Seattle’s Love Affair with Housing Committees and Fees
To great fanfare, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray launched his housing advisory committee on September 23rd, 2014, seeking recommendations on how to address Seattle’s housing affordability crisis. The 28-member Housing Affordability and Livability was created by a city council resolution, and the unpaid, volunteer committee includes private property developers, local housing experts, and advocates for tenants […]
Working (Lunch) With Affordable Housing Developers
A couple of weeks ago Smart Growth Seattle board member Erich Armbruster and I met Marty Kooistra Executive Director of the Housing Development Consortium and Doug Ito, a member of the HDC board of directors. We had a great conversation. Marty and I set up the lunch because in spite of our profound and deep […]
Housing Prices: Will Incentives and Inclusion Help? (Part 2)
First of a two part series by Jerrell Whitehead. The posts here on zoning are longer versions of material he completed while at Sightline Institute. His initial interest on this subject came from conversations with A-P Hurd, Vice-President at Touchstone Corporation, who gave a number of reasons why housing construction costs are growing in Seattle. All views expressed […]
