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Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

theurbanist.org

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Re: Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

#12

Does any city have a well functioning design review process or are they all captured by incumbents to slow down development?

I think a common feature of places I have seen with reasonable construction processes is that they do not have control of construction approval at the city level.

Re: Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

#14
Irrespective of any economic or legal incentives or factors here, this comes down fundamentally to a lack of social trust in north america.

It doesn't happen the same way anywhere else in the world like it does in US&Canada.

People don't care about other people. "I got mine, ** yours."

It's a problem without an easy solution.

Re: Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

#16

Does any city have a well functioning design review process or are they all captured by incumbents to slow down development?

It is amazing how one person can have a view that developers have all the power and can never be stopped. Others have the view that NIMBY's have all the power and nothing can get developed. Yet somehow everything ends up paved over with a high rise on it eventually, like it or not.

But that's exactly the point - not everything ends up with a high rise on it. Clearly, not enough of a percent of "everything" has a high rise, or there would be no housing shortage! You feel there are too many, but if there was no desire for high rises, no one would build them!

Re: Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

#17

> Arguing against the project, Escala’s attorneys claimed that shadows from the new buildings would result in “cancers, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders and mental health [sic].” In a world with an ironic sense of justice the court would accept their argument and extend it to then requiring Escala's demolition so that their neighbours would not be affected by shadows.

> shadows result in cancers

So all basement rental units are going to be banned, right? /s

Re: Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

#18
Affordable housing is little better than the drinking fountains for colored people from years past. You don't build affordable housing. You build housing and then prices decrease from the increase in supply. If you're feeling extra bold, you build dense housing to massively increase the supply.

Re: Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

#19

Does any city have a well functioning design review process or are they all captured by incumbents to slow down development?

It is amazing how one person can have a view that developers have all the power and can never be stopped. Others have the view that NIMBY's have all the power and nothing can get developed. Yet somehow everything ends up paved over with a high rise on it eventually, like it or not.

~3/4 of Seattle land doesn't really allow new housing:

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/city-repor...

Re: Lawsuits Block Thousands of Seattle Homes, $39M for Affordable Housing

#20

Does any city have a well functioning design review process or are they all captured by incumbents to slow down development?

It is amazing how one person can have a view that developers have all the power and can never be stopped. Others have the view that NIMBY's have all the power and nothing can get developed. Yet somehow everything ends up paved over with a high rise on it eventually, like it or not.

> Yet somehow everything ends up paved over with a high rise on it eventually, like it or not.

I'd like to know what definition you're using for "everything" here because the vast majority of residential land is zoned exclusively for single-family homes and indeed that's mostly what gets built.

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