All around Washington, cities are having to figure out how to create more housing.
One way Tacoma is attempting to meet this goal is through a policy called Home in Tacoma, which changed zoning allowances in the city to allow for more houses on one lot.
So far, the city has seen the most applications for things like detached accessory dwelling units on the same lot as a single-family home. About 68% of the permit applications Tacoma is receiving are for these, according to a presentation from the city’s planning department in September.
Laura Anderson is a Tacoma realtor who has worked with clients who have completed projects under the new Home in Tacoma guidelines.
Loosened restrictions on how much square footage needs to be between properties, setbacks and lot size capabilities have made more projects possible, Anderson said. One family she worked with built a detached accessory dwelling unit for their older parents in their backyard.
“ That's a pretty concrete example of something that previously couldn't have happened, now [the change] has allowed this family to get housing in a much more affordable way that maybe they couldn't have before,” Anderson said.
Because Home in Tacoma allows someone to subdivide an existing lot with a home already on it to make multiple, smaller lots, other developers are utilizing existing single family homes to increase density.
Daniel Casey is a developer in Tacoma who used to only work on existing buildings. But he said the new policy has allowed him to buy a home on a bigger lot, subdivide it and build new units on the empty space. Then, he’ll sell the new and old units.
“ It's significantly cheaper than if we went out and tried to buy vacant land,” Casey said. “ It's kind of a new opportunity. There's nothing really similar to this.”
Casey purchased a fixer-upper in North Tacoma for about $650,000. The plan is to build three townhomes on the remainder of the lot, he said.
But the cost to build these is high, meaning the return on investment only rises if these are expensive homes; Casey said he is projecting each of these units to sell for somewhere between $750,000 and $850,000. These aren’t starter homes, but instead, might be a fit for empty-nesters looking to downsize, Casey said.
Some advocate that more housing, no matter the price, will make more affordable options in the market, by increasing supply.
“ When Tacoma doesn't have the right housing for people who can afford what they want, they end up buying the next best thing, and the next best thing is often the best thing for people one tier down,” said Ben Ferguson, an architect in Tacoma. He’s working on Casey’s townhome project.
But, some developers who are focused on middle housing say code regulations related to garages are keeping them from creating projects that more people can afford.
“ The number of projects that would be developed in the next year, it's gonna be about 5% of what it could be if we didn't have to fight this garage issue,” said Reggie Brown, who is the founder of Louis Rudolph Homes.
The reason Brown said he and others haven’t been able to develop as many projects as they thought they’d be able to, is that the code does not allow for new developments to have a garage that faces out from the front of the house.
Plus, 70% of the first floor of a unit has to be habitable space. That means to fit a garage in something like a townhome, the building has to be really big, making it more expensive for future homebuyers.
Brown said his company was preparing to go from building multifamily projects for rent to smaller units for sale in the form of townhomes.
“This is gonna be amazing. It's gonna open up opportunities,” Brown said he thought as he was watching the policy be developed. But, “Ultimately, it's not opening up opportunities the way we wanted it to.” He hopes Home in Tacoma can be modified in a way that developers can create the number of units the city needs.
According to a September presentation to city council, only about 5% of the projects that the city is receiving permit applications for are for multifamily housing. About 21% of applications are for duplex or townhome type housing.
The issue with the garage regulations is a problem the city knows about. Brian Boudet, planning division manager for the city, responded to questions in an email acknowledging that the city has heard from multiple developers that the restrictions on garages are making things difficult.
In the September presentation to the council, Boudet talked about why front-facing garages aren’t ideal, saying that it means less street parking and more safety problems for pedestrians and cyclists.
When asked if the city would consider changing that part of the code, Boudet wrote, “It is too early to determine if this, or other concerns, represent significant, long-term barriers or if they are challenges for which the development community will find new, workable design solutions through more experimentation.”
The Home in Tacoma ordinance mandates that council review it after three years of implementation.
