In our current challenging economic climate, it is encouraging indeed to see the City of Seattle working to develop creative new tools to promote affordable housing. Seattle is currently working on plans to expand its incentive zoning program beyond the Downtown neighborhood to other areas of the city experiencing growth and upzoning.

The proposed concept is relatively simple: when an area of the city is considered for residential upzoning, like Downtown was in 2006, the incentive zoning program would allow a housing developer to build at a higher density in return for setting aside a percentage of the new housing units so that they are affordable to families at low or moderate income levels (or in some cases, paying an in-lieu fee to the City to be dedicated for affordable housing construction on another property). The program does not make any changes to the current zoning in any neighborhood, but sets a framework for any potential upzones proposed in the future.

Incentive zoning can be a powerful tool for increasing the amount of affordable housing for working families, and in the course of our research, Building Changes has examined several communities who have reaped tremendous benefits from their successful incentive zoning programs (including cities and counties in California, Maryland, and Massachusetts). We are very pleased to see Council take on this critical issue, which offers the potential to provide new tools for private-public partnerships that provide smart, high-quality affordable housing in our growing neighborhoods.

After several months of research, financial analysis, and proposals developed by the Mayor and Council, the Planning, Land Use & Neighborhoods Committee will consider proposed incentive zoning legislation at committee meetings on December 4th at 2:00 pm and December 10th at 9:00 am. All meetings will be in Council Chambers at City Hall. The Committee's work over the past year can be found here, and a summary of the proposals under consideration can be found here. Building Changes encourages Council to adopt robust incentives that ensure the city receives a public benefit proportionate to the considerations given to private developers, and we support the recommendations developed by the Housing Development Consortium.

For more information on the effectiveness of incentive zoning programs nationwide, we recommend this study by the Center for Housing Policy and the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University.