Seattle Rep Pramila Jayapal on Housing

cawacko

cawacko

Well-known member
I'll take performative politics for $1K Alex.

Nothing about zoning, permitting or any other number of issues that affect supply. Instead she just throws out empty slogans.

She doesn't call herself a Democratic socialist but she's a progressive. Interesting to see the divide between the pro housing and abundance democrats and the progressives who fight against any market rate housing then complain about the high cost of housing.


https://x.com/PramilaJayapal
@PramilaJayapal

Seattle has one of the worst housing crises in the country. I see it every time I’m home in my district.People working full-time jobs who can’t afford rent. Teachers, nurses, and transit workers who can’t live in the city they serve. Families on housing assistance waiting lists that have been frozen for years.This is a policy failure, not an inevitability. We built this crisis by choosing developers over people. We can choose differently.Housing is a human right. We fight for it like one.
 
cawacko said:
I'll take performative politics for $1K Alex.

Nothing about zoning, permitting or any other number of issues that affect supply. Instead she just throws out empty slogans.

She doesn't call herself a Democratic socialist but she's a progressive. Interesting to see the divide between the pro housing and abundance democrats and the progressives who fight against any market rate housing then complain about the high cost of housing.


https://x.com/PramilaJayapal
@PramilaJayapal

Seattle has one of the worst housing crises in the country. I see it every time I’m home in my district.People working full-time jobs who can’t afford rent. Teachers, nurses, and transit workers who can’t live in the city they serve. Families on housing assistance waiting lists that have been frozen for years.This is a policy failure, not an inevitability. We built this crisis by choosing developers over people. We can choose differently.Housing is a human right. We fight for it like one.
Click to expand...
She and Leftists in Seattle built this crisis by idiotic policies, high property taxes, restrictive zoning and construction laws, and in general, being Luddites.

www.forbes.com

Bad Housing Policy In Seattle Should Be A Warning To Other Cities

Affordability mandates and eviction bans are well intended, but they are harming the Seattle's non-profit housing sector.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

Things like Seattle's mandatory Housing Affordability program that requires the inclusion of low rent (read that as unprofitable losses on rental units) in all new multi-family construction. Would you build apartments if you knew you'd make little or nothing on them? Zoning laws there make single family home construction extremely difficult to do. Worse, developers are charged fees for any new construction as a contribution to a Low Income Housing Credit program (eg., subsidy). This means any new construction costs more or doesn't get built at all.


Seattle's housing shortage and "crisis" is one Progressive Leftists, of Jayapal's ilk made. They seem oblivious to it other than to acknowledge that it's happening.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
She and Leftists in Seattle built this crisis by idiotic policies, high property taxes, restrictive zoning and construction laws, and in general, being Luddites.

www.forbes.com

Bad Housing Policy In Seattle Should Be A Warning To Other Cities

Affordability mandates and eviction bans are well intended, but they are harming the Seattle's non-profit housing sector.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

Things like Seattle's mandatory Housing Affordability program that requires the inclusion of low rent (read that as unprofitable losses on rental units) in all new multi-family construction. Would you build apartments if you knew you'd make little or nothing on them? Zoning laws there make single family home construction extremely difficult to do. Worse, developers are charged fees for any new construction as a contribution to a Low Income Housing Credit program (eg., subsidy). This means any new construction costs more or doesn't get built at all.


Seattle's housing shortage and "crisis" is one Progressive Leftists, of Jayapal's ilk made. They seem oblivious to it other than to acknowledge that it's happening.
Click to expand...
The one area I would push back is the idea that zoning prevents single family development. Urban areas like Seattle don't have undeveloped land where single family homes can be built.

It's the single family zoning in urban areas that's a huge barrier to density, which is what's needed to increase supply.
 
cawacko said:
The one area I would push back is the idea that zoning prevents single family development. Urban areas like Seattle don't have undeveloped land where single family homes can be built.

