Search Results
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Cascadia’s Five Most Important ADU Victories of 2018
Editor’s note, 1/11/19: We updated this article to add information about 2018 code changes in Anchorage, Alaska. Cascadians are hungry for housing choices. One way they showed it in 2018 was by loosening restrictions on accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in cities across the region—from Bellingham to Yakima, Florence to Portland. In all, at least 37 Cascadian cities—across Alaska, Oregon, and Washington—updated rules in 2017 and 2018 to make it easier...Read more » -
Two Cascadian Cities Extend Greater Welcome to ADUs
May has been a big month for small housing in Cascadia. Two cities—Bellingham and Portland—reaffirmed the region’s growing welcome to accessory dwelling units (ADUs), small homes that sit on the same lot as a larger single-family home, commonly referred to as mother-in-law apartments, garden flats, basement suites, and the like. Bellingham’s city council voted on May 7 to expand its existing ADU regulations by permitting detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs)—stand-alone...Read more » -
Why Tiny ADUs May Be a Big Answer to the Urban Housing Crisis
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Video: Eliminating Barriers and Increasing Opportunities for Building ADUs
In November, Sightline housing researcher Margaret Morales spoke on a panel at the Build Small Live Large Summit in Portland. Her presentation focused on eliminating policy barriers to building backyard cottages and mother-in-law units in Cascadia. State and local regulations restrict the development of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), ultimately impeding the development of a housing solution that helps affordability and growth-management issues. In the video below, panelists discuss land-use regulations, fees, and...Read more » -
Not in YOUR Backyard: Cottages, In-law Apartments, and the Predatory Delay of HALA’s ADU Rules
When it comes to urban homes, it’s hard to imagine anything less threatening than granny flats. But surprisingly, in Seattle last year instill fear they did, provoking a handful of anti-housing activists to appeal proposed rule changes intended to spark construction of in-law apartments and backyard cottages. And in an exasperating turn of events, the appeal was upheld. Of all the 65 recommendations in Seattle’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda...Read more » -
Why Vancouver Trounces the Rest of Cascadia in Building ADUs
Editor’s note: This article is Sightline’s very first from our new senior researcher, Dan Bertolet. We’re thrilled to have him on board to help both continue and expand our work pursuing smart solutions to our region’s big questions on housing and urban growth. Read his full bio here, and follow him on Twitter at @danbertolet. Cascadia’s three largest cities have all sworn themselves devotees of the accessory dwelling unit (ADU)—also known...Read more » -
Traffic on the Viaduct: Falling, But Maybe Not So Fast
Oy. A few weeks back I wrote about new data from the Seattle Department of Transportation showing that traffic on the Alaskan Way Viaduct had plummeted. But now, SDOT is backing away from their numbers: In 2012, due to the ongoing construction of the South Atlantic Street overpass, we were not able to collect valid data for the SR 99 on- and off-ramps located near the stadiums. As a result,...Read more » -
Traffic on the Alaskan Way Viaduct Has Collapsed
Bertha’s woes are hogging the spotlight. But while everyone’s been looking down, something going on up in the air may prove just as important in the long run: traffic volumes on the Alaskan Way Viaduct have collapsed since the state started its construction project. Take a look at the trends, courtesy of the Seattle Department of Transportation’s traffic maps:Read more » -
ADUs and Don’ts
Last time, we reviewed accessory dwelling units’ (ADUs’) paucity and slow pace of development in most of the Northwest outside of Vancouver, BC. This time: the constraints that bind them. Why are accessory apartments and cottages so rare? One reason, no doubt, is that many homeowners do not want to host an ADU. But a more pernicious reason is that winning approval to rent out an ADU in most cities...Read more » -
Nothing ADU-ing
Last time, we defined accessory dwelling units and told their story — how they spread so far and wide in Vancouver, BC. This time: their near-absence elsewhere in Cascadia. Most other Cascadian cities appear to trail behind Vancouver, BC, in the ADU leagues. In British Columbia, Abbotsford, Kelowna and other cities have embraced ADUs with at least a portion of Vancouver’s conviction. The mid-sized city of New Westminster stands out...Read more »