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Gentle Infill Gentle

Gentle Infill Gentle

GENTLE GENTLE

Boomtowns By Kathleen McCormick Are Making

Room for Recent news stories routinely feature “hot Skinny Homes, market” U.S. with astronomical housing prices that end up displacing residents with Granny Flats, moderate or low incomes. In Portland, Oregon, and Other Mayor Charlie Hales declares a state of emer- gency, directing a budget cut from the ’s Affordable general fund to create more affordable homes. Housing ’s epic housing battles pit longtime residents against tech workers. In Seattle, 40 people, 35 jobs, but only 12 housing units arrive daily. In Denver, Mayor Michael Hancock pledges $150 million for in the next decade. Mayor Martin J. Walsh plans to build 53,000 units by 2030, while neighboring Cambridge adds density in infill areas and near transit. And in Boulder, Colorado, public officials consider a host of housing options in an ap- proach they call “gentle infill.” “Hot markets exist for many reasons, but in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Boulder, and other cities, housing issues are clearly a result |of strong ,” says Peter Pollock, FAICP, manager of Western programs for the Lincoln Institute of Policy. In these cities, a jobs-housing imbalance leads to inadequate housing options. The “gentle” or “sensitive” infill approach is about “trying to find ways to make infill compatible with surroundings to achieve goals and enable

P ortland, Oregon, is production of more housing,” he says. The term considering whether to allow also “puts a positive spin on something that may more tall “skinny” homes, not be universally accepted”—namely, density— constructed on half the amount of land required “and suggests that we can do a better job.” under single-family . While half of all households nationwide are Credit: Fred King spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, many residents in hot market cities are spending more than 50 percent and being forced to leave. Housing activists, such as those at the recent first national YIMBY (“Yes in my backyard”) gathering (see sidebar), are challenging city planners and elected officials to create more diverse infill options to house people, stem displacement, make better transit connections, and create more environmentally sustainable communities.

14 LAND LINES JULY 2016 15 How Did We Get Here? Restoring the “Missing Middle” been limited by regulatory constraints, the shift long-range for the city center to -dependent development, and incentives and its . Desirable cities are growing rapidly because The good news is that cities across the for single-family home ownership. Three- or The city is relying on policy changes in view of they’re attracting millennials and cultural are already working on solutions. four-story buildings at densities of 16 to 35 the 142,000 additional jobs, 135,000 extra creatives for job opportunities and lifestyle Communities are overturning policies that dwelling units per acre used to be a standard households, and 260,000 more people that it will amenities, and the newcomers have gravitated in prohibit housing or place tight restrictions on part of the mix in urban neighborhoods. Many need to accommodate by 2035, according to numbers that far exceed places to live. The tech where and how it can be built, to allow for more urban planners say this scale and density of Metro. About 30 percent of new housing will be industry, with its influxes of well-paid workers, is diverse and affordable places to live. Many urban housing is needed again to offer diversity, built in the city center, 50 percent in mixed-use often blamed for driving up housing costs and planners and public officials are focused on affordability, and walkable access to services centers and corridors, and 20 percent in Port- causing displacement. But other factors are also developing housing types that restore the and transit. Cities are using a variety of addition- land’s single-family residential zones, which in play. Many cities built little if any housing “missing middle,” to shelter moderate and al approaches to inject more moderately priced comprise about 45 percent of the city’s 133 during the Great Recession. Mortgage credit is middle-income households. housing into residential neighborhoods, from square miles of land. The city has about 12,000 tighter. costs are escalating. New The missing middle, a concept that grew out shrinking or subdividing lots to adding accessory buildable lots, assuming that some current lots housing is priced at market rates that drive up of new , includes row houses, duplexes, dwelling units (ADUs) to expanding legal occu- can be subdivided to provide more sites. the cost for existing homes. Zoning that favors courts, and other small to midsize pancy in homes. Some of these gentle infill Since 2010, an estimated 20,000 new single-family detached houses or luxury apart- housing designed at a scale and density compat- approaches are showing great potential or in residential units have been built or are in the ments has led to expensive housing monocul- ible with single-family residential neighborhoods. fact adding needed units on a faster track. pipeline, and increment financing in desig- tures. What’s being viewed as a crisis in many Since the 1940s, this type of development has How does gentle infill work? It depends on nated areas has invested $107 cities is the loss of housing not just for lower-in- the city, as demonstrated by the following million in new and preserved affordable

