Search Results
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A Federal One-Two Punch to Protect Renters—Pandemic and Beyond
Together, these two strategies can turn around the coronavirus housing emergency, and set the course for long-term housing abundance and affordability.Read more » -
Washington Stops at Incremental Housing Steps
More and more Washingtonians can’t find homes they can afford. The housing squeeze has been especially hard on renters. For those stretched to the limit just to make rent every month, the dream of owning a home is a cruel joke. Allowing more missing middle homes like granny flats, duplexes, and triplexes in our communities would help. The urgency is escalating. The threat of COVID-19 conveys a stark reminder that...Read more » -
Washington Takes a Stand for Granny Flats
Granny flats won in Olympia this session. Yesterday, Washington lawmakers took action to address the state’s housing shortage, leading cities in a unified effort to curb home prices and congestion by allowing more homes of all shapes and sizes. Lawmakers passed SB 6617, waiving off-street parking requirements for backyard cottages, granny flats, and daylight basement apartments near frequent transit. Legislators haven’t required cities to legalize more housing so explicitly since...Read more » -
Cities Cling to Laws That Shut Out Non-traditional Family Groups
UPDATE: The “Golden Girls Bill” (SB 6302) died when time ran out for it to get heard on the House floor before the cutoff on Friday, March 6. The gutting amendment passed by the House Committee on Local Government proved too much for legislators to repair in the limited time of a short session. Bad news for Washingtonians hoping for relief from the housing affordability crunch: state representatives, acting at...Read more » -
One of North America’s Boldest Housing Initiatives Has Reached Its End: Did It Work?
Last time, I mapped the political battleground of metropolitan housing shortages. This time, I draw lessons from an attempt to unleash abundant housing by assembling a different coalition. In the summer of 2015, long before the US national media noticed that something called the YIMBY movement had been born, before Minneapolis’s bold move allowing triplexes in its tree-lined neighborhoods of detached houses with yards and driveways, and before US presidential...Read more » -
Housing Policy Is… Salmon Policy?
Across the Pacific Northwest, urban sprawl is decimating salmon habitat. Fish scientists who study the effects of urbanization on salmon, steelhead and orcas are unanimous: To save these iconic and vital species we must prevent sprawling development from ruining the sensitive watersheds they depend on. And this realization leads to an inescapable conclusion: Limiting further sprawl means we must provide more homes for more people in already-developed parts of our...Read more » -
Know Thine NIMBY
Last time, I documented the consistent US pattern of housing lockdown—the cessation of homebuilding in most metropolitan areas’ residential zones, especially single-detached ones, which yields both auto-dependent, climate-polluting sprawl and expensive housing. This time, I dissect the political reasons for lockdown. Residential lockdown—the near absence of new homebuilding in existing neighborhoods—is the norm across most of the metropolitan landscape of North America. It’s the norm even though control over homebuilding...Read more » -
Yes, We Can Make Cities Affordable and Low-Carbon. It Requires Smart Strategy
Since December 2018, Seattle and Minneapolis have passed laws allowing more people to live in their previously sacrosanct single-family neighborhoods, tripling the number of homes allowed on each lot. Sightline and others have trumpeted these reforms as wins for housing abundance, economic opportunity, and the climate. Breakthroughs! And they are breakthroughs. They have few precedents in recent decades of local housing law on this continent: the sanctum of single-family zoning...Read more » -
Updated: Housing Bill Tracker for 2020 Washington Legislative Session
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Why Mother-In-Laws Matter
Mother-in-Laws do matter! But we’re not talking about our spouses’ moms. (Hi, Linda!) We’re talking about apartments over garages, daylight basement suites, and backyard cottages. This kind of home can be a great living solution for renters and owners alike—with benefits for the whole community too. READ MORE: ADU Parking Quotas Are Climate Killers A key tool to keep rents and home prices under control in cities big and small is...Read more »