“Micro-unit” apartment buildings, sometimes known as “aPodments” (which is actually one developer’s trademarked term) consist of very small dwellings, similar in size to a hotel room, which usually have private bathrooms and perhaps a mini-refrigerator and microwave. Seven or eight of these small efficiencies are grouped around a full kitchen/dining area. While these units are […]

In September 2012, the Council adopted an ordinance (Council Bill 117572)creating interim standards preventing new small single family lots from being created using old property lines that the City does not currently believe should be used to define buildable lots. The legislation also limited the size of houses that can be built on lots that […]

In 2010, the City Council identified safe housing for the survivors/victims of domestic violence as a priority issue to work on.  Seattle has a long track record of working to reduce domestic violence, and the Council had identified working on domestic violence issues as one of our priorities for 2010.  In looking at the area […]

Historically, City Departments have been very possessive about their properties and buildings.  It has been very challenging to even get Departments to coordinate with each other, much less to integrate the City’s properties and buildings into the fabric of neighborhoods in a proactive and positive way.  Fortunately, this attitude is changing, and the City is […]

Seattle’s multi-family tax exemption (MFTE) program has come under fire recently.  It has been suggested that the program subsidizes apartments that are too expensive, and that the program effectively serves as a subsidy to developers to build projects that they would have built anyway.  As is often the case, the reality is more complex.  The […]

The Seattle Housing Authority has been working for years to create a redevelopment plan for Yesler Terrace, the last of its WWII era housing projects.  The other three (New Holly, High Point, and Rainier Vista) have all been redeveloped as mixed income communities, with new and better housing for the low income residents. Now the […]

Over the past two years, homelessness in Seattle has decreased by 15 percent – an extraordinary achievement in the face of this recession, and a testament to the success of the Seattle community’s ‘Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness’.  Of the 1,753 people found outdoors rather than in shelters in the 2011 One-Day Count, many […]

On Monday, January 10, the Council announced our priorities for 2011, and reported on our accomplishments for 2010.  The Council priorities are the issues that we will put major attention into during the year.  They do not include all of the issues we will work on, but the ones that we jointly see as of […]

Seattle has a long track record of working to reduce domestic violence. We have a strong enforcement system and have worked hard to fund counseling, batterer’s treatment, and programs to protect victims/survivors. I recently received an award from the King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence for my work to fund legal representation for domestic violence victims/survivors.