come residents but also for workforce and “Missing middle” housing types typically have small to examples from Portland, Oregon; Boulder, housing. In March, the state legislature lifted a middle-income residents—teachers, nurses, medium-size footprints, with a body width, depth, and height Colorado; and Cambridge, Massachusetts. 17-year ban on inclusionary zoning, which will firefighters, owners, young no larger than a single-family home. They can blend into a allow the city to require builders to set aside neighborhood as compatible infill, encouraging a mix of professionals, young families, and others who socioeconomic households and making more effective use Portland, Oregon: More Housing units for new workforce housing. The city is typically provide a foundation for communities. of transit and services. Credit: Opticos Design. is Better focused on funding strategies to provide more Portland typically ranks atop lists of “best places” affordable homes for households below 80 to live but has recently slipped a few notches percent of the area median income (AMI). To because of its housing prices, which ballooned increase the number of middle-income units for Urban planners and public officials are focused on developing 13 percent in 2015. According to a recent study people earning more than 80 percent of AMI, the released by Metro, the regional government city is relying on policy changes, rather than housing types that restore the “missing middle”—row houses, organization, Portland area rents increased 63 funding strategies. duplexes, apartment courts, and other small to midsize housing percent since 2006, while the average income of By the end of 2016, a stakeholder advisory designed at a scale and density compatible with single-family renters rose only 39 percent. The population grew committee for the Residential Infill Project by 12,000 in 2015, to more than 632,000 residents (RIPSAC) will provide advice regarding the size residential neighborhoods. in 250,000-plus households. and scale of houses, small-lot development, Since 1973, Portland has been living with and alternative housing types. One proposal statewide urban that mandates an under consideration is to allow more internal to protect farmland and conversions of large historic houses into multiple forests from and to ensure efficient units, an approach that would provide more use of land, public facilities, and services within housing while avoiding teardowns and preserving the urban boundary. This city has an ambitious the historic fabric of neighborhoods. Building agenda to meet its growth projections with on the legacy of small homes that exist from a several big planning efforts: a new zoning map century ago, Portland is looking to add little and the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, its first houses on undersized, pre-platted lots. And update in 30 years, adopted by city council in the city is considering whether to allow the June 2016; a new code with regulations development of more tall “skinny” homes of up that affect a range of growth from multifamily to 1,750 square feet on 2,500 square-foot lots, and mixed-use development to transportation half the square footage of land required under corridors and parking; and Central City 2035, a R-5 single-family zoning.

