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Researching the region’s most pressing sustainability challenges

We provide citizens and decision-makers with the policy analysis and practical tools they need to advance an economy and way of life that are environmentally sound, economically vibrant, and socially just.

Our Work

All Sightline Institute research is available to you to cite, use, and share, per our free use policy.

Housing + Cities

Unlock Middle Housing with Parking Reform

As long as parking is required, smaller, lower-cost homes are still illegal.
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Climate + EnergyFossil Fuel Transition

How Governor Inslee Can Rebalance Washington’s Utility Decarbonization Bill

HB 1589 favors investors over ratepayers—and state climate goals. A section veto would go a long way to fix the bill.
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Housing + Cities

The Missing Piece of Oregon’s Housing Package: Legalizing Apartments

Gov. Kotek’s SB 1537 will do several useful things, but no longer directly lifts any local bans on apartment buildings. What happened?
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Democracy + Elections

On Even-Year Elections, Trust Voters—and Evidence

Vastly higher turnout in even-numbered years drowns out down-ballot drop-off, and more representative results indicate voters have the information they need.
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Housing + Cities

Now Fully Funded, Portland’s Affordability Mandate Should Be a Model

Underfunded inclusionary zoning fails, but fully funded programs can be a boost to below-market housing and a fiscal bargain.
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Housing + Cities

British Columbia Just Took First Place in Pro-Housing Policy

In just one month in 2023, the province legalized fourplexes, allowed apartment buildings up to 20 stories near all transit stations, eliminated public hearings for plan-compliant buildings, ended parking requirements in transit-oriented districts, and announced that it is considering single-stair reform.
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Lessons for Washington State Leaders as Another US Oil Refinery Closes

In a state home to five oil refineries, a forthcoming, taxpayer-funded study can answer some central questions.
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One of Washington’s Anti-Climate Initiatives, 2066, Eked Out a Victory. Why?

And how leaders can still help families and businesses electrify for safer, cleaner buildings in line with the state’s climate values.
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Four Ways Gov.-elect Ferguson and Washington Lawmakers Can Build on the State’s Big Climate Win

After Washingtonians overwhelmingly voted to keep the Climate Commitment Act, their leaders have powerful opportunities ahead.
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Correcting the Record on Initiative 2066

What the Seattle Times editorial board got wrong about the Washington ballot measure.
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The Contradiction of a Split Vote on Washington’s Anti-Climate Ballot Initiatives

Initiatives 2066 and 2117 are closely linked, but polls and endorsements diverge.
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(Re)explaining Washington’s Climate Commitment Act

Understanding the cap-and-invest law that Washington Initiative 2117 would repeal.
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Washington State Joins the Movement to Honor Voting Rights for All Community Members

Starting January 2022, all citizens will have the right to vote upon release from prison
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Automatic Voter Registration Continues to Kick Ass in Oregon

94 percent of eligible voters are now registered to vote and kept up-to-date.
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Becoming a Democracy: From Our Lips to Your Ears

A round-up of recent interviews about a better future for US democracy.
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Alaska’s Lawmakers Have a Bipartisan Election Fix at Their Fingertips

Can Juneau show the rest of America how to make elections inclusive and secure?
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A Top-Four Primary Would Give Voters More Choices

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Let’s Make Alaska Absentee Voting Boring Again

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Four Ways Context Matters for Wildfire News Coverage

Reporters can help people see the forest, even when the trees are on fire.
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Blazing a Trail: The Vital Role of Wildfire Hazard Maps

Sophisticated and high-resolution maps such as Oregon’s are essential tools for thriving in a fiery future.
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What’s Misunderstood about Indigenous Cultural Fire Is Sovereignty

Lessons from the Karuk Tribe.
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Oregon’s Land Use Law Creates Wildfire-Adapted Communities

Bend residents have shown us how.
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The Best Wildfire Solution We’re Not Using

Three ways to curb the sprawl that traps us on a wildfire treadmill.
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We’re Stuck on a Wildfire Treadmill

And to escape, we need more fire, not less.
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You’re a YIMBY? Great, Why Aren’t You a Small Developer Yet?

Payton Chung (Westover Green LLC), Nicholas Papaefthimiou (infillPDX LLC), and Neil Heller (Neighborhood Workshop) break down what it takes to build small-scale infill housing.
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West Coast Case Studies: Advocacy for and Implementation of Legislation for Regional Housing Needs

Representative Julie Fahey, Lorelei Juntunen (ECONorthwest), Jamie Ptacek (Futurewise), and Aaron Eckhouse (California YIMBY) compare and contrast how Washington, Oregon, and California require local governments to plan for housing in a YIMBYtown 2022 panel.  
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Welcome to YIMBYtown!

“We’re winning.”
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Land Use Policy Is Climate Policy Is Housing Policy

Joe Cortright (City Observatory), Ben Holland (RMI), Jarred Johnson (TransitMatters), and moderator Ben Crowther (CNU) discuss how policies around land use, climate, and housing are all interconnected, and how we must strategically address transportation, transit, and housing issues to address the climate crisis.
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Portland Events: Housing-Themed Story Slam and Panel

Jerusalem Demsas, Rukaiyah Adams, Sam Diaz, Dr. Marisa Zapata, and others will discuss abundant housing’s contribution to a sustainable, equitable future.
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How Much Are Gas Taxes? Most People Don’t Know

So let’s give clear, meaningful transportation subsidies instead.
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Video: Housing Solutions Are Climate Solutions

In 90 seconds, how zoning for more home choices in our cities helps affordability and cuts climate pollution.
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Poll: Washington Voters Out Ahead Of Local Leaders On Zoning Reforms

Statewide survey shows broad voter receptivity—across partisan, demographic, and geographic lines—to zoning changes to allow more homes like duplexes and small apartment buildings.
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Video: Zoning for All Kinds of Affordable Homes

Cities need all kinds of affordability, both subsidized housing and naturally affordable, modest-sized, market-rate homes.
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Recipes for Successful Abundant Housing Communications

In this panel discussion, three expert communicators share how they’ve crafted compelling narratives, engaged coalitions, and garnered press attention for housing affordability and climate policy.
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How to Tear Down the Invisible Walls in Your City’s Zoning Code

10 tips for zoning reformers from a town that legalized housing.
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Americans Want to Vote As Trump Does (By Mail), Not As He Says

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Cut through the noise and get the news you can use. Sightline editors—real people—hand-pick headlines from 150+ outlets to keep you on top of the stories shaping our region’s communities, economy, and environment. Reader favorite; formerly known as Sightline Daily. 

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Only have a few minutes each week? Our weekly wrap-up delivers the latest Sightline research and solutions, plus top headlines to keep movers and shakers in the know. 

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Get a month’s worth of solutions research and key headlines, plus a personal note from a Sightline team member connecting the dots and putting our work into the larger news context. 

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Hear directly from our team of experts. They take you on a deeper dive into Sightline’s solutions, translating their latest analysis and sharing behind-the-scenes context for the research—as well as what to watch for next. Delivered about monthly.

Housing + Cities

Parking, zoning, sprawl, pollution, property rights, commutes, rents, and home prices—they all intersect where a legacy of exclusionary rules and regulations restrict homebuilding and fuel our housing shortage. Hear from Dan Bertolet, Catie Gould, Michael Andersen, and others exploring solutions for low-carbon, affordable, accessible cities and towns.  

Climate + Energy

From electrification to decarbonization, carbon pricing to grid upgrades, Emily Moore and team decode the policy solutions to power a greener, more equitable, and robust economy for the region’s future.  

Democracy + Elections

Protecting voter choice and voice with clear-eyed, independent analysis and models of success—Alan Durning, Jay Lee, Shannon Grimes, Al Vanderklipp, and others send you the latest elections solutions and opportunities, from Alaska to Oregon and inland to Montana and Idaho. 

Farms + Forests

Where sustainability meets stewardship of our natural resources and food systems. Get dispatches from actual farms and forests—and the policy discussions that determine their health and climate impacts. 

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