Housing

Seattle Times opinion columnist Alex Fryer gets pretty much everything wrong in his hit piece about new South Park townhomes. The project will add trees, despite dramatic photos the newspaper took before the developer finished its planned tree plantings, which is not advised in the winter. 

Cars and sprawl that are the true problem as the Puget Sound region seeks to boost salmon runs and protect salmon-eating orca whales. Building more homes in Seattle is the way to curb sprawl.

Despite considerable momentum behind SB 5156 coming from the state Senate, the idea of reforming Washington's strict elevator codes met resistance from firefighter groups and the powerful elevator constructor's union.

The Snohomish County Council has further liberalized accessory dwelling unit (ADU) regulations in urban unincorporated areas, building on reforms enacted in 2021. Spurred by state reforms, the County will be allowing more bulk flexibility and ending common ownership requirements for ADUs, and allowing two ADUs of any type per lot.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has failed on housing, Ron Davis writes. Whether kickstarting a homegrown social housing push, encouraging a wide diversity of market-rate housing, or scaling up traditional nonprofit low-income housing to meet the need, Harrell’s halfhearted efforts have fallen flat.

Architect Michael Eliason shares his blueprint for a greener Seattle with more abundant and affordable housing. The vision goes beyond townhomes to stacked flats amidst ample tree canopy.

The vision that Bellevue has for parking-dominated Wilburton is thousands of new homes close to transit and trail connections. The question now is getting the details right so that development can be fostered, rather than stifled.

Issaquah Rep. Victoria Hunt added long implementation timelines and additional exemptions to Washington's parking reform bill as it passed out of Local Government Committee on Friday. Bill sponsors still tout the policy's significant potential to reduce costs for homebuilding.