”Microhousing allows people to live in places they’d otherwise be priced out of; but Seattle’s policies thwart this low-cost home type.” The city has mostly ”killed off congregate housing as a source of more affordable market-rate homes.” sightline.org/2021/02/04/whe… via @danbertolet 
It’s not just Seattle that uses zoning regulations to restrict access to affordable, market rate microhousing. Los Angeles could benefit enormously from better zoning policy, too. See this thread summarizing a paper on the benefits of micro-units for LA.
https://twitter.com/owasow/status/1141920468472979458
We can do better. “Tokyo saw construction of 145,000 new housing units started in 2018—more than NY, LA, Houston & Boston combined. Nationally, Japan has managed to add close to same amount of new housing as US, despite having about half the population.” reason.com/2019/04/02/nim…
Economic zoning used to be rare in the US so what changed? Attempts at housing desegregation. nytimes.com/2017/08/03/opi…
”Single-family mandates were appealing because they maintained racial segregation without racial language.” Amid a push for fair housing laws in California, ”LA’s zoning capacity was sharply reduced between 1960 and 1980.” lewis.ucla.edu/housing/housin…
Who is hurt by these policies? See @Geoffrey_Wardle’s thread: ”Many of the unhoused working poor do not want and do not need anything more than a small studio or a single room that can be secured and shared common kitchen facilities and a shared bathroom.”
https://twitter.com/Geoffrey_Wardle/status/1358453413705469954
In the past, ”workers moved to areas where opportunities were emerging…What allowed this relocation to places with good-paying jobs that lifted the standard of living for families? Affordable housing. Today, this locomotive of prosperity has broken down.” nytimes.com/2017/09/06/opi…
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