Council Study Reveals The Inherent Futility Of Incentive Zoning
Seattle City Council asked for a reality check on Incentive Zoning (IZ) and now they have their smoking gun: Since the Program’s inception in 2001, 62% of eligible development projects declined to participate. That outcome demonstrates that the IZ Program is not only fundamentally broken, but also has resulted in the loss of significant public […]
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 […]
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 […]
