Why can’t Seattle just build more affordable housing on the extra land it owns?
It’s no secret that housing is a big deal in Seattle. As our region’s grown, so has the magnitude of our county’s homelessness crisis. Will the shiny new apartment towers be balanced out with enough more affordable housing?
That feeling of urgency prompted reader J.J. to ask us this question…
“Why can’t the City of Seattle just take land that is available or land they already own and just build affordable housing?”
It’s a question and frustration J.J. says he’s heard a lot in local conversations about housing and how we can help our neighbors trying to stay afloat. So he asked us to look into it.
There’s been a push for the city to build affordable housing on underused land for a while. Local housing advocates have said this wouldn’t solve all our region’s housing issues on its own, but it’d be a step in the right direction.
But what would building up these spaces look like — and how would we do it?
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