Project Spotlight on Co-Living in the Registry

We've a had a string of stories come out the this year, providing a variety of perspectives on our work to design and develop affordable and elevated market-rate housing. The coverage continues this week with this feature over at The Registry. The article talks a bit about the design of the two projects, our general approach and firm mission, and also touches on the case for re-legalizing this type of housing, which has been actively suppressed by city policy since 2014. If you hit a paywall, you can read a .pdf version of the article at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/157kjHPxmWbDRy1Xy8zpSEQbFnbkwNYb_/view?usp=sharing

If you've missed the recent coverage also see:

https://www.kuow.org/stories/in-ballard-a-beehive-style-apartment-offers-refuge-for

http://neimanarchitects.blogspot.com/2022/02/neiman-taber-co-living-projects-in-djc.html

https://www.theurbanist.org/2022/03/09/harrell-micro-housing/

KUOW feature story about Karsti

KUOW has a story out today about Karsti, our newest co-living project in Ballard. I'm really pleased with the time and care that the reporter (Joshua McNichols) took to understand the project, the folks that we are serving, the benefits and challenges of community living, and the things we've done differently to try to make this kind of project really work for people. Here's hoping that the project finds some eyes and ears down at the city!

https://www.kuow.org/stories/in-ballard-a-beehive-style-apartment-offers-refuge-for

Is Microhousing back on the table in Seattle?

For many years now I've been writing about Seattle Microhousing. I began modestly (and unsuccessfully) by trying to influence the 2014 legislation that ended up largely killing off congregate housing. Later efforts focused on documenting the harm done the legislation and by the administrative decisions that came in its wake. More recently I wrote on the strange disconnect between our need for simple low-cost housing to address homelessness and the lack of any urgency on the part of the city or non-profits to use microhousing as part of the toolkit. And last year I asked the question "When is Seattle Going to Fix Microhousing", providing a look back at years of data that confirm the trends that were seen immediately following the 2014 legislation. To be honest, I thought of the question posed by that last article to be largely rhetorical.  However...

The big news last week was that Mayor Bruce Harrell is interested in putting microhousing back on the table. The announcement came as part of an interview with the Puget Sound Business Journal on March 4th. Harrell was non-specific as to what he had in mind, and its a little early in the process to get too excited, but nevertheless this is really big news. This is the first time since 2014 that a powerful Seattle politician has signaled that they both care about the issue and (more significantly) that they are willing to spend political capital on fixing microhousing.

For a quick dive, The Urbanist did a good refresher on the issue here:  https://www.theurbanist.org/2022/03/09/harrell-micro-housing/

Looking to study up? Here's a digest:

Wonkery: There are three articles in Sightline that cover the issue fairly comprehensively. How Seattle Killed Micro-Housing is the history of how the council kneecapped micro-housing in the first place.  How Seattle Killed Micro-housing, Again covers how the SDCI and CCAB made administrative rules that have made the situation significantly worse. When Is Seattle Going to Fix Microhousing? is a 2021 update looking at years of data & trends:  https://www.sightline.org/author/davidneiman/

Homelessness: Low-Cost Housing: Here’s the way to do it is an article that discusses the link between the lack of basic housing and the epidemic of homelessness in our cities. The article also contains four concrete recommendations for how policy changes can help micro-housing to be part of our strategy for combatting homelessness.

Inspiration: A ten minute talk I gave about the development of The Roost, including some discussion about the moral case and the political barriers.

Talking points: Top Ten Reasons to re-legalize congregate housing 

• Provides plentiful 40%-60% AMI affordable housing w/ no subsidies.
• Is affordable to minimum wage workers.
• Provides opportunities for people to live in the city core who would otherwise be priced out.
• Provides people individual units w/ greater security & privacy than house/apartment shares.
• Promotes community, wellness, and social capital through shared spaces and experiences.
• Uses ~1/3 of the energy per unit compared to conventional housing.
• Promotes dense, livable, walkable communities and car-free lifestyles.
• Women and BIPOC individuals are disproportionally the people who live in congregate housing. Women for reasons of improved security, safety, and community, and BIPOC individuals because of the wealth gap.
• A city policy that actively suppresses the development of housing options used disproportionality by women and BIPOC individuals is a glaring equity issue.
• A city policy that actively suppresses the development of housing options for poor people is morally indefensible.

