Natasha Hill and Kelly Edens: Families still waiting on affordable child care solutions

With the school year over and summer underway, many parents in our community face a familiar dilemma – how to keep their children safe, engaged and cared for during working hours. Affordable child care – already in short supply during the school year – becomes even harder to access during the summer. For working parents, this is not just an inconvenience; it’s an economic emergency.

The lack of child care options drives parents – especially mothers – out of the workforce, reduces income for families, and leaves children without consistent, high-quality care. While many licensed child care providers would like to expand or open new facilities, they are stymied by outdated zoning rules and restrictive building codes that make it difficult or cost-prohibitive to operate in many parts of our community.

There is some good news. Earlier this year, Washington state passed SB 5509, a bipartisan law that addresses a key barrier to expanding child care. The law ensures that state and local building codes align with the needs of child care providers, streamlining regulations and removing unnecessary “red tape” that has long blocked new facilities from opening. By updating the law, the state has taken a step toward making child care more accessible. It is now up to local communities like ours to act on that momentum.

We need to follow through locally by identifying where and how we can support the growth of more child care options. That includes using the new flexibility in state law to revise zoning and permitting processes; exploring partnerships with schools, faith-based organizations and nonprofits; and investing in providers who are already serving our neighborhoods that need help expanding.

Child care is infrastructure. Like roads or broadband, it’s essential to a functioning economy. Without it, parents can’t work, businesses can’t hire and children miss out on early learning opportunities that shape their futures.

This isn’t just a “parent problem.” It’s a communitywide issue. Employers, educators, local government leaders and residents all have a stake in ensuring that families can access the care they need to thrive. With the state’s new code reform in place, we have a real opportunity to move forward, but only if we choose to act.

The work is only beginning. We applaud the state Legislature for taking such big steps forward on revenue this year. We hope they double down and continue the momentum by prioritizing more progressive revenue solutions.

We call on community leaders to partner with providers, advocate for funding and help identify spaces that could be repurposed for child care use. And we ask our neighbors to join us in raising their voices in support of the families and caregivers who are the foundation of our community. We also urge the federal government to protect critical funding for child care and prioritize policies that expand access to affordable child care this summer and beyond.

Together, we can push this progress forward.

Natasha Hill represents Spokane’s Legislative District 3 in the state House of Representatives. Kelly Edens, of Spokane, is deputy director of Children’s Campaign Fund Action, an organization that builds nonpartisan political power through advocacy and education to enact transformational policy change for children, youth and families.