The city of Seattle has a stated goal of creating 30,000 new market rate housing units and 20,000 new or newly rent-restricted units in the city in the next 10 years. How to do so is the question currently before local officials.
Daniel Beekman reports on Seattle's efforts to find ways to lower the costs of housing in the infamously expensive city.
According to Beekman, the recent proposals to finance affordable housing follows the policy innovation of the city's minimum wage hike, adopted last year and since emulated by cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. "But the housing-cost problem is more complex, and there are divergent views on how to achieve affordability — from rent control to ramped-up construction aided by deregulation," writes Beekman.
Currently, the most politically promising proposal appears to be a proposal for linkage fees, as proposed by Councilmember Mike O'Brien, which would "charge builders of new construction in Seattle’s densest neighborhoods and then use the money to create or preserve affordable housing."
The city, at the prompting of Mayor Ed Murray, has created the Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory (HALA) Committee to work on policy proposals to address the affordable housing challenge.
FULL STORY: Solution to soaring rents tougher than $15 wage, city officials find

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

BLM To Rescind Public Lands Rule
The change will downgrade conservation, once again putting federal land at risk for mining and other extractive uses.

Indy Neighborhood Group Builds Temporary Multi-Use Path
Community members, aided in part by funding from the city, repurposed a vehicle lane to create a protected bike and pedestrian path for the summer season.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service