Don't take my word for it! Take advantage of the expert advice already sitting on our (virtual) bookshelf. The HALA, AMIHAC, and The Path Forward reports are three commissions convened in the last five years that all support the advice I am offering.

HALA Report: See recommendation MF8 on page 24

AMIHAC Report: See recommendation 3.01 on page 42 and 3.04 on page 45

The Path Forward: See page 9 discussion of rooming houses/shared housing.

Neiman Taber Co-Living Projects in the DJC

 

The DJC did a little blurb on Freya & Karsti today. We developed these projects in partnership with Hamilton Urban Partners. OpenDoor Co-living opened a Seattle office in order to operate them for us. These projects represent a big step forward for us, marrying our experience designing small apartments & shared amenities to OpenDoor's expertise in operating co-living buildings. 

You can read more here

Neiman Taber 2021 Promotions

As Neiman Taber Architects continues to grow and evolve, we are excited to provide pathways for professional advancement and announce a number of promotions. 

NTA has promoted Liz Pisciotta to partner and Anton Dekom to senior associate. Additionally, several design staff have been promoted to associate: Sari Ellis, Kyle Francis, Kyle Jenkins, Sharon Rubin and Patrick Taylor. 

Liz Pisciotta has worked with NTA for 9 years and has led firm efforts in interior design, company culture and project management. She has experience in multifamily residential, hospitality and institutional design. She is currently working on the Littlefield Apartments annex
project and recently designed the interiors and branding of the Freya and Karsti Apartments. Pisciotta is a member of the AIA Seattle Housing Task Force. 

Anton Dekom has experience with a variety of project types including multifamily residential, commercial office, and sustainable infrastructure. He is a former member of AIA Seattle's Public Policy Board and a former co-chair of the Committee on Homelessness. He also co-led the effort to design and build the Mighty House, a prototype transitional shelter for people experiencing homelessness. He is currently project manager on a new mixed-use development in the Chinatown-International District and the Washington Irving Apartments Annex.

Sari Ellis has experience in hospitality design, educational renovations and multifamily developments. At NTA, she specializes in multifamily unit design and is our in-house accessibility expert. She is currently project architect on a new mixed-use development in the Chinatown-International District, as well as the Washington Irving Apartments Annex. 

Kyle Francis has experience in high-end single family housing and commercial work. He is finishing the construction phase on a mixed-use development at 500 Broadway in Capitol Hill, neighboring an adaptive re-use of 510 Broadway, for which he was also the project architect. He is currently project architect on a new transit-oriented development near Cal Anderson Park. 

Kyle Jenkins specializes in design culture at NTA and also organizes professional development education. He serves on the advisory panel for the North Highline Urban Design Standards and volunteers design services for community organizations. Jenkins is currently project manager on a 191-unit mixed-use apartment building near Othello Station. 

Sharon Rubin was co-project lead for a joint partnership between Architects Without Borders and the BLOCK Project, from 2018 to 2021. She also leads website development at NTA. Rubin is currently project architect on a 271-unit mixed-use development near Othello Station.

Patrick Taylor is deeply involved in public policy around issues of land use, transportation, and housing. He is the education and programming director for The Urbanist as well as a member of their governing board. He is also co-chair for both the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board and the AIA Seattle Housing Task Force. Taylor is currently project manager on a 271-unit mixed-use development near Othello Station.

When Are We Going to Fix Microhousing?

Sightline just published a follow-up to the articles I wrote back in 2016-2017 on how Seattle Killed Microhousing. Back then, we were looking at emerging trends based on a couple years of permit applications from the SDCI permit data. In this article, we have the benefit of several more years of data collection from multiple sources that allows us to fill out the picture with more precision.

The article confirms the trend that we pointed to back in 2016, namely that Seattle killed off congregate housing (the smallest and most affordable form of microhousing) and replaced it with larger and more expensive Small Efficiency Dwelling Units (SEDUs). The article also points to some new problems: The code changes that we pointed to in 2017, in combination with further actions taken by policymakers since that time have significantly impacted the housing economy and have driven all forms of microhousing (congregate and SEDU alike) into decline.

Read the whole article here

Freya Apartment Launch - Artist in Residence Program - 5 Months Free Rent

The Freya Apartments, our latest co-living community, will open its doors next month. As part of the launch, we are trying out a new idea: An artist-in-residence program that will provide a dozen artists free rent for five months as they live at The Freya and use their art to capture their experiences and the process of building a community.

