· The community sentiment is to encourage flexibility in “missing middle” (middle class) housing types across the City. However, the community is almost evenly split on whether existing neighborhood-specific policies that restrict “missing middle” should be kept or removed.
· Questionnaire Comments on Missing Middle:
o “I do not want to see low income housing in my neighborhood. This would lower property values and impact my ability to resell the home that I've worked hard to own. Should my tax dollar go to help someone else buy a home? No.”
OR
o “Allowing density is our local way to help fight climate change and increase housing affordability. Allowing the free market to develop duplexes and triplexes is one of the best ways to do this, with minimal negative impact to quality of life. I wonder how Kirkland has promoted subdividing properties and building new modern housing
What do you think? Email: council@redmond.gov.
What wasn't discussed by the City is a free market plan to develop 22 downtown acres into an "Urban Village."
--Council memo, Redmond Neighborhood Blog report, 9/21/2021
Do the people who say "I do not want to see low-income housing in my neighborhood" understand the difference between "affordable" and "subsidized" housing? Because adding affordable—smaller and/or attached dwellings that simply cost less—is different from something like the Permanent Supportive Housing that's causing so much stir. Multiple large developments in the last few years in Redmond have added cheaper housing and if I hadn't been looking, I wouldn't even have noticed that there were some duplexes/townhomes among the single-family detached homes. Those won't have a big effect on SFD prices because they're a different price point and market.
ReplyDeleteWhen we advocate for the missing middle, we need to emphasize that these are hardly drug dealers and addicts (not that they don't also deserve support!); these are teachers, hairdressers, firefighters and other services we depend on and honor. Not everyone gets to have two tech incomes (and I feel obliged to mention this even more because I did buy a house with two tech incomes).