Innovation in Affordable Housing

Innovation happens in affordable housing, but progressive cities such as Seattle who have chosen to make it a priority could be doing more to encourage creativity in developing new models. City planners are on board with the value that mixed income living brings to neighborhoods, but regulators too easily think in terms of twisting the […]

Eppur si muove! Housing prices do go down!

I’ve been on a Galileo kick lately. Galileo was the Italian astronomer who, using his telescope, argued in favor of the crazy idea advanced by fellow astronomer Copernicus that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the solar system. Both men faced lots of skepticism. “C’mon, Galileo,” even the most friendly church official […]

The Inconvenient Truth About Workforce Housing

For the better part of the past decade, both advocates and policymakers have been decrying Seattle’s perceived lack of housing affordable to people with incomes in the lower-middle range—so-called “workforce housing.” As a result, Seattle has implemented and is continuing to expand a program known as Incentive Zoning intended to create subsidized workforce housing through […]