Credit for the idea belongs to OpenDoor, a co-living management company based in the Bay area that we recruited to open a Seattle office to manage Freya and its cousin project Karsti (opening in Ballard early 2021). They are a mission-driven property management company focused solely on co-living communities. They have really dug into the nuts and bolts of living together to provide a range of innovative practices for how to operate co-living communities. We are beyond excited to combine their unique skill set with the physical environment we have created at Freya.

To apply for the Artist-in-Residence program visit:  http://join.opendoor.io/lb8bn4

In addition to the Artist-in-Residence program, notable features of the building operations will include:

• The project will feature a shared grocery and meals program to both build community and help residents save money on food costs.
• Community leaders will be recruited to help support day-to-day operations in exchange for a rent stipend.
• Some of the building fixture budget will be left unspent at the project launch to allow for community input as to how these areas can be best outfitted.
• Special interests of the residents will be identified and become part of the branding for the community to create distinctive cohorts within the building.
• Twenty (20) of the units will be reserved for income qualified applicants and rented at 40% AMI (currently $760/mo).

The Case for Re-legalizing Microhousing

It's been over five years since the City of Seattle passed legislation that effectively ended Seattle's run as an international leader in microhousing. I documented these changes in a series of articles in Sightline. How Seattle Killed Microhousing describes the effects of the legislation on housing production and affordability. How Seattle Killed Microhousing Again describes a failed initiative to get the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection to reconsider some administrative policies that were further inflating the size and cost of people's homes. In the intervening years, a removal of the restrictions on microhousing has been proposed by Mayor Murray's Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA), and Mayor Durkan's Affordable Middle Income Housing Advisory Council.

The response has been a growing consensus among housing advocates and opinion leaders that changes need to be made. The City Council and the Mayors office have responded with the gentle chirping of crickets. In a political culture obsessed with loud, high-profile, symbolic gestures there never seems to be space on the agenda to consider some simple common sense fixes for microhousing.

Should it be on the agenda? In this talk, given at the 2019 Green Building Slam, I tell the story of The Roost - an artist live-work microhousing community we recently designed and developed in Seattle's Rainier Valley. I make the case for why re-legalizing microhousing should be a priority on our legislative agenda. How many more years and blue ribbon commissions need to pass before we actually do something about it?

Hiawatha Art Club Critique Circle

Across the street from The Roost a live-work artist housing project built by Artspace. Over the past year their folks and our folks have gotten to know one another. Last month one of our residents launched a monthly arts salon where artists from both buildings get together to show their work, have a few drinks, and enjoy each other's company. Its exactly the kind of messy vitality we hoped the Roost might bring to the neighborhood. Seeing it actually happen in real life is deeply rewarding.

The Roost - DJC Project of the Week

We got a nice surprise honor from the DJC today. The Roost was featured on today's from page as Project of the Week

2019 AIA Housing Forum Presentation - The Roost: Micro Housing, Community and Cultural Space

The summer we were honored to be given a showcase at the 2019 AIA Housing forum to present The Roost: Micro Housing, Community, and Cultural Space. We gave a 30 minute presentation about the project including some background behind the project, the challenges inherent in designing for small spaces, and the tensions inherent in playing the dual role of architect / developer.

Video of the presentation (and of the other presentations given at the forum) is available at the AEC Knowledge website

https://aecknowledge.com/courses/140

Housing Choices for Everyone

This summer The Master Builder's Association invited me in for an interview to talk about The Roost for a video series called Housing Choices for Everyone. It is aimed at educating the public about the changing landscape of urban housing and the new housing types that help serve the needs of ordinary people. Its a brilliant project and I'm really proud to have been asked to participate.

Ben Leiataua, the resident featured in the video, is one of the many artists who make their home at The Roost. Ben spent many years working as the marketing director for a casino before deciding to change direction and lean into the craft of singing and acting more fully. The Roost provides him with a modest home in the city from which to pursue his art in the company of other people who share his passions and interests. Ben's work is in Seattle, but before he moved to the Roost he was living in Auburn, where he had been commuting 60 miles a day in order to find affordable rent. Ben's story is fairly typical in that respect. Over 75% of our residents moved to The Roost from distant neighborhoods or exurbs around Seattle.

Later this fall we will publish a series of stories from The Roost, introducing some of our residents, and telling their "housing story". The goal is to put a human face on the answer to the question "who lives in micro-housing". Coming soon to a blog near you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6fWvtvz5NE