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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee proposed Wednesday that state spending during the next two years prioritize housing, including an effort to quickly build thousands of units that would require the OK from Washington voters.

The governor鈥檚 proposed budget would spend $70 billion over two years starting in July 2023, The Seattle Times聽.

That figure represents a roughly 12% proposed increase in spending from the current budget. The budget proposal also reflects other focus areas including behavioral health, the environment and public safety, as lawmakers head into the 2023 legislative session.

Lawmakers will meet in Olympia starting Jan. 9 and will write and pass the budget, which requires the governor鈥檚 signature.

Washington continues to grapple with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Inslee鈥檚 proposal describes the economic context as creating a 鈥渕ixed bag of good and bad fiscal news鈥� in which job losses have been recovered, but inflation is stressing consumers and driving up state government costs.

The governor hasn鈥檛 proposed any new tax increases but the budget reflects new sources of funding recently passed by lawmakers: a capital-gains tax and revenues raised by a cap-and-invest program to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.

The capital gains tax faces a legal challenge and the Washington Supreme Court in January聽聽on that case.

To address the growing lack of affordable housing and number of people experiencing homelessness, Inslee is proposing the state raise $4 billion by issuing bonds outside the state鈥檚 debt limit.

If lawmakers ok the referendum and voters approve it next November, the money would be spent on emergency supportive housing for unhoused people, affordable housing units and helping low-income first-time homebuyers with down payments and closing costs.

鈥淯nfortunately, we no longer have the influx of federal funding we are using today to quickly build thousands of new supportive housing units for people experiencing homelessness,鈥� Inslee said in a statement. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to lose momentum, and I don鈥檛 want the problem to get worse because we aren鈥檛 moving fast enough.鈥�

The additional money would pay for about 5,300 housing units between 2023 and 2025 and 19,000 in the following six years, according to the proposal. Nearly 13,000 people are living unsheltered throughout Washington state 鈥� up from more than 10,500 in 2020, according to the state鈥檚 2022 Point in Time Count.

The referendum requires approval from lawmakers and voters.

Inslee also wants to shore up the state鈥檚 ability to care for residents with behavioral health needs, including money for state-run care, community-based and youth services.

His budget further outlines spending for early childhood education, protecting the Washington salmon population, and building five new hybrid-electric ferries and converting three to hybrid-electric.