16 LAND LINES JULY 2016 17 also streamlined some ADU standards to allow on the lists of healthy, livable, and entrepreneuri- Since 1989, while the percentage of lower-in- for improved designs with slightly greater height al places. The natural beauty and high quality of come households has held steady, middle-in- and setbacks. RIPSAC is considering proposals to life in this 25.8-square-mile city of 105,000 have come households have declined from 43 percent allow any house to have two ADUs, both interior attracted start-ups and established tech firms to 37 percent of the populace. The segment and detached, triplexes on corner lots where such as Google and Twitter. The influx has fed a disappearing at the fastest rate is households duplexes are now allowed, and duplexes on digitally paced lifestyle and “1 percent” housing earning between $65,000 and $150,000 as well interior lots, with a detached ADU. Allowing market in which the median single-family as families with children. City council, the duplexes on interior lots and triplexes on corners detached house costs over $1 million. planning board, and local newspaper op-ed “doesn’t mean everyone will take advantage” of In the past two years, housing prices overall pages field lively debates over the “Aspenization” the policy changes, says Tracy, noting that only 3 have risen 31 percent.Factors beyond the tech of Boulder and infill housing options that could percent of corners now have duplexes. But “if industry have limited affordability for many years slow or reverse the city’s momentum toward every property owner took advantage of addition- (disclosure: for 23 years, I’ve lived, worked, and greater exclusivity and less diversity. This “stacked-unit duplex” in Sunnyside, featured in Portland’s Infill Design al unit potential, we would double the number of raised two kids in a formerly modest Boulder Toolkit, “continues the pattern of nearby detached houses” and echoes the housing units in each neighborhood.” neighborhood that has been largely rebuilt with form of the many nearby duplexes from the early 20th century. Credit: Bill The next phase of infill housing policy higher-end homes). The University of Colora- Cunningham, Portland Bureau of Planning and . To increase the number of middle-income considerations will address how medium-density do-Boulder, a key economic driver with 38,000 units for people earning more than 80 percent housing types might fit into small infill and faculty, staff, and students, generates significant multi-dwelling sites. The city has already been housing demand. A jobs-housing imbalance of AMI, Portland is relying on policy changes moving in that direction: Portland’s Infill Design translates to an estimated 60,000 arriving rather than funding strategies. “Five or ten years ago, people would ask, ‘Why Toolkit guide focuses on integrating rowhouses, and departing daily, despite regional and local is this house being built on a narrow lot?’” says triplexes and fourplexes, courtyard housing, and bus service. RIP project manager Morgan Tracy. “Now it’s not low-rise multifamily buildings into neighborhoods. State law prohibits rent control, and the Boulder has been working on affordability so surprising. They’re really becoming popular “What may be shocking and alarming for state’s “condominium construction defects and inclusivity for some time. Its inclusionary because they’re at a lower price point for buyers.” some people becomes more acceptable as you legislation” has squelched that type of construc- zoning ordinance has produced 3,300 affordable Policy changes regarding accessory dwelling see it more,” says Tracy. “We’re seeing that with tion for middle-income housing. Boulder is also housing units since 2000. Developers of projects units have helped generate new moderately duplexes and triplexes in single-family neighbor- home to many independently wealthy “trustafari- with five or more units are required to construct priced housing and have drawn the attention of hoods. The last time we built them was in the ans” and speculative buyers who purchase 20 percent as permanently affordable, build public officials from other cities in search of 1930s and ’40s. We’re trying to promote a wider homes with cash from selling property in other off-site, donate land, or make a cash-in-lieu solutions to their own housing crises. ADU diversity of housing forms, and some folks are high-end markets. Some are second or third payment to the city’s affordable housing fund. construction has exploded since 2010, when the supportive because they understand the need to residences; others are reserved for short-term The city’s goal is 10 percent permanently afforda- city waived development fees covering sewer, be able to house more people on available land.” rentals like airbnb. In June 2015, city council ble housing; some 7.3 percent of the city’s water, and other connections, voted to restrict short-term vacation rentals, housing stock now qualifies. reducing construction costs by $8,000 to $11,000 Boulder: More Housing Is Better, saying they impacted affordability and reduced Part of the affordable program is aimed at per unit. The waiver inspired a surge in construc- But There Are Down Sides the number of long-term housing opportunities. middle-income housing: the city has a goal of tion: almost 200 ADUs were permitted in Boulder is studying what other cities are doing Development limitations include few creating 450 permanently affordable units for 2013—six times the yearly average from 2000 to to encourage gentle infill, and a recent trip to residential lots, a 45,000-acre ring of protected households earning 80 to 120 percent of AMI. 2009. In 2015, the city granted 350 new ADU Portland by city officials, staff, and business open space around the city, and a height limit, to Since 2000, 107 units for middle-income house- permits, for a current total of more than 1,500 leaders offered perspective on what could work preserve mountain views, capped at between 35 holds have been built in new mixed-income units. Tracy says ADUs “are a well-accepted at home. Like Portland, Boulder has determined and 55 vertical feet, depending on planned devel- neighborhoods on land annexed in north Boulder. means of producing more housing because to halve carbon emissions by 2030, provide more opment intensity and location near transit. The Many are in the Holiday neighborhood, a mixed- they’re better integrated into a site and don’t infill housing in the developed city core, protect city is within sight of a theoretical build-out; a use model of 42 percent affordable units necessitate a home being demolished.” open space, and encourage public transportation forecast of 6,760 additional units by 2040 is being integrated within a total of 333 townhomes, row Any single-family house in the main zoning use. But with one-sixth of Portland’s population considered for the current update of the Boulder houses, flats, live-work studios, and cohousing. districts can have an ADU, and a proposal would and different challenges and opportunities, Valley Comprehensive Plan. A 2015 housing Recently built middle-income units are located in allow up to two units—an interior apartment Boulder seeks its own consensus on what gentle survey conducted for the plan indicated that the Northfield Commons neighborhood, where plus a separate carriage house or granny flat. The infill means. most residents were willing to increase density half of the 43 percent of affordable units in city does not limit the number of ADUs within a Located 25 miles northwest of Denver in the and building height to allow for more housing, at duplexes, fourplexes, sixplexes, and townhomes neighborhood or require off-street parking. It has foothills of the Rockies, Boulder also ranks high least in some parts of the city. are reserved for middle-income households.

