housing

Report from YIMBYtown 2017

July 16, 2017 By TonyJ Leave a Comment

I spent the last few days in Oakland, CA attending the second annual YIMBYtown conference. The conference was “a three-day gathering for grassroots community organizers, political leaders, educators, housing developers, and everyday people to identify problems, create solutions, share resources on the issues that impact housing on local, state, and national levels.”

I gave a presentation on parking reform which I hope will encourage other groups to advocate for reduced parking minimums and other smart policy changes.

Here are a few quick parking related takeaways:

Parking comes up ALL the time. It is often the primary complaint about new development.
Parking policy is a pretty wonky topic even at a conference full of wonks.
Los Angeles has zones which only allow parking!!
Folks in other cities would benefit from a parking reform “playbook”

I attended a great session by David Bragdon and Steven Higashide from the Transit Center in which they proposed a YIMBY transportation agenda that I really liked, for obvious reasons!

Parking vs Housing: Mayor Wheeler Calls Debate ‘Over’

May 4, 2017 By TonyJ 5 Comments

Convenient parking is a problem in parts of Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler conceded last week. But it’s a smaller problem than housing — and Wheeler says that when the two come in conflict, housing must be the priority.

“I want to put a marker down. The debate: ‘Parking vs. Housing?’ It’s really over.” – Ted Wheeler

The mayor’s words came at a Rose City Park Neighborhood meeting April 25th. Wheeler was asked by RCPNA board member Deborah Field what his plan was to “require developers to put in ample parking spaces” with new housing projects.

The mayor’s response was definitive:

But I want to put a marker down. The debate: Parking vs. Housing? It’s really over. That piece of the conversation is over. When younger families or younger people say they want to locate here, the first thing they’re saying isn’t ‘Boy I wish I had another parking space, or had access to a parking space.” What they’re saying is, “I can’t afford to live in this city.” And, so, the city, meaning the debate that happened over the last three years actually made a choice, and the choice was affordability and housing over access to parking. I just want you to be aware that that is a real dynamic and is a real choice and it was made with full community involvement.

The mayor told the crowd that “parking adds significantly to the cost of affordable housing.”

(This is true for both market-rate and publicly backed homes, for the simple reason that urban space costs money. You can read more about the effect of excessive parking on housing prices here.)

He suggested that neighborhoods, like Rose City Park, which want to manage their parking supply should form parking districts similar to those in Northwest Portland and the Central Eastside Industrial District.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation has spent years working to develop a framework for neighborhoods to create parking permit zones and parking benefit districts, but the policy has yet to be voted on by Portland City Council. Wheeler said he wouldn’t suggest simply taking the plan from NW Portland and moving it to Rose City Park, seemingly a contradiction to Commissioner Saltzman’s position that NW Portland is conducting a pilot for other neighborhoods to follow.

The mayor’s comments can be read here or viewed below (starting at 35:30).

20170425-RCPNA-Wheeler from portland politic on Vimeo.

Thank you to Catie Gould and E.J. Finneran for tipping us off to this news. Thank you to Michael Anderson for edits!

Ask Commissioner Eudaly To Remove Barriers To Affordable Housing

April 26, 2017 By TonyJ 7 Comments

A proposal to build 40 affordable apartments in Sellwood is at risk because of minimum parking requirements. Currently, to qualify for a parking waiver, a development must be within certain distances of “20 minute” transit during the rush hours. How that level of service is defined is open to some interpretation, but it also ignores the holistic context of some of Portland’s neighborhoods.

Take a minute and email Commissioner Eudaly at chloe@portlandoregon.gov. Ask her to look into this situation in Sellwood. Ask her to work to remove barriers to more housing and let her know you think we need to build affordable housing, not more parking, in Portland. If you can, cc or bcc pdxshoupistas@gmail.com so we know our campaign is working.

Portland needs affordable housing much more than it needs required parking. The solution to Portland’s parking problems is not to build garages that will be a drag on our environment and economy, but parking management that ensures the equitable and efficient use of our on-street parking.

