Sightline Institute

3 weeks ago | sightline.org | Michael Andersen |Michael Anderson

Thousands of duplex, triplex, fourplex, and cottage homes have been built in Oregon since its 2019 zoning reform took effect, but they’re unevenly distributed.  Oregon cities that saw relatively faster growth allowed homes to be either attached to or detached from each other; didn’t force them to be too small; and scaled development fees with building size. Most middle housing that has been built is owner-occupied and is not accessible to people who can’t easily climb stairs.

1 month ago | sightline.org | Dan Bertolet

There’s a healthy competition brewing between states that are taking action for housing abundance. But as of May 2025, Washington leads the pack. Its legislature just passed best-in-the-US bills on both parking and transit-oriented development, along with a half-dozen other policies that address the state’s housing shortage and resulting affordability crisis in several critical ways.

Feb 13, 2025 | sightline.org | John Callery |Dan Bertolet

Washingtonians from Spokane to Sequim, Washougal to Wenatchee, are struggling to afford homes and rents in their communities due to a deep housing shortage. While recent years’ laudable legislative actions have begun to relegalize more homes, in all shapes and sizes, it will take years of dedicated effort to make up for decades of stunted homebuilding in cities and towns.

Jan 31, 2025 | sightline.org | Catie Gould |Ron Davis

Jurisdictions around the world are adopting a powerful reform that accelerates homebuilding, eliminates red tape for small businesses, reduces pollution and sprawl, revitalizes downtowns, and streamlines permitting—at zero cost to the taxpayer.  That reform? Eliminating parking mandates—local governments’ arcane and unfounded requirements that every new home or business come with an arbitrary, pre-determined number of parking spaces.

Nov 15, 2024 | sightline.org | Michael Andersen |Michael Anderson

The claim comes again and again like clockwork: That allowing homes to exist can be hazardous to a politician’s career. Even at the annual picnic of her own neighborhood association, surrounded by pasta salad and barbeque, Jessica Bateman couldn’t escape the threat. It was summer 2019. In her first term as a city councilor in Olympia, Washington, Bateman had led a charge to legalize duplexes, fourplexes, and other small apartment buildings in much more of the city.