Seattle adopts upzoning, affordable-housing requirements

SEATTLE (AP) – The Seattle City Council has voted unanimously to allow taller buildings and denser construction around 27 neighborhood hubs while requiring developers to contribute to affordable housing.

The Seattle Times reports the zoning changes approved Monday are some of the most sweeping in Seattle in recent times, and they come after years of record-breaking population growth.

Outside the 27 hubs with transit stations and lines, blocks where apartment buildings and commercial buildings are already allowed also will be upzoned by one or several stories.

The plan to harness private construction to help create thousands of units of low-income housing while making Seattle more urban won support from some developers, nonprofit housing providers, unions, environmentalists and density advocates.

Many other cities have such policies. Seattle until recently only had voluntary programs.