18 LAND LINES JULY 2016 19 YIMBYs Unite in Boulder housing, and sustainability. “Physically we could is considering a more welcoming ordinance put in quite a few here, but, politically, there will that supporters say would benefit the city by be quite a lot of discussion about parking and offering a sustainable and community-oriented On a hot sunny weekend in June, the first-ever building, and NIMBY challenges, including traffic impacts.” lifestyle for single residents, young families, YIMBY (“Yes in my back yard”) “unconference,” titles such as “How F-cked is San Francisco— City council is considering “creative adjust- seniors, and people who work lower-wage jobs. as the democratically run gathering was called, Lessons From the Worst Housing Market in the ments” to existing housing that could have less “We tend to be a regulatory city, and we drew 150-plus young and old urbanists to Country” and “Reframing the Sacredness of impact on the footprint and “character” of have really embraced deliberative planning,” Boulder from 25 cities, including ; San Single-family Zoning.” residential areas, such as loosening code says Susan Richstone, deputy director of Francisco; Sitka, ; and Brisbane, Australia. The gathering was bookended by references restrictions on the number of unrelated people planning, housing, and sustainability. “It hasn’t “YIMBYTown” drew urban planners, to the social and economic implications of rising who can share a home. In most residential zones, always been easy, but we’re having the discus- , elected officials, and advocates housing costs and displacement. In the opening no more than three unrelated people can share a sions and making changes in planning and for affordable housing, transportation, plenary, Sonja Trauss, founder of the San house, even if it has six bedrooms and multiple zoning levels within a regulatory framework. , the environment, and social Francisco Bay Area Renters’ Federation (SF- bathrooms. A ballot measure petition launched It’s in our DNA.” justice. It was sponsored by the San Francisco BARF), says a key goal of the movement is to recently by University of Colorado graduate “Density is a bogeyman here, and people based Open Philanthropy Project and the “repopulate cities” as “an integrative process to students asks Boulder voters to overturn the are up in arms,” says Bryan Bowen, an Boulder Area Realtor® Association and hosted counter the segregation of the .” In occupancy limit and adopt a “one person = one and planner who is a member of the Boulder by Better Boulder, a local advocacy group that closing remarks, Sara Maxana of Seattle for bedroom” policy. Allowing higher occupancy is Planning Board and the city’s Middle Income last November spearheaded a successful Everyone noted a growing body of evidence that controversial, because, although it would provide Working Group. Residents are anxious about campaign to defeat two ballot initiatives “exclusionary zoning causes housing shortages more places for students and others to live both modest homes being scrapped and replaced intended to limit growth in the city. (Disclosure: in high-demand cities and leads to exclusion by legally, it could further drive up housing costs for with 5,000 square-foot $1.5 million new homes The author is a Better Boulder member-volun- class. It induces segregation by wealth and families, as monthly rent in group houses, and the possibility of greater density with more teer.) Presentations and discussions focused reduces access to opportunity, good jobs, particularly close to the university, often costs as large edgy-looking multifamily apartment on housing, zoning, , coalition schools, healthcare, and open space.” much as $1,000 per bedroom. buildings. “That’s probably why gentle infill feels The city is also discussing a revision of its good, though it has an interpretive quality. It’s a 20-year-old cooperative housing ordinance. No question of what people find to be compatible co-op projects have been permitted because the and palatable.” There’s no consensus yet about ordinance was “essentially a path to No,” says which infill approach will work best, Bowen says. Driskell. Three affordable rental co-ops were “But frankly, in moderation, some application of “It’s very expensive to subsidize people manager for Housing Boulder. “Are they in established under other measures. City council all of them might be needed.” making $70,000 to $130,000 per year,” says single-family neighborhoods or at the edge of Aaron Brockett, a city council member and service-industrial areas? Where are you willing to former planning board member, referencing a locate those, and what’s appropriate? You also middle-income housing study prepared for the need a concentration of people to support retail. These live/work units are one of many city that defined Boulder’s middle market as 80 Boulder has lots of commercial corridors, but affordable housing types in Boulder’s Holiday neighborhood, a mixed-use to 150 percent of AMI. He advocates for “market they need a sufficient number of people to community on the redeveloped site of solutions like smaller units as a trade-off in support all of them.” a former drive-in movie theater. Credit: those areas that have amenities and services The city also plans to adjust the ADU ordi- Boulder Housing Partners. such as mixed-use areas where people can walk nance to achieve more middle-income affordabil- to transit and redeveloping areas.” ity in neighborhoods of mostly single-family In preparing a comprehensive housing detached houses, which comprise about 41 strategy, Boulder is exploring ideas for middle-in- percent of the city’s 46,000-unit housing stock. come infill housing in transit corridors, commer- An ADU ordinance in effect since 1981 has cial strips, business , and industrial areas permitted only 186 ADUs and 42 OAUs (owner’s that could be rezoned and redeveloped, and in accessory units) because of requirements walkable mixed-use neighborhood centers in regarding off-street parking, minimum lot size, residential areas. “The 15-minute neighborhood and limits on ADU density. “We’d like ADUs for is the Holy Grail for a lot of communities, but it diversity of housing in neighborhoods,” says takes a lot of work,” says Jay Sugnet, project David Driskell, executive director of planning,

