The Zoning Reform in California and its Implication for the Seattle Housing Market

​

Housing accessibility and affordability in the United States are undermined by policies that hinder the rights of local or migrated residents’ equal opportunities to access housing resources. Although there are programs that provide tax incentives for investors and developers to include more affordable housing units in their portfolios, the efforts to date fail to provide comprehensive housing support that targets the missing middle houses that are not high-rise or single-family-detached.

 

The missing middle housing project defines its housing type as buildings with multiple units, compatible in scale and form with detached single-family homes (Parolek). Typically, duplexes, fourplexes, courtyard buildings, cottage courts, and townhouses that are located in a walkable neighborhood could all be considered the missing middle housing. However, the walkable neighborhood mentioned above could often pose challenges to such affordable housing development. Single-family-only-zoning undeniably contributed to the deterioration of the housing crisis in cities where the number of permitted dwelling units could not meet the housing demand of the growing urban population, even worsening racial segregation in certain neighborhoods. The zoning reform, or de-single-family-zoning movement, takes place to legalize efforts to fill that gap of missing middles. In this report, our group will analyze the execution of the existing zoning reforms in California to determine the feasibility of such zoning reform in the city of Seattle with respect to the political and social environment in Seattle.