Reinventing Microhousing - Yobi Tour Follow-up

We had a great turnout for our tour of the Yobi Apartments last week.  About a hundred people came through, many of whom had never seen the inside of a micro-housing development. Our goal for the tour was to open people's eyes to what micro-housing can be: Good housing that provides opportunities for people to live in central locations and desirable neighborhoods, without any need for public subsidy.

In 2014, legislation virtually ended the production of micro-housing in Seattle. For the trickle of micro-housing that remains in the pipeline, further legislation this spring cut off micro-housing from participation in the Multi-Family Tax exemption program (MFTE), a program that provides property tax exemption in return for providing discounted rent on 20% of the units.

Prior to the shutdown, Seattle was producing about 1000 microhousing units per year, with market rents that generally range from about $700-$1000/mo.  That rent is affordable to people making 50%-65% of area median income (AMI).  Participation in the MFTE would drop that rent to $628/mo, which equals 40% of AMI, or put more simply, is affordable to someone making minimum wage.

A little context: Seattle will spend the next two years pulling out hair and rending garments in order to pass the up-zones needed to enact an inclusionary zoning plan that will build six thousand units of 60% AMI affordable housing over ten years.  In the same time, we could build ten thousand units of micro-housing that would serve incomes at 40%-65% AMI.  What do we need to do to build those ten thousand units?  Virtually nothing. Just pull out the cork.

This year, we will be pushing hard to correct the flawed policy on MFTE that excludes microhousing from the program.  Next year, when the majority of the HALA recommendations come before the council, we will be making the case for changes to zoning that will remove the de-facto ban on microhousing.  In the meantime, we'll just keep building the best housing that we can.

Some reactions to Yobi:

http://www.smartgrowthseattle.org/yobi-apartments-microhousing/

Facebook feeds below.  Note, Councilmember O'Brien missed the tour but made arrangements for a walkthrough later in the week.