20 LAND LINES JULY 2016 21 Cambridge: Bridging the INCOME GAP chusetts Alliance. “It’s hard for Cambridge, located across the Charles River middle-class people to live there.” Cambridge and three miles west of Boston, has the most has the infrastructure to support much greater expensive housing in Massachusetts and bears density and to add significantly more residential keen pressure to produce more missing-middle development and huge residential towers, “but it options. The population has increased more doesn’t want to be Boston.” than 10 percent since 2000, to 110,000 residents The city is in the first year of a three-year within a compact 6.5 square miles, and is comprehensive plan process, its first since projected to grow by 6,200 homes before 2030, 2000 (the state does not require according to the Planning to develop comprehensive plans). Affordable Council (MAPC), the agency for housing for low, moderate, and middle incomes Metro Boston. The city has 117,000 jobs and —a resounding theme through the public more than 52,000 housing units, about half of process—is the number-one priority, says Iram them located in mixed-use commercial areas. Farooq, assistant city manager for community The average listed single-family home price in development. 2015 exceeded $1.2 million. Median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,300. “Cambridge has become a bifurcated place Mass + Main, a mixed-use development in Central Square, Cambridge, required a zoning variance to allow for greater height of very high income and very low income,” says and density in exchange for 20 percent affordable units. Credit: This carriage house ADU, in the mixed-use Holiday neighborhood, is part of Boulder Twining Properties. Housing Partners’ affordable rental program. Credit: Boulder Housing Partners. Andre Leroux, executive director of the Massa-

