Search Results
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Cascadia’s Carbon Budget
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Washington’s Shortage of Homes is Squeezing Communities Throughout the State
Soaring home prices in the tech-booming Seattle metro have been the stuff of headlines for decades. But recently, cities of all sizes throughout Washington state are feeling the pain of a statewide shortage of homes. Over the past few years, price increases in Seattle have been dwarfed by those in smaller cities near and far. The state’s current runaway price champ? Spokane, where from 2017 to 2021, home values rose...Read more » -
How Oregonians Re-legalized ‘Missing Middle’ Homes
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Everything You Wanted to Know about Portland Charter Review but Were Afraid to Ask
It’s charter season! As we speak, Portland’s Charter Commission is examining the city’s governing document for potential improvements and looking for feedback from Portlanders interested in bettering city government. The city charter is the document that outlines city powers and responsibilities like the following: City Council structure and elections, public records and transparency, police oversight, local bonds and taxes, budgeting, transportation and infrastructure, public utilities, economic development, affordable housing, and...Read more » -
A Transition Plan For Puget Sound Oil Refineries
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Let There Be Housing in Downtown Anchorage
Anchorage’s new mayor, Dave Bronson, is on point in putting downtown near the top of his to-do list. A world-class urban center in Alaska’s largest city has long been the Holy Grail for Anchorage leaders. The quest has brought some success: walkable blocks of office buildings, hotels, restaurants, and shops; the Anchorage Museum and the Performing Arts Center; and, not far from City Hall, two trailheads to the “Moose Loop,”...Read more » -
Will Vancouver Grow as Fast as Its Suburbs?
Vancouver is perceived throughout North America as a vanguard in refocusing growth in the urban core. But the reality is that for decades, there has been a tragic mismatch between where people want to live—Vancouver proper—and where the region has built most new housing—the surrounding suburbs. Metro Vancouver is currently updating its regional growth strategy, the official road map for how the region will grow through 2050. But while lifting...Read more » -
How Can Cities Move the Needle on Community Land Trusts?
For the past 45 years, Cascadian community land trusts (CLTs) have stabilized renters and increased access to homeownership through their permanently affordable model for low to moderate income households. But in my last article, we saw that despite all of the affordability and community benefits, community land trust homes are only a small portion—just 0.03 percent—of the region’s total housing stock. In Vancouver, BC, which boasts the largest number of...Read more » -
Some Good News on State Voting Rights Bills
Oregon and Washington know how to make it easy and safe to vote. Experts from here have been trying to share our experience with other states so that all Americans can have it as good as voters in this corner of the country have got it. Some state lawmakers are listening. Others are covering their ears and yelling “la la la I can’t hear you” as they move backwards, making...Read more » -
Eight Ingredients for a State-Level Zoning Reform
In 2019, Oregon passed a first-of-its-kind state law that ordered larger cities and the Portland metro area to rapidly legalize duplexes on all residential lots and fourplexes, triplexes, townhomes, and cottage clusters on more than half of lots. This is a short, reported history of how that law was passed in the face of fierce opposition. It was created in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, its first...Read more »