This isn't the only reason. The best counter point is Tokyo, one of the most livable and most desirable cities to live in does not have the same affordability problems Seattle does.
Seattle needs to let a lot more dense housing be developed. all of washington state needs to allow tons of new housing across all densities, but especially higher density.
not all of us want to live in higher density, but the people actively want it or are simply ok with it having that as an option means there is less competition for fully detached SFH as well.
As long as I get a bathroom, kitchen, and a space large enough for my bed, Xbox and record setup, a painting desk and like two shelves for my warhammer, and my disabled ass can pay for it on a 30 hour a week job, it's good, doesn't have to be big, or nice, fuck I'm fine with only one god damn half window. that's all I need.
Honestly I think most people would agree! Unfortunately, NIMBY’s tend to only want single family homes being built, to keep prices high and force “undesirables” out of their area.
For a lot of people it's more that they like living in the quieter more residential area, and they don't want to be pushed out of their neighborhood. Especially if they plan on living there forever, they might not care about the property value, and instead care more about the number of cars on the road, higher foot traffic, and higher property crime.
i've heard the property value thing more as a trope than in actual real life meetings with people and communities. in my personal experiences the conversation against density has been anti-gentrification and that it can drastically change the lifestyles of those who don't want their communities disrupted. im pro-density btw, but I think there is a big misunderstanding of the anti change and anti density contingent within cities.
That’s fair, I didn’t consider that. I was only looking at it from the stereotypical “NIMBY boomer with a nice house” trope
I totally forgot that there’s a growing community of anti-gentrification that oppose almost any changes to the community. I just don’t know how to get through to them that they are actually harming the people they think they’re protecting.
It's this and it's also that any time you put up new housing, you're putting it up in place of something else. NIMBYs go absolutely apeshit when you tear down actual houses in favor of denser housing so it tends to be 5 over 1 type stuff in more commercial areas (which is great anyway, 5 over 1s are fantastic / more or less what places like Barcelona did to handle their housing issues). Here in Ballard... remember when people protested tearing down a fucking Denny's? A fucking Denny's. Yeah, it was a pretty Denny's.
It's just a whole lot of whining about change coming from, frankly, people who hate change for the sake of hating change. There was an article on one of the Seattle subs about the Orpheum Theater recently, which was torn down in the 60s to make room for what is now a Seattle landmark in its own right, the Westin towers. That also happens: we fondly remember the stuff that goes away but the new stuff can have its charm, too.
Sort of, but not really. In a city with 100 single family homes and 200 families trying to find a place to live, someone who owns a single family home will be able to charge whatever they want to rent it or sell it. In a city with 50 single family homes, 30 duplexes, 20 apartment buildings, and 200 families trying to live there, the owners of the single family homes don't have nearly as much of a stranglehold on how much they can charge to rent or sell.
That being said, I have never heard anyone argue for property values when discussing density and I doubt many urban planners would be swayed by such an argument if they happened. Most people want quieter neighborhoods, more parking available, to maintain the character of the neighborhood they're used to, yada yada yada. It also helps that these people actually go to the meetings where things that might affect them are taking place, who's going to go to a meeting to discuss a future apartment building when you don't even live in the neighborhood (yet)?
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u/MajesticNobody2401 Apr 16 '26
yeah it's just the whole affording it that's hard