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs): A Preferred Infill Housing Approach

Demographic changes such as aging popula- land acquisition and development of larger-scale tions, shrinking household size, college-loan- multifamily projects by municipalities, nonprofit strapped millennials, and cultural preferences affordable housing organizations, and private are leading many cities to allow home owners to developers. At Denver’s Bridging the Gap housing build ADUs, also known as in-law , summit in May, a session on small-scale afforda- granny flats, and carriage houses. Advocates say bility posed a potential scenario for the city: 70 ADUs—built in the interior of a home, rebuilt neighborhoods multiplied by 300 ADUs per from a garage, or newly built as a separate neighborhood would equal 21,000 moderately cottage—offer affordable options for elderly priced housing units. parents, adult kids, and caregivers. They’re also a At the recent YIMBY conference in Boulder, source of rental income that can help residents Susan Somers of AURA (formerly Austinites for stay in their homes. As older home owners wish Urban Rail Action) in Austin, Texas, described a to downsize and age in place, some are choosing coalition effort to become “an ADU city” and to live in the ADU and rent out their main house. achieve much greater housing density in the Typically ranging from 200 square feet to mostly single-family detached city. They accom- more than 1,000 square feet, ADUs are part of a plished their mission; in November 2015, the long tradition of modest apartments and Austin City Council passed a resolution relaxing multigenerational houses that were common ADU regulations and allowing them on smaller before the era of single-family suburban homes. lots. AURA hopes to help home owners entitle 500 Many housing advocates are keen on ADUs as a new ADUs annually. The units provide “affordable way to add units quickly, with home owners housing and a source of income to allow folks to financing the infill of existing neighborhoods, stay in their homes,” says Somers. In gentrifying compared to the lengthy and costly process of East Austin, “this is how families stay together.”

