Housing

To meet a state deadline, the Seattle City Council legalized fourplexes or sixplexes across the entire city via the adoption of an interim code Tuesday. The move is just a prelude to a bigger fight over urban density, as Council advances Mayor Bruce Harrell's broader growth plan.

Civil engineer Donna Breske argued Seattle Public Utilities misguided water hookup policies lead to unequal outcomes, effectively downzoning much of the city where fees are too high to make projects feasible.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has shrunk the dimensions of eight neighborhood centers and six urban center expansions he proposed last year. The move chops dozens of blocks off the growth centers, limiting opportunities for apartments and affordable homebuilding and drawing criticism from housing advocates.

Presented with a recommendation to allow additional density beyond a state mandate, a bloc of Bellevue's council pushed for more process and study. This November's election, when five of seven councilmembers must defend their seats, looms large in the background.

Following a productive legislative session on the issue of housing, with around a dozen bills signed into law, Washington state lawmakers are already looking ahead to the next set of challenges to tackle.

Inside the complicated calculations that determine if affordable housing gets built on King County’s Eastside and how A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) finds itself in the middle of it all.

There are two important housing fights coming up next week. Public hearings are scheduled on Monday and Wednesday, and advocates need to ensure Seattle's plan for middle housing keeps advancing and long-promised affordable housing gets built at Fort Lawton, despite pushback.

In the middle of a homelessness crisis, Seattle is still allowing employers to reject qualified job applicants simply because they don’t have a permanent address. That’s discrimination, and the Seattle City Attorney should lead the way in banning the practice.