Search Results
-
Know Thine NIMBY
Last time, I documented the consistent US pattern of housing lockdown—the cessation of homebuilding in most metropolitan areas’ residential zones, especially single-detached ones, which yields both auto-dependent, climate-polluting sprawl and expensive housing. This time, I dissect the political reasons for lockdown. Residential lockdown—the near absence of new homebuilding in existing neighborhoods—is the norm across most of the metropolitan landscape of North America. It’s the norm even though control over homebuilding...Read more » -
Residential Lockdown
Last time, I detailed the challenges of abundant housing in post-carbon cities and illustrated what such cities might look like. This time, I document the ubiquity of housing shortages, as a precursor to articles that will discuss grand political strategies for housing. Across North America (unlike in Japan) control over homebuilding has historically been in the hands of local governments. Consequently, most pro-housing advocacy focuses on city hall. But a...Read more » -
State-Wide Housing Solutions Matter: Talking Points
The severe housing shortage in Washington is hurting families and communities in every corner of the state. And the fact is, even with many cities stepping up and doing everything they can, local jurisdictions still struggle to enact solutions that will make a dent in the problem. The answer is state-level leadership. Washington households need state-wide housing solutions. States set standards all the time to protect their residents’ health, safety, and...Read more » -
The Climate Clock Is Running Out
Last time, I asked what political strategies can circumvent the trench warfare of local upzoning and unleash abundant home building in low-carbon neighborhoods. In this article, I lay out the scale of the housing challenge in more detail. To grasp the daunting scale of the challenge of abundant housing in low-carbon cities, we could start various places, but let’s start with the clock. Because it is running out. The Intergovernmental...Read more » -
Yes, We Can Make Cities Affordable and Low-Carbon. It Requires Smart Strategy
Since December 2018, Seattle and Minneapolis have passed laws allowing more people to live in their previously sacrosanct single-family neighborhoods, tripling the number of homes allowed on each lot. Sightline and others have trumpeted these reforms as wins for housing abundance, economic opportunity, and the climate. Breakthroughs! And they are breakthroughs. They have few precedents in recent decades of local housing law on this continent: the sanctum of single-family zoning...Read more » -
Updated: Housing Bill Tracker for 2020 Washington Legislative Session
-
Washington to Consider Re-legalizing Duplexes and Rowhouses Statewide
UPDATE 2/19/20: WA’s middle housing bill is dead. The Senate version passed out of committee but never got a floor vote, while the House version failed to move out of committee. Modest homes such as triplexes and townhouses are grandfathered into the mixed-income neighborhoods of every city throughout North America. But in most of those neighborhoods across most of those cities, they’re illegal now. These kinds of mid-size homes can...Read more » -
YIMBYtown 2020: Fair and Sustainable Cities Is around the Corner
Editor’s note: The YIMBYtown 2020 conference has been postponed due to precautionary measures instated to protect Oregonians—and everyone—from COVID-19 exposure. Stay tuned for updates about rescheduling and interim programming online. Sightline Institute’s mission is to make the Northwest a global model of sustainability—strong communities, a green economy, and a healthy environment. As we’ve grown our housing and urbanism program, it has become increasingly clear that housing policy is, in fact,...Read more » -
It Shouldn’t Take a Decade to Re-legalize Duplexes
This month, Seattle city council will take a vote that illustrates how ludicrously difficult it is for cities to change their own rules to welcome more new neighbors. The vote is one tiny but important step in the dragged-out bureaucratic grind Seattle will have to go through to loosen the stranglehold of zoning that locks up three quarters of the city’s residential land for expensive stand-alone houses with big yards. ...Read more » -
Seattle’s Latest Housing Reform Shows How Environmentalists Are Rethinking Cities
A who’s-who of Seattle environmental non-profits—350 Seattle, Sierra Club, Climate Solutions, Futurewise, Transportation Choices Coalition, and Sightline—all backed the city council’s recent 8-0 vote to limit environmental review of homebuilding and the rules that govern it. Why would groups with the mission of creating a sustainable future want to rein in environmental oversight? Call it: environmentalists against environmental regulations that can hurt the environment. On paper, the policy tweaks Seattle...Read more »