zapolsky, Amazon chief global affairs and legal officer, delivered the message in a full-page advertisement and an opinion piece in The Seattle Times as the Washington State legislative session gets underway.
The executives argued that housing has moved from a local affordability problem to a constraint on the state’s ability to compete with other places for investment and skilled labor.
Smith and Zapolsky titled their joint op-ed “WA must make it easier to build our way out of the housing crisis,” framing the shortage as a supply-side problem and pressing for bipartisan action to increase construction.
They wrote that the Seattle region’s housing emergency threatens “quality of life, health outcomes and economic competitiveness,” and linked housing stress to employer efforts to recruit and retain talent.
Affordability has declined over the past decade while commute times have lengthened, the companies said, making it harder even for well-paid workers to live near job centers.
Worker mobility sits at the center of their warning, with the executives arguing that a strained housing market pushes people to consider relocating to more affordable regions.
That dynamic matters to employers that depend on international hiring pipelines, including skilled immigrants and graduates from U.S. universities, they said.
Smith and Zapolsky also positioned the warning as a sign that housing policy now affects global recruiting, not only local workforce concerns.
Microsoft and Amazon pointed to their own spending as evidence that business and community interests overlap on housing, saying they have already committed money aimed at preserving and building affordability beyond their own payrolls.
Together, the companies said they have committed $1.6 billion to help preserve and build over 26,000 affordable homes in the communities where their employees live and work.
Zapolsky and Smith said the intent is broader than company housing perks, arguing that community-wide supply helps stabilize the workforce and supports the region’s ability to attract talent.
The companies tied that argument directly to visa-dependent hiring, pointing to H-1B professionals, F-1 OPT students transitioning to work, and employees moving under L-1 intracompany transfers as groups for whom housing costs can shape where they settle.
High living costs can also weigh on choices by prospective green card applicants weighing long-term plans, the companies said, as workers compare regions and job markets across the United States.
In their policy pitch, Smith and Zapolsky urged legislators to focus on measures that reduce delays and cost drivers in building homes, rather than adding requirements they say make projects harder to deliver.
“If a policy makes housing more costly or takes longer to build, don’t pass it.”
They argued against proposals that increase housing costs or extend permitting timelines, and framed their approach around what they described as a straightforward rule: “If a policy makes housing more costly or takes longer to build, don’t pass it.”
Capital flows toward predictable returns and stable regulatory environments, the executives said, warning that uncertainty and add-on costs can push developers and investors to other states that move faster on housing policy.
Alongside the op-ed, Microsoft released a separate report, “Closing Washington’s Housing Gap,” laying out recommended steps tied to permitting, land availability and project costs.
The report calls for speeding up permitting processes and opening more land for development, including issues tied to urban growth boundaries, setbacks, historic rules, and environmental restrictions that limit buildable land.
Microsoft’s recommendations also include reducing costs driven by fees, taxes, impact charges, and regulations, and repurposing underused spaces like strip malls for multi-unit housing.
For visa holders and international graduates, the companies argued, housing affordability can influence not only whether they accept a job but where they live within a region and whether they stay long enough to build a life.
Seattle-area employers compete nationally for people who can fill specialized roles, and housing pressures can complicate that competition, the companies said, especially for workers who face time limits and status considerations tied to H-1B, L-1 and post-graduation work authorization.
Employers can face added strain when housing shortages tighten labor markets, the companies argued, raising labor costs and making retention harder even after hiring succeeds.
Washington’s shortage also sits behind a widening gap between long-range need and the recent pace of building, the companies and related material said, describing a slowdown that heightens pressure on affordability.
Washington State requires 1.1 million new housing units over the next 20 years (55,000 per year) to match population and job growth, but permitting lags significantly—only 34,000 permits were issued last year in the Puget Sound area, with construction pace slowing. The op-ed says the state needs 50,000 units annually per best estimates.
Smith and Zapolsky argued that if Washington moves slower than other states, it risks losing not only developers and investment but also skilled workers who have more options and can move to places where housing feels more attainable.
Microsoft and Amazon cast that threat as a competitiveness problem for the broader economy, saying housing supply influences growth, tax revenues and regional competitiveness on a global stage.
The companies’ collaboration marks a rare alignment between corporate rivals on a social policy issue, and it also aligns with builder groups such as the Master Builders Association, which has echoed calls to unlock land and cut regulatory costs for supply at all income levels.
The timing appears designed to shape the legislative agenda, with the op-ed and the report dated around January 24, 2026, and aimed at influencing priorities during the Washington State legislative session.
“We’re going in the wrong direction. The problem is getting bigger, not smaller.”
Smith, in related statements tied to the housing push, said, “We’re going in the wrong direction. The problem is getting bigger, not smaller,” linking the urgency to a sense that current policy and market conditions are not closing the gap.
Microsoft and Amazon Warn Housing Emergency Threatens Washington State Talent on H-1B L and Green Card Pathways
Tech giants Microsoft and Amazon are calling for urgent legislative action in Washington State to solve the housing emergency. They argue that the shortage of affordable homes is no longer just a local issue but a barrier to global competitiveness. By linking housing to the success of visa-dependent hiring pipelines, they emphasize that high costs drive away the skilled labor essential for regional innovation and growth.
