It’s a boom time for Jet City, but not everyone in Seattle is booming. Far from it. In one of the nation’s top five fastest-growing cities and home to a rapidly expanding tech sector, housing prices are propping some up and pushing others out.

Community stakeholders are wondering what set of solutions can effectively turn unprecedented growth into opportunities to make sure people of all incomes can share the promise and convenience of the city. How can Seattle ensure enough homes to go around while also protecting the things Seattleites love about their communities? Seattle’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) is a set of proposals intended to address these questions, but several of its 65 recommendations are controversial, and the public conversation reflects this.

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    • To better understand what’s shaping this conversation, Sightline Institute analyzed mainstream news media coverage of HALA. We asked: What are the dominant narratives? What are missed opportunities? And who is (or who is not) defining the debate?

    Read our analysis and complete list of messaging recommendations:

    Access the full media audit.

    Want the shorter version? Check out our six top messaging takeaways here.