Capitol Hill Community Vision -- Housing<title> <head> <body BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> <p><hr SIZE="2" WIDTH="95%" ALIGN="left" NOSHADE> <a NAME="Housing"><h3>B. Housing </h3></a> <p> <table BORDER="1" WIDTH="400" CELLPADDING="4"> <tr><th ALIGN="left" HEIGHT="18">Vision 2014</th></tr><tr><td ALIGN="left" HEIGHT="250">Affordable housing is available for all who wish to live on Capitol Hill. Rental housing, in a variety of price ranges, is abundant and there are also opportunities for people to own homes in the neighborhood. A range of housing types is available, including single-family houses, historic apartment buildings, live-work units, mixed-use buildings with housing above commercial uses, warehouse lofts, and accessory units. Residential architecture echoes the scale, height and style of the area's historic character.</td></tr></table><br> <table BORDER="1" WIDTH="400" CELLPADDING="4"> <tr><th ALIGN="left" HEIGHT="18">Community Objectives</th></tr><tr><td ALIGN="left"><b><i>Highest Priorities:</i></b><br> • Retain and increase affordable housing.<br> • Provide a range of housing options.<br> • Preserve some single-family houses.<br> • Preserve older housing structures.</td></tr> <tr><td ALIGN="left"><b><i>Other Objectives:</i></b><br> • Develop high-quality new housing that blends with historic housing.<br> • Encourage maintenance of residential properties.<br> • Increase the number of households on Capitol Hill. </td></tr></table> <br> <table BORDER="1" WIDTH="400" CELLPADDING="4"> <tr><th ALIGN="left" HEIGHT="18"> Comprehensive Plan Growth Targets</th></tr><tr><td ALIGN="left"> • Existing households: <i>11,354</i><br> • Addt'l households expected by the year 2014: <i>1,980</i><br> • Total households expected by the year 2014: <i>13,334</i></td></tr></table> <p><hr SIZE="2" WIDTH="400" ALIGN="left" NOSHADE> <h4>Community Objectives</h4> <p><b>Retain and increase affordable housing. </b> Providing ample affordable housing was identified by Capitol Hill residents as a critical neighborhood planning objective. Keeping housing affordable for a wide range of income groups is seen as important to stabilizing the Capitol Hill community. If housing costs are uniformly high, Capitol Hill's population will become less diverse because lower-income people — including students, artists, seniors, and others — will not be able to afford to stay in the neighborhood. As one workshop participant commented, "We definitely need to keep rents down so that people can stay here. It's hard to build community when people leave all the time." According to the BIA survey, the average residency on Capitol Hill is 8.7 years. Surveyed residents predict that they are likely to remain living on Capitol Hill an average of 13 more years. <br> <table ALIGN="bottom" BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="4"> <tr><th ALIGN="left">Countywide 1990 median income for a household of 2.5 persons</th><th ALIGN="left">$36,179</th></tr> <tr><td>80% of median income</td><td>$28,943</td></tr><tr><td>50% of median income</td><td>$18,089</td></tr><tr><td>Rent affordable to households with income of less than 50% of median</td><td>$450/mo. </td></tr> <tr HEIGHT="5"></tr> <tr><td ALIGN="left"><b>Capitol Hill Urban Center Village 1990 total housing units</b></td><td><b>12,061 units</b></td></tr><tr><td>Number housing units affordable to households with income less than 50% of median</td><td>7,889 units</td></tr><tr><td>% of total housing units affordable to households with income less than 50% of median</td><td>65%</td></tr></table> <font SIZE="-2"><i>Source: Capitol Hill Community Profile, Seattle Office of Management & Planning</i></font> <p> <p><img SRC="images/figure7.gif" ALT="Figure 7. Income distribution of Capitol Hill residents."> <p><hr SIZE="2" WIDTH="50%" ALIGN="left" NOSHADE> <font FACE="times roman" SIZE="-2"> Figure 7. Income distribution of Capitol Hill residents.</font> <p>The 11,354 households currently existing in the Capitol Hill Urban Center Village have a person-per-unit ratio of 1.4. This is much lower than the citywide ratio of 2.07, indicating a greater percentage of single-person households and fewer families; i.e., small household size also means smaller housing units. Although not reported in the census, Capitol Hill's large gay and lesbian community, comprised of men and women from all backgrounds, undoubtedly contributes to this predominance of single-person households. A high percentage (87%) of Capitol Hill tenants are renters, which is markedly different from the city's 51% renters to 48% owners breakdown. In 1990, the average Capitol Hill tenant was paying $414 for each unit, $49 less than the citywide average. [Figure 8.]<p> <p><img SRC="images/figure8.gif" ALT="Figure 8. Average rent for all apartments in Capitol Hill."> <p><hr SIZE="2" WIDTH="50%" ALIGN="left" NOSHADE> <font FACE="times roman" SIZE="-2"> Figure 8. Average rent for all apartments in Capitol Hill.<br>Source: Dupre and Scott Apartment Advisors</font> <p> <p><img SRC="images/figure9.gif" ALT="Figure 9. Percent of annual turnover of rental housing units in Capitol Hill."> <p><hr SIZE="2" WIDTH="50%" ALIGN="left" NOSHADE> <font FACE="times roman" SIZE="-2"> Figure 9. Percent of annual turnover of rental housing units in Capitol Hill.<br>Source: Dupre and Scott Apartment Advisors</font> <p> <p><img SRC="images/figure10.gif" ALT="Figure 10. Housing occupancy in Capitol Hill."> <p><hr SIZE="2" WIDTH="50%" ALIGN="left" NOSHADE> <font FACE="times roman" SIZE="-2"> Figure 10. Housing occupancy in Capitol Hill.</font><p>Recent statistics indicate that the average rent for apartments in Seattle has increased by 17% over the past five years. At the same time, the percentage of apartments turning over annually has decreased. The combination of higher rents and fewer turnovers has resulted in a shortage of available affordable housing in Capitol Hill. [Figures 8, 9, and 10.] In addition, some types of affordable housing, such as shared houses, rooming houses, and small apartment buildings, are disappearing as they