Puget Sound Middle Housing Feasibility Analysis
Seattle, WA · 2024
Client: Washington Department of Commerce
Location: Seattle, WA
Year: 2024
CP Role: Sub-consultant to Opticos Design
Practice Area: Urban Analytics + Scenario Planning · Housing Policy
Team: Alex Steinberger, Project Manager; Pauline Ruegg, Senior Analyst; Brandon McCord, Analyst; Tara Sorrels, Analyst
The Challenge
Middle housing is scarce across the Puget Sound region as homes grow less affordable. The Washington Department of Commerce wanted to know which middle housing types and standards could be feasible for builders and attainable for residents, and which policy levers would make the difference.
Our Approach
As a sub-consultant to Opticos Design, we built a custom pro forma calibrated with regional sales and rent data to test eight middle housing types, including townhouses, multiplexes, and cottage housing, across four market pricing areas. A market assessment translated market strength into demand for each type, and interviews with builders and developers identified the main barriers. We then modeled the effect of reduced parking, faster permitting, higher density allowances, and restructured impact fees, and extended the data to every jurisdiction in the state.
Outcome
The analysis showed that middle housing is more attainable because it uses land efficiently and builds smaller units, and that some types pencil only in high-priced markets without policy help. Our pro forma informed the Middle Housing Objective Design and Development Standards Toolkit, which sets out four strategies cities can use to allow more homes in residential zones.
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