Bills before committees in the state House and Senate would have Washington join Oregon in a statewide ban on zoning that prevents construction of multifamily dwellings in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. Those dwellings include townhomes, flats, garden apartments and multiplexes as large as six units.

Efforts to reverse multifamily housing bans have foundered under pressure from homeowners worried that such changes would undercut property values and reshape neighborhoods. Lots zoned single-family include some 1.8 million properties in a state of 7.5 million residents; almost all of them would be affected.

Construction of multifamily housing is seen by supporters as a win for the environment, decreasing sprawl and car commutes while reducing in-home energy use. The legislative proposals would not require that multifamily homes replace houses, but local governments would be restricted from setting building requirements meant to discourage construction of multihousehold homes.

Affordable housing advocates across the country point to prohibitions on multifamily construction as a key driver in rising housing costs, and have recently succeeded in reversing some decades-old bans. Their broadest win came last year in Oregon, where the state Legislature required that all but the most rural jurisdictions allow duplexes in areas zoned for single-family homes. Minneapolis enacted a citywide upzone in 2019; Olympia relaxed restrictions in 2018, although that city’s ordinance has since been rejected by a state hearings board.

Resistance to these changes has been stiff, even in progressive bastions like Seattle, where a contentious revision to city zoning codes opened an additional 6% of the city’s house-only neighborhoods to multifamily housing. Most residential areas of the city remain closed to new multifamily buildings.



Pathway out of poverty

The Senate bill’s main sponsor, Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent, said Senate Bill 6536 would create more rentals and open up avenues to homeownership currently closed to many Washingtonians. The companion bill is House Bill 2780.

Homes in multifamily buildings stand to sell at a lower price than standalone houses. But Das, a mortgage broker, noted that first-time buyers may find properties that include potential rental income more accessible. Expected rental income factors into the mortgage application and can improve a would-be buyer’s ability to obtain a loan.

“I believe that homeownership is the pathway out of poverty,” Das said. “They can be a homeowner, and it will change their lives, and the lives of their family.”

The legislation under consideration would require Washington cities with populations of more than 10,000 and most counties to allow construction of duplexes inside areas designated for urban growth — roughly the city limits in most cases. In cities with populations greater than 15,000, multiplexes up to six units, flats, townhouses and courtyard apartments would be allowed on lots within a half mile of transit stops.

Activists on both sides of the issue argue the legislation could bring dramatic change to Washington, where the population has long grown far faster than its housing stocks.

For supporters, the prohibition’s end would enable builders to fill the “missing middle,” a buzzword in affordable housing circles meaning low-profile, multifamily buildings attractive to people who either can’t or don’t want to live in apartment towers or houses. Zoning reforms enacted in the 1970s — reforms that followed the repeals of segregationist housing laws — blocked construction of such medium-density housing in part to prevent lower-income minority residents from moving into historically whites-only neighborhoods.

Calvin Jones, 28, lives in one of the leftovers of that earlier age.

Speaking to a state Senate committee in January, the Seattle housing activist explained that he pays $1,000 a month for rent in a triplex near Washington Park Arboretum on Capitol Hill. Jones, describing a common sight in a city rapidly growing wealthier, said three smaller houses near his home were recently torn down and replaced with 3,000-square-foot, $2 million “mansions.”

“I can’t help but to think what the world would look like if those were triplexes. We’d have more people able to live low-carbon lives, taking public transit,” said Jones, an activist with Tech 4 Housing. “We’d have lower carbon footprints because of lower heating and cooling costs. And I’d have more neighbors to share [in] the amazing amenities.”



End of quintessential American lifestyle

For opponents, the legislation’s passage would signal the end of a quintessential American lifestyle.

A retired state employee, Colleen Bradford, and her husband saved most of their lives to buy a house. They were both 50 when they finally closed the deal, purchasing an 880-square-foot home in Olympia. Addressing a House committee last week, Bradford objected to state lawmakers forcing cities to allow multifamily homes.

“This bill,” Bradford said, “essentially eliminates single-family neighborhoods.”

But those neighborhoods may soon be beyond the means of most working people. Most Washington counties saw home prices double between 2000 and 2015, according to a 2018 report by pro-density land-use think tank Up for Growth. According to the organization’s analysis, the state added 558,682 homes during that period, but needed to construct 225,642 more during the same period to keep up with the demands of its increasing population.