The Problem With MHA: Seattle For Growth in the Seattle Times

On Friday the Seattle Times printed an editorial I wrote about the problems with Seattle Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program, their version of Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning (MIZ). The program cleared a big hurdle before the Thanksgiving holiday when the Hearing Examiner ruled against neighborhood groups opposed to the upzones that are part of MHA. The […]

First Read of JLARC Study: More Smaller Units Could Lower Per Unit Costs

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) has released their study of housing costs that we supported in the State Budget in 2017. It was supposed to compare non-profit housing costs with market rate housing costs. It didn’t do that. In spite of our offer to help JLARC get market rate data, they said […]

Neighborhood MHA Appeal Squashed: What Happened, Why, and What’s Next?

Last week the City’s Hearing Examiner removed the last barrier for citywide implementation of the City’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) scheme by finding against neighborhood groups that had appealed implementation of MHA. Neighborhood groups argued that the City failed to properly review and consider the impacts of MHA. They failed to persuade, so now the […]