It's the single family zoning in urban areas that's a huge barrier to density, which is what's needed to increase supply.
Click to expand...
When you fail to zone for suburbs and expect everyone to be satisfied with an apartment lifestyle you drive off a big chunk of people who want and have families. Most people don't want to raise their kids in an apartment. They will because they have to, but it isn't their first choice.

In pushing for high urban density, a preference for public transit, and all the other usual stuff the Left loves, they alienate about 80% of the population to one degree or another.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
When you fail to zone for suburbs and expect everyone to be satisfied with an apartment lifestyle you drive off a big chunk of people who want and have families. Most people don't want to raise their kids in an apartment. They will because they have to, but it isn't their first choice.

In pushing for high urban density, a preference for public transit, and all the other usual stuff the Left loves, they alienate about 80% of the population to one degree or another.
Click to expand...
Urban areas, especially on the coasts, have a housing crisis. There are no big undeveloped plots waiting for SFH in urban areas. If the goal is to only build SFH nothing is going to get built and the housing costs will only get worse.

You can argue that we should just continue to build further and further away from urban areas (where many of the jobs are) and people should just accept they'll have an hour to two hour commute as a result. But that's not really a sustainable model.

Thus density in urban areas; duplexes, triplexes, ADU's etc. along with high rises are what will add supply.
 
cawacko said:
Urban areas, especially on the coasts, have a housing crisis. There are no big undeveloped plots waiting for SFH in urban areas. If the goal is to only build SFH nothing is going to get built and the housing costs will only get worse.

You can argue that we should just continue to build further and further away from urban areas (where many of the jobs are) and people should just accept they'll have an hour to two hour commute as a result. But that's not really a sustainable model.

Thus density in urban areas; duplexes, triplexes, ADU's etc. along with high rises are what will add supply.
Click to expand...
There are alternatives to apartments, but the Left doesn't like those either, like rowhouses and townhouses. As for jobs, in the US today these are usually in nodes in the 'burbs or on the outskirts of a city. That's because things like data centers, distribution centers, and large high-tech factories take up a lot of acreage. Downtowns are filled with banks and government, that is, the remaining office jobs.

The goal should be to build profitable housing, not "affordable" housing. If affordable housing is profitable, it'll get built.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
There are alternatives to apartments, but the Left doesn't like those either, like rowhouses and townhouses. As for jobs, in the US today these are usually in nodes in the 'burbs or on the outskirts of a city. That's because things like data centers, distribution centers, and large high-tech factories take up a lot of acreage. Downtowns are filled with banks and government, that is, the remaining office jobs.

The goal should be to build profitable housing, not "affordable" housing. If affordable housing is profitable, it'll get built.
Click to expand...
There's a whole YIMBY movement in urban areas that is fighting for more housing. And there are people on the right that live in the suburbs that are NIMBYs that fight any new development. So it's a very bi-partisan issue.

But yes, it's a supply issue and all types of housing needs to be allowed to meet demand and bring down prices.
 





Nick Gerli

@nickgerli1


Seattle's housing market is going through a historic inventory shock.There are now 8,630 listings across the Seattle metro as of Apr 2026.In a normal April, there are only 4,600 listings.Meaning inventory today is 88% above normal.This is happening due to layoffs, a historic lack of affordability, and increased outbound migration.Ultimately, good news for local Seattle buyers. For the first time in a decade, you have control over this market.Expect prices to fall in the next year, potentially by a lot in certain ZIP codes.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Nick Gerli
@nickgerli1


Seattle's housing market is going through a historic inventory shock.There are now 8,630 listings across the Seattle metro as of Apr 2026.In a normal April, there are only 4,600 listings.Meaning inventory today is 88% above normal.This is happening due to layoffs, a historic lack of affordability, and increased outbound migration.Ultimately, good news for local Seattle buyers. For the first time in a decade, you have control over this market.Expect prices to fall in the next year, potentially by a lot in certain ZIP codes.
Click to expand...
Seattle may be encountering a softer market period but that's not justification for the NIMBYism and continued difficulty in adding new supply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top