Members of mayor's panel: Want more housing in Seattle? Don't pass these new rules

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

New low-rise residential buildings in some of Seattle's designated "low-rise" zones don't seem so low to the people who live there, and the City Council is poised to rein in the relatively new regulations that allowed the buildings to go up in the first place.

But now, some members of Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's Housing Affordability and Living Agenda (HALA) advisory panel that is seeking ways to boost housing stocks are telling council members to hold off because some parts of the proposal run contrary to their mission.

The rules would actually reduce the number of new units in the city, according to a letter addressed to Murray and City Councilmember Mike O'Brien.

Whether the council takes the group's advice remains to be seen. O'Brien, chairman of the council's land-use committee, on Monday declined to comment on the experts' request because their letter has not been formally submitted to him. The Business Journal obtained an advance copy.

The experts sit on an advisory group that Mayor Ed Murray named last year to develop a long-term plan to address the city's housing crisis.

This latest fight over density is playing out in the city's so called low-rise zones, which are typically between commercial areas and single-family neighborhoods. City zoning allows buildings that are three or four stories tall. But under new rules the city OK'd five years ago, developers were allowed to build taller structures.

The result: bigger buildings sprung up and overshadowed neighbors. Some citizens got the council to look again at the issue and consider code changes aimed at helping ensure the new buildings fit into neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, home prices and rents are rising.

In Seattle, the median price of homes that sold last month was $535,000, up nearly 19 percent from a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Apartment rents in King County, meanwhile, have gone up 8 percent, according to Dupre + Scott Apartment Advisors.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/morning_call/2015/04/members-of-mayors-panel-want-more-housing-in.html?ana=e_sea_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2015-04-14&u=ColXVN5SPzQtLHFP87ho2w07857290&t=1429034544&page=all

[freshwest]

1. Yes, people are being priced out of their apartments right now. It's an annual blood letting ritual.

The last increase took more than my COLA. This year's was twice as much. There is no end in sight. Every year people move out of here from the rate increases.

Eventually I will have to move, but I don't know where. AFAIK, I don't qualify for HUD or Section 8. But I'm urged to try to see if it will help me continue to live where I do now.

I see some signs posted about not losing the residential quality of the area I live in, but no specifics. I'm guessing this is what this is about, the pressure on single family dwellings and the city.

I don't know the answer, if a slightly taller or much taller complex will make a difference. Single family dwellings are now being sold and the lots stripped to turn the land into more apartment buildings and also condomiums. It's disruptive to those who were renting homes as well as owners. Of course the increase in population density is greatly effecting schools, traffic, water and services.

But people are not going to stop coming here, they see it as a better life long-term. So something must be done to give them living space.