Olympia has "found" a "solution" to their homeless RV problem

[MechAg94]

There is quite the ongoing debate for some time now on rezoning existing single-family neighborhoods to multi-family neighborhoods to provide for more affordable housing in Seattle.  Suffice it to say that NIMBY seems to be the order of the day.  If you own your nice $ 1.2 million Craftsman bungalow in Ballard, you don't want the house next door torn down for a three story 12 unit apartment.

I figure zoning affects it the other way in allowing apartments in areas zoned for industry and such.  Either way, it does have an effect on the cost of housing simply because it restricts what people can do.  Building permits and all the red tape associated with it are probably the biggest issue.  Do they have a bunch of environmental impact issues with building there?  It is not California, but it isn't far off.

There was a story I saw of a guy who was trying to renovate an old industrial building in San Francisco into a small apartment building.  After 5 years he gave up on trying to get a building permit to do the work.  I think a zoning issue was involved in that as well.

[gunsmith]

"affordable housing" is newspeak for warehousing criminals,prostitutes,junkies, welfare scammers and mentally ill people in lower working class neighborhoods.
 I like to call it "the homeless industrial complex"  NGO's and charities and agencies get tax money and good salaries to perpetuate the problem.
If they solved it, they would be out of business

[K Frame]

There is quite the ongoing debate for some time now on rezoning existing single-family neighborhoods to multi-family neighborhoods to provide for more affordable housing in Seattle.  Suffice it to say that NIMBY seems to be the order of the day.  If you own your nice $ 1.2 million Craftsman bungalow in Ballard, you don't want the house next door torn down for a three story 12 unit apartment.

But Chicago had such a rousing success with the Cabrini-Green projects... and I bet fully woke and socialist Seattle would do even better.

[MechAg94]

I don't agree with "affordable housing" or subsidized housing.  I just figure there are ways governments could get out of the way and allow private housing to be built that could satisfy the need for less expensive housing.  Some of that is on the permitting and construction side.  Some of that is on the legal side such as allowing them to kick out people who don't pay their rent without excessive legal costs.  I figure there are a lot of costs and liabilities that go into it that I don't know about.  Half of them are probably forced on them by various laws/regulations and half are legal/insurance issues. 

I haven't rented in many years, but I lived in an efficiency apartment that was not much more than one room.  Do they still build those? 

[Pb]

Yeah.  If a city needs affordable housing, just permit a lot more apartment buildings, and expand the city outward.

[MillCreek]

I haven't rented in many years, but I lived in an efficiency apartment that was not much more than one room.  Do they still build those?

Yes.  In Seattle, 'apodments' are all the rage for the young single crowd in some parts of the city. https://www.apodment.com/