Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/1127356
If we are serious about ensuring all people can attain housing, we need to expand our idea of what a dream home can be, one that includes a broad spectrum of housing, conveniently located near jobs, transit, and amenities. SNOWBALLING BARRIERS Unfortunately, there are many barriers to building more multifamily in municipalities across the region Unnecessary regulations have made building housing like townhomes and multiplexes prohibitively expensive Even something as small as a change in trash bin storage area requirements can have a snowball effect, forcing builders to expand setbacks, eliminate units, or scrap projects altogether Another barrier has been the 1998 Washington Condominium Act (WCA), which discouraged the construction of naturally affordable condos—a great option for first-time homebuyers and empty nesters alike—by making it extremely easy to sue builders Thankfully, condo liability reform signed into law this April by Governor Jay Inslee is expected to help address these concerns, creating a fair and predictable process for settling liability disputes and decreasing risk for developers looking to build condos Perhaps the biggest barrier to developing housing of all types is zoning Given enough time, zoning has a way of ossifying into "the way things are," making it easy to forget the way things were SEATTLE: A CASE STUDY IN ZONING While zoning law varies by jurisdiction, a closer look at Seattle is instructive New construction was once much more varied across the city—in fact, thousands of older duplexes and other small multifamily buildings can still be spotted in single-family neighborhoods citywide if you know what to look for That all changed with Seattle's 1923 zoning code The code was designed by Harland Bartholomew, a pro-car planner who sought to "preserve the more desirable residential neighborhoods " For the first time, many of Seattle's neighborhoods were exclusively zoned for single-family The zoning code excluded more than new multifamily construction; Bartholomew explicitly aimed to block movement into "finer residential districts… by colored people," contributing to the segregation of Seattle Subsequent code changes continued this downzoning right up to the 1980s The codes achieved their intended effect Sightline's Margaret Morales notes that single-family zoning covered only a quarter of the city in 1923 but now occupies more than half the city, despite the population more than doubling since then When older homes are demolished now, high demand and restrictive zoning often dictates they be replaced with large single-family homes, decked out with the latest luxury features With such a limited menu of allowable housing types, little else makes economic sense If you look around Seattle, you can see that the housing market is changing as undeveloped land becomes scarcer and builders adapt to this reality with a wide variety of new housing projects This is true in other cities throughout our region as well But the fact remains that zoning will have to change in Seattle and other municipalities to create enough housing to accommodate growth 38 master builder SUMMER 2019