22 LAND LINES JULY 2016 23 “For a lot of working people, there are fewer Cambridge has been building infill housing, residents. The project required a zoning variance, “We think there’s a grand bargain to be affordable options in the city,” says Farooq. mostly in projects ranging from 50 to 300 units, notes Farooq. “We’re now hearing political desire made between cities and and the real The greatest population decline has occurred on larger sites. East Cambridge, for example, has to rezone the rest of Central Square. People don’t estate development community to unshackle among residents earning between 50 and 80 seen the development of thousands of housing seem to be as opposed to density as height, so percent of AMI, she says. Middle-income units in the past decade, along with millions of we’ll have to explore what that means in terms of development near walkable places, infra- households earning between 80 and 120 percent square feet of office space and restaurants, on urban form.” structure, and transportation while curbing of the area’s AMI are also leaving the city for land that was formerly industrial. The city is Townhouses, duplexes, and triple deckers are sprawl and protecting natural areas.” housing options elsewhere in the urban region. requiring residential units with all new develop- the norm in Cambridge, and only 7.5 percent are She notes that a city program that offered ment; 40 percent of a new commercial project in single-family detached homes. New rules passed low-interest financing to home buyers earning up East Cambridge’s Kendall Square will be in May that allow the conversion of basements to 120 percent of AMI experienced little demand. dedicated to housing. Some of this new develop- into accessory dwelling units in single- and environment, public health, affordable housing, “Just creating the program doesn’t mean ment is subsidized for the middle class. But few two-family homes throughout the city could and transportation supported the bill, which is people are going to use it. With the same parcels exist in residential areas, land costs are enable 1,000 legal ADUs. The ADUs don’t need a poised to become state law next legislative financial commitment, they are able to go three high, and residents are pushing back. zoning variance, and off-street parking is not session. A legal and policy strategy, it includes miles down the and find a nicer or bigger For years, housing advocates have been required. The square footage of the new units a fair-housing clause that prohibits communi- house for the same money. Being able to hold urging the city to add more infill housing and won’t count as gross floor area (ADUs previously ties from making discriminatory land-use onto the middle is more challenging than at increase density in Central Square, the historic were prohibited in most cases due to the decisions, which Leroux and others say other income levels.” municipal center of the city. Located on Massa- existing floor-area ratio and requirements for increase segregation in many metropolitan chusetts Avenue, Central Square has a subway lot area per dwelling unit). Supporters say the areas, as low-income residents, including station and a bus-transfer station where eight rules won favor because they allow for more people of color, get pushed out of redeveloping Allowing duplexes on internal lots and bus routes converge. The area has some three- efficient use of large homes and won’t alter the urban neighborhoods. triplexes on corners “doesn’t mean everyone and four-story buildings as well as one- and look of the neighborhood. Suburban communities also need to do will take advantage of the policy changes,” two-story buildings that could be redeveloped for “It’s important that there are people in the their fair share, he says. Many suburbs are still dense mixed-use housing next to transit. The city who are willing to accept trade-offs,” says zoning and building for the auto-oriented Tracy says. “But if every property owner did square historically had taller, denser buildings Farooq, noting that the YIMBY movement has market, with “a lot of modest homes being torn we would double the number of housing units before some third and fourth stories were “great political capital” to counter NIMBY down and replaced with McMansions,” he says. in each neighborhood.” removed to reduce during the Depression. pushback against infill housing. “There is a “We think there’s a grand bargain to be made In 2012, however, some neighbors tried to community desire to see more housing, and many between cities and towns and the persuade the city to downzone Central Square. young people, including a lot of renters, recognize development community to unshackle develop- The city is using regulatory strategies to “Downzoning is not appropriate in a crisis in that it’s important to increase the supply and not ment near walkable places, infrastructure, and fund more affordable housing. An incentive which we’re so restricted in our ability to build have steep increases in rent, to make housing transportation while curbing sprawl and zoning ordinance enacted in 1988 required housing,” says Jesse Kanshoun-Benanav, an more manageable and accessible.” protecting natural areas.” To allow for more linkage payments to offset the effects of and affordable housing developer diverse housing growth, he says, the Alliance commercial development on the housing who started the civic group A Better Cambridge Regional Approaches and others are promoting “as-of-right,” or market. In 2015, the city updated the ordin- in response to the downzoning effort, to promote permitted zoning uses, in walkable areas, ance, increasing the rate for developers from increased density for infill housing opportunities. Leroux from the Massachusetts Smart Growth commercial centers, villages, centers, $4.58 to $12 per square foot and broadening The city council tabled the downzoning effort and Alliance and others across the nation say that and urban squares, because “that’s where the the requirement to include any nonresidential since then has been allowing zoning changes in housing needs should be addressed as a regional market is and where we need to let the market development, including healthcare and univer- Central Square and providing incentives such as issue, and cities and towns should work together do its job.” sity facilities, labs, and office space. The city is additional height and density in exchange for the to allow urban infill housing and approaches like also considering new zoning for infill sites and development of more affordable housing. ADUs under state zoning laws. In June, the an expansion of its inclusionary housing At the eastern end of Central Square, Twining Massachusetts Senate passed a bill that would ordinance, which now requires 11.5 percent Properties is developing Mass + Main, a multi- reform 1970s-era zoning laws to permit ADUs Kathleen McCormick, principal of Fountainhead affordability in new projects, to 20 percent parcel mixed-use project with a 195-foot tower and multifamily housing districts in every , LLC, lives and works in Boulder, affordable units for moderate, middle-income, and 270 apartments, 20 percent of which will be community. A coalition including the Alliance; the Colorado, and writes frequently about sustainable, and low-income households. affordable for low, moderate, and middle-income Senate President; mayors; and advocates for the healthy, and resilient communities.

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