Sounds like a good approach. I hope they're able to take the suggestions to heart.

. . . sigh . . .

Also who needs AC in Seattle. It gets hot here one day a year.

There are tons of apt. houses all over Capitol Hill where residents don't have any parking, and those are usually full up. If the developer wants to build or offer parking, fine, but if they are not forced to assign parking to residents the building HOA can rent the spaces to others and make money and reduce the HOA dues.

Millionaires live in tiny sailboat spaces. Lots of people are fine with smaller spaces. So crunching down the kitchen and bath would work, too. A full set of appliances used to work for a family of 5, but now a single person is forced to buy that much kitchen, too. I lived in a tiny group apt. in Paris for 6 months in 1979 using a 2x2 fridge and a bunsen burner stove. Happy to buy food and wine every day, too. Could walk everywhere.

Usually a developer cannot take the time to change all the codes so unless the City Council takes the initiative, the required parking and other aspects of the building codes tend to drive up the price of condos.

Suspect in another few months they'll either give in and "repartment" the building, or sell off the project to a national apartment REIT trust.

still, cheap[er] small places is a start.

for every unit in the building beyond 300, you get a subsidy to build that apartment. the subsidy would be paid for by a small increase on multi unit property taxes already in existence(this will increase the rent in existing apartments but might be offset somewhat by an increase in units built), and through a small increase in sales tax on elastic goods such as clothing.

for every unit in the building beyond 300, you get a subsidy to build that apartment. the subsidy would be paid for by a small increase on multi unit property taxes already in existence(this will increase the rent in existing apartments but might be offset somewhat by an increase in units built), and through a small increase in sales tax on inelastic goods such as food

Could the fucking-rich people please stop trying to decide how much money the average person can afford to give them?

Thanks!

$250K at 7% over 30 years is a monthly payment of $1660, which totals $20K/year. The average person makes $52K/yr gross? That's 38% of income spent on housing. Take out the amount they'll pay in income taxes -- about $9500 -- leaving them with $42.5, making that $20K/yr account for 47% of take home pay.

Is that really what qualifies as "affordable"? For 400 square feet?