It is amazing how much was accomplished this legislative session to address policy challenges facing affordable home ownership in Washington.

Seattle, along with only a handful of other metropolitan areas, remains a relative safe haven from the national mortgage and liquidity crisis. Ten bills that tightened regulations and accountability in the mortgage industry were passed and signed by the governor.

As a nonprofit mortgage broker, HomeSight saw how the allure of easy credit took hold of our home buying market. Real estate flippers entered the market like day traders in the heydays of the dot-com boom. So far, we are managing because our economy -- bolstered by aerospace, the tech sectors and trade -- continues to grow jobs. We should credit the Growth Management Act for its defacto impact on supply. Sprawl and oversupply has exacerbated the subprime mortgage crisis in the hardest-hit areas.

Something significant occurred in the Legislature. It wasn't just "housers" that were talking about affordable housing. Cities and counties, local and regional planners, environment and transit groups, realtors and builders, joined nonprofit developers and service providers in advocating for policies to increase housing affordability -- connecting the cost of shelter with the cost of getting to work.

The realization that the costs of housing and transportation use up 40 percent to 60 percent of our income turned a policy debate into a bread-and-butter issue. A conversation about how GMA policies can reduce the cost of production, thus affordability, took hold in the hallways and hearing rooms in Olympia. This conversation will continue as the leveling or decline in home values bump up against escalating costs. The carbon footprint of sprawl has enlightened the debate. Rental housing is and will be an option until rents catch up with mortgage payments.

Two bills that did not survive the session should be part of this conversation. The first created an infrastructure fund to direct resources to urban areas that permit density, are close to transit and have mandated affordable housing. This bill, taken from a report by the Affordable Housing Advisory Board, was shepherded by HomeSight, sponsored by Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, and supported by the Association of Washington Cities, the Washington Realtors Association, the Puget Sound Regional Council, Cascade Land Conservancy, Futurewise, the Washington Association of Counties and the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.

The second bill expanded the warranty for homes to the same level as condominiums. While strengthening consumer protection against negligent and defective work is needed, making a jury the ultimate determinator of what is warrantable will lead to unintended consequences. As we experienced with condominiums, insurers will not insure a warranty that is unpredictable and written in a courtroom by a jury.

Five years of amendments to the Condominium Act, fewer lawsuits and higher quality construction has not lowered premiums significantly or brought insurers back to Washington. A more measured approach that ensures predictability for insurers while providing the right to action as a last resort will strengthen consumer protection without diminishing the opportunity for first-time home buyers or households of moderate means to realize the American dream.

House Speaker Frank Chopp's caution and his three-point plan as outlined in the P-I March 11 are a good start.