Commissioner Chloe Eudaly holds the Bureau of Development Services (BDS) in her portfolio and she was elected on a platform promising to address Portland’s housing crisis. Commissioner Eudaly can ask BDS to look into this issue and determine if there is a way to interpret the code to allow this project to go forward. If not, she may need to instigate changes to the inclusionary housing package to provide for greater flexibility. Almost 3 months have passed since affordable housing became mandatory and there has been very little utilization of the program. This project would be a big win, for housing advocates and for lower income people wanting to live in a complete neighborhood like Sellwood.

Inclusionary Housing In Sellwood Hits Parking Stumbling Block

April 22, 2017 By TonyJ 9 Comments

Update: Take a minute and email Commissioner Eudaly at chloe@portlandoregon.gov. Ask her to look into this situation in Sellwood. Ask her to work to remove barriers to more housing and let her know you think we need to build affordable housing, not more parking, in Portland. If you can, cc or bcc pdxshoupistas@gmail.com so we know our campaign is working.

In February 2017, new inclusionary housing rules went into effect in Portland and, as of early April, there has been only one qualifying multi-family building submitted for review under the new rules.

As previously reported, the Urban Development Group (UDG) asked for Early Assistance on refiling three permitted developments in Sellwood. If approved, this project could provide 40 units of affordable housing in Sellwood, but the deal is in jeopardy due to minimum parking requirements.

UDG is currently permitted to build three buildings in Sellwood. Combined, the projects would add 187 market rate units, 46 parking stalls, and no units guaranteed affordable for tenants making less than 100% of the median family income (MFI). These permits were filed, along with hundreds more, in the months before February’s inclusionary zoning mandate was enforced.

Less Housing = More (And Affordable) Housing. Permitted development has 187 market rate units, 0 guaranteed affordable, 46 parking stalls, proposal is for 170 market rate, 40 affordable, 0 parking stalls. — UDG Proposal would trade 46 parking stalls for 23 more homes (and allow 40 affordable homes)

The request for early assistance affirms much of what proponents of parking reform have been saying for years: Required parking reduces the amount of housing built and makes it more expensive. With the required 46 parking stalls waived, UDG would be able to build 23 more apartments for a new combined total of 210 homes. Of the 210 apartments, 170 would be market rate, 31 would be affordable to tenants making 60% of the MFI, and 9 would be affordable to tenants making 80% MFI.

For every two parking stalls eliminated in the project, we get one more home for Portlanders. Because those additional homes still bring in rents and the project is not burdened with expensive parking, the development pencils out with the affordable housing as well. This is how the system is supposed to work.

But the deal, as proposed, is unlikely to get approval from Commissioner Eudaly’s Bureau of Development Services (BDS).

To qualify for a parking waiver, the building must be “located 1500 feet or less from a transit station, or 500 feet or less from a transit street with 20-minute peak hour service.” That level of service is defined as “service provided by public transit to a site, measured on weekdays between 7:00 AM and 8:30 AM and between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM. The service is measured in one direction of travel, and counts bus lines, streetcars and light rail lines.” BDS has some leeway in interpreting the code and according to their response to UDG, they don’t consider the level of service near 1717 SE Tenino Street to be sufficient. The issue seems to be a few points in the “peak hour” where the schedules have a gap of a few minutes beyond the 20 minute requirement.

There are two bus lines nearby 1717 SE Tenino that could be considered north/south routes (although one runs east/west at the location), the 99 and the 70 and the MAX Orange Line Station at Tacoma/Johnson Creek is just over 1/2 mile away (3 minutes by bike or 12 minutes leisurely walk). Combined, the transit options are very good and the location is in the heart of Sellwood, walking distance from restaurants, New Seasons, Sellwood Middle School and much more.

But unless BDS interprets the code favorably, say by considering TriMet’s admitted 3 minute plus/minus for schedules to provide some flexibility, it’s very likely that Sellwood will lose the opportunity to have 40 affordable units built and, in their place, shelter for 46 cars will be provided to the community.

Ultimately, however, the situation highlights the capricious nature of minimum parking requirements. A few minutes on a TriMet schedule can lead to a very walkable apartment building having the same requirements as a building far from transit in the SW hills.

If Portland City Council wants affordable housing to be built, they should remove all parking requirements for projects meeting the inclusionary housing mandate, wherever they are built. This would not only prevent corner-cases from sinking much needed housing projects, but would also help Portland catch up to our critical climate action goals.

In Sellwood, the key to Portland’s new affordable housing program turns out to be … no parking

February 28, 2017 By Michael Andersen 3 Comments

A proposed 89-unit building at SE 17th Avenue and Tenino, one block off Tacoma in Sellwood. Rendering: Myhre Group Architects via Portland Bureau of Development Services.

This is a guest post from the blog of Portland for Everyone, which covers housing abundance, diversity and affordability in Portland.

Which is more important to the future of Portland:

homes that are affordable to lower-income people, or
storage for upper-income people’s cars?

The question doesn’t get much starker than with two new buildings proposed last week in Sellwood and nearby Moreland, close to the Willamette River in southeast Portland.

If they move forward as proposed, the two apartment buildings — one with 89 homes, the other with 54 — seem to be the first fruits of the inclusionary housing ordinance approved by the city council in December.

Depending on how the design works, the buildings could add as many as 29 new apartments that would rent for as little as older apartments east of 136th Avenue do today.

The new homes would be in the walkable, relatively transit-rich Sellwood-Moreland area, less than half a mile from the new Orange MAX Line and the Springwater Corridor bike path into downtown. Their affordability would be guaranteed for 99 years.

Here’s the tradeoff: in order to afford the lower-rent units, the buildings would have to be built with no on-site parking.

Every underground parking space costs $550 per month in additional rent

Parking garages are expensive, especially underground garages like the ones UDG had previously proposed for the Sellwood area. As of 2013, each underground parking space added $55,000 to the cost of a building, which translates to about $550 per month that comes ultimately from rent payments in the new building.

The city council’s decision last November to waive parking requirements for apartment buildings that participate in the inclusionary housing program was one of the crucial offsets intended to prevent the program from halting new development.

If the two new “early assistance” requests filed last Tuesday by Urban Development Group is any indication, that plan is working.

UDG already owns the land on both sites. The building at 17th and Tenino would go onto the site of a drive-in restaurant:

A new building here would have 89 apartments if it sets aside some homes for lower-income Portlanders, or 79 apartments if it includes on-site parking instead.

The building at Milwaukie and Yukon would be on the site of this house:

A new building here would have 54 apartments if it sets aside some homes for lower-income Portlanders, or 47 apartments if it includes on-site parking instead.

Here’s are the notes from city staff summarizing the request from the would-be developer, spotted Monday by Iain MacKenzie of NextPortland.com:

In other words, the developer doesn’t have to include units affordable to lower-income people in his buildings, because both projects were green-lighted before the city’s new inclusionary housing rule took effect. But if including low-rent units means he doesn’t have to include on-site parking, then including the low-rent units could actually make the building more valuable.

Which is to say: because of the city’s new rules, a developer is now asking to build homes for lower-income people instead of storage for higher-income people’s cars.

A good tradeoff for tenants and the environment, housing advocates say

Vivian Satterfield, standing at right, at a 2016 workshop in support of inclusionary housing.

Vivian Satterfield, deputy director of OPAL Environmental Justice Oregonand a leading advocate for the city’s inclusionary housing requirement, welcomed the proposals in an interview Monday.

“Having access to public transportation, being in walkable communities, actually benefits us all, including those of us who have multiple vehicles,” said in an interview Monday. “These are things that should be afforded to lower-income folks.”

If that means that parking a car in central Sellwood gets a little more annoying, she suggested, so be it.

“There are tradeoffs,” Satterfield said, adding that as she spoke she was looking across a “sea of parking lots” along 82nd Avenue.

Tony Jordan of Portlanders for Parking Reform agreed.

“This request is a win-win for affordability and our environment,” Jordan said in a text message. “We hope that other developers will choose the same route.”

David Mullens, a project manager for Urban Development Group who is managing the proposals, declined a request to discuss the projects.

This is only a request for advice from the city’s permitting staff; it’s entirely possible that UDG will decide to pursue its other plan instead. Whatever happens, we’ll be watching this example closely. It could be the first sign of big things for Portland.

Portland for Everyone blogs about how to get abundant, diverse, affordable housing. You can follow it on Twitter and Facebook or get new posts by email a few times each month.