Top Policy Priorities

Allow midrise housing (4-8 stories) and mixed uses in all residential areas within walking distance of frequent transit

Rendering of midrise, mixed-use housing

Allow middle housing like triplexes, fourplexes, sixplexes, townhouses, and stacked flats throughout all residential areas

Rendering of middle housing on a residential street

Create significant floor area, height, and density bonuses for affordable and social housing development

Affordable housing rendering

Centers + Corridors Priorities

Seattle faces a deep housing shortage. Families can't find a home in the neighborhoods they grew up in, workers can't afford to live near their jobs, and seniors have limited options to downsize. Addressing that shortage requires bold action to legalize housing options throughout the city.

The new Neighborhood Residential zoning passed in December 2025 was a major step for Seattle, allowing stacked flats, fourplexes, and corner stores in neighborhoods that have been off-limits to new housing for generations.

Centers + Corridors is the next step to implement the One Seattle Plan for housing abundance: updated zoning in new and expanded Neighborhood and Urban Centers and along frequent transit corridors. The Complete Communities Coalition is proposing key amendments, so the plan can deliver on the vision of livable communities with more homes at more attainable prices, where trees can grow and families can play.

What we’re advocating for

Building Better Lowrise Zones

The draft Centers + Corridors plan would leave lowrise zones less permissive than the new Neighborhood Residential zoning right next door — a problem that undermines the whole point of designating growth areas near businesses, transit and amenities. We're proposing modest increases to FAR to correct that. Additionally, lowrise zones should allow ground-floor commercial uses so walkable retail can grow alongside new homes.

More Homes & More Trees with Courtyard Blocks

The Courtyard Block Bonus goes further. Waive the 5-foot side setback—a sliver too narrow for trees, useful mainly as a path to garbage cans—in exchange for a shared interior courtyard, and unlock greater height and density. Open space moves to where it actually serves people and creates room for trees: inside the block. The result is more family-friendly homes, genuine green space, and lower per-unit costs. The same logic applies to midrise zones: eliminating side setbacks improves building design, creates more flexible floor plans, and harmonizes with the courtyard block approach in lowrise zones.

  • More housing types at more attainable prices

  • More open space to gather and play

  • More trees with space to grow

Green Building Bonuses

Seattle can grow greener as it grows denser. Passive House buildings use dramatically less heating and cooling energy than conventional construction, cutting emissions and lowering utility costs for residents. The Seattle Social Housing Developer has pledged to build all new buildings to Passive House standards. This means more social housing in more neighborhoods across Seattle!

Mass timber stores carbon rather than emitting it. Height bonuses to support both of these innovative techniques align with what was studied in the EIS, and we're asking the Council to adopt them.

  • Passive House Bonus: Up to 85' in Urban and Regional Centers, 75' in Neighborhood Centers, 55' in transit- and parks-oriented corridors.

  • Mass Timber Bonus: An additional 40'–50' in Neighborhood Commercial zones in Regional and Urban Centers.

Draw the Map Boldly: Transit Corridors

Seattle's climate goals depend on allowing more people to live near transit. Residents who can walk to a frequent, convenient bus drive less, own fewer cars, and spend less on transportation. When the city fails to add housing in these areas, growth is pushed to the suburban fringe, locking in long commutes and car dependence.

However, the Centers + Corridors draft takes a narrow approach to allowing more housing in transit corridors. It only rezones the parcels directly on arterials, restricting new transit- oriented housing to Seattle's noisiest, most polluted streets.

We're asking the Council to go further: rezone the full five-minute walkshed around frequent bus stops to lowrise 2 zoning. Building homes on side streets near transit gives people the opportunity to live in quiet, low-pollution, and car-light neighborhoods.

More people near transit. Better streets to live on. The EIS studied this approach. The Council should adopt it.

Detailed Policy Priorities

  • Allow midrise (6-8 story) apartments within a 10 to 15 minute walk of frequent transit and parks. People should have access to affordable housing on safe, residential streets close to transit.

  • Allow the full complement of “middle housing”--duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, accessory dwelling units, cottage clusters, townhomes, stacked flats, and courtyard apartments–in all residential areas across Seattle. These housing options are relatively affordable, fit in well in neighborhood residential areas, and can create affordable homeownership options.

  • Encourage the development of affordable and social housing by providing a height, density, and floor area bonus for properties that contribute to equity goals. This could involve reserving a significant portion for people earning less than 80% of Area Median Income, supporting homeowners at risk of displacement, or all-income housing that maintains full public ownership.

  • Support walkable and complete communities throughout all of Seattle by creating neighborhood anchors that include sufficient capacity for housing and mixed-use developments to truly create 15-minute neighborhoods. Allow and incentivize the development of small ground floor commercial uses and community gathering spaces.

  • Allow high-rise housing near light rail stations and urban centers, particularly in low-displacement risk areas.

  • Allow the most growth in low-displacement areas. Fund community-based developments that utilize an affirmative marketing and/or community preference policy to allow displaced people to return.

  • Consider the health and safety impacts of infrastructure routes in decisions about future land use and housing density. Mitigate the pollution caused by freeways, airports, and other carbon-emitting transportation options, which are disproportionately located in marginalized communities, through lids and other strategies.

  • Expand opportunities for affordable homeownership, to help close the large and persistent racial homeownership and wealth gap. Ensure new affordable homeownership developments are able to benefit from all incentives available to other affordable housing types. Stabilize low-income homeowners at risk of foreclosure and displacement.

  • Ensure permit review timelines are predictable and as fast as possible. Reform design review to ensure it does not delay the production of much-needed housing.

  • Remove residential density limits and requirements for side-setbacks, upper-level stepbacks, modulation, and articulation. Such development standards require more complex building envelopes, directly reducing energy efficiency and making innovative construction methods like cross-laminated timber or modular construction more difficult.

    Remove parking requirements to reduce housing costs and promote sustainable transportation options. The high cost of parking spaces limits the feasibility of affordable housing development. By eliminating these requirements, we can create more affordable and sustainable housing options while also encouraging alternative transportation methods.

  • Encourage sustainable construction by offering incentives for meeting deep green building standards, such as passive house construction or preservation of embedded carbon in existing structures.

    Promote the creation of housing options that are physically accessible to people with disabilities, as well as unit sizes that can accommodate multigenerational households, housing for elders, and housing with sufficient rooms for larger families.

  • Identify gaps in transit frequency and park access, and work towards filling these gaps. Build safe walking, rolling, and biking infrastructure in parts of the city where it is missing. Ensure publicly-owned open spaces located near transit provide a variety of uses that are accessible to a wide range of users.