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In Mid-Density Zones, Portland Has a Choice: Garages or Low Prices?
For three years, Portland’s proposal to re-legalize fourplexes citywide has been overshadowing another, related reform. That other reform applies not to low-density lots but to mid-density areas: The ones currently zoned for townhomes and small to medium-size apartment buildings. It’s finally coming before Portland’s city council in a public hearing Wednesday. (The city is also accepting online testimony right now.) This proposed mid-density reform, dubbed “Better Housing by Design,” includes...Read more » -
Seattle Says Yes to the Best Rules in America for Backyard Cottages
Seattle City Council took a big step Monday toward creating a more sustainable city, voting unanimously to enact legislation that will make it easier for homeowners to build in-law suites, garage apartments, and backyard cottages—modest homes the wonks call accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The vote caps an epic process during which obstructionists abused state environmental laws to drag things out for four years, as pro-housing affordability forces built up steam...Read more » -
Washington Lawmakers Bust a Move on Housing Affordability
In February, I wrote that “Washington has a pioneering opportunity to enact a coordinated package of housing policies that calls on cities throughout the state to share the responsibility.” How’d that pan out? Though a mixed bag of wins and losses, Washington’s 2019 legislative session was a landmark for housing nonetheless. Not since the state enacted its Growth Management Act a quarter century ago have legislators tangled with such a...Read more » -
Washington’s Progressive ADU Bill Died This Week
The most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bill ever introduced in a state legislature died this week. As originally proposed, Washington’s ADU bill—HB 1797 and SB 5812—removed all of the big policy barriers that make it hard for homeowners to add a backyard cottage, mother-in-law suite, or basement apartment to their property. The bill would have replicated and even improved on laws recently passed in California and Oregon that opened...Read more » -
Age-Friendly Housing Will Be Smaller, Shared, and Flexible
Becky, left, lives in a backyard cottage (converted garage) behind her parents' house with her daughter in order to keep multiple generations of her family close together. Photo by Seattle Neighbors, available under our free use policy.
A backyard cottage—a garage beautifully converted into a two-story, two-bedroom 800 square foot home—allowed Becky to afford to live close to work and within walking distance of her daughter’s elementary school. It also meant she could help her aging parents stay in their home, on the same lot. Kay built a small home behind her house so that her disabled brother could live close by and get the help he...Read more » -
Why Washington Needs Statewide Action on Backyard Cottages and In-Law Apartments
A quarter-century ago, Washington passed a law requiring cities to allow mother-in-law suites in houses. So why are Washington legislators proposing a new bill this year to reform the rules for granny flats statewide? Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), as these unassuming homes are known to policy wonks, may be legal under state law, but that hasn’t stopped cities from piling on restrictions and fees that can make it unworkable for...Read more » -
Who Would Live in “Missing Middle” Housing? The Middle Class
Re-legalizing duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in fancy Portland neighborhoods would create homes with “unaffordable average market-rate rents of $1,823/month,” one resident of a fancy Portland neighborhood warned the Oregon legislature this week. The home she owns, according to the Multnomah County assessor’s office, is currently worth $529,710. (Approximately equivalent monthly rent: $3,661.) Other residents made the exact opposite argument. “I oppose HB2001 as it will make my neighborhood no LONGER...Read more » -
Can Washington Pass the Country’s Most Ambitious Statewide ADU Reform?
This morning, Washington House Representatives Mia Gregerson (D-SeaTac) and Andrew Barkis (R-Olympia) introduced the most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bill legislators from any state have ever had the opportunity to vote on. For Washington cities of 2,500 people or more, and within urban growth areas, the bill would: Permit two ADUs per lot wherever there is a single-family home, duplex, triplex, or townhome Eliminate off-street parking, owner-occupancy, and minimum...Read more » -
How to Reduce Emissions and Congestion While Preparing for a Just Transition to Self-Driving Cars
Cascadia’s cities could benefit immensely from electric robo-taxi service someday if we get the public policies right but we don’t know exactly when autonomous car service will arrive. In the meantime, we need an action agenda to address our current transportation problems that also enables a just transition to self-driving cars. To kick off 2019, I propose the following slate of sensible reforms that would reduce transportation emissions and congestion...Read more » -
19 Questions That 2019 Will Answer about Cascadian Housing Reform
Predictions are for suckers. Here at Sightline, we prefer pointed questions. As our little housing policy team waited this week for our calendars to flip, I cornered each of my colleagues and we cooked up a list of 19 intriguing questions about housing whose answers will be revealed over the course of the next year. Price trends Will median home prices in Cascadia’s big urban hubs keep slipping as their...Read more »