As Washington’s legislative session kicks into high gear, young people in the climate movement are planning to engage state government more seriously than ever before. January 24 will be Youth Climate Lobby Day when a range of youth-led groups will demand that the state declare a climate emergency and advance several pieces of clean energy … Read more
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 … Read more
‘Our city is richer when we welcome the working class into our vibrant neighborhoods.’
Through five years of deliberation, Portland’s residential infill project has remained a simple concept: an anti-McMansion compromise that simultaneously lowers the maximum size of new buildings in low-density areas and allows buildings to contain more homes. As the proposal finally arrives at Portland’s city council today for the first of two high-stakes public hearings, it’s … Read more
Giving nonprofits the right to build up to eight below-market homes per lot would be like cutting a check for $150,000 per unit. But it wouldn’t cost the public a dime.
This year’s housing successes bode well for long-term affordability progress in 2020 and beyond.
If you’re desperate for good news about climate change, it helps if you have a sense of schadenfreude. Probably the merriest fossil fuel stories of 2019 show the fracking industry on the verge of a meltdown. Despite a raft of accounting gimmicks, the industry wasn’t able to hide the fact that it was drowning in … Read more
Why do we love cities? For all their stresses and shortcomings, cities hold unfathomable promise for intersecting lives and friendships, experiences and cultures. In cities—big and small—we find our communities! At their best, cities are beacons of innovation and progress. But even our most prosperous cities are far from urban utopias. Economic inequality and residential … Read more
Hacienda’s pilot program aims to tackle housing stability and the wealth gap at once, at half the per-unit subsidy of big affordable housing projects. It’s hoping for public funding.
Longer, healthier lives mean more 1-2 person households. Our housing market is straining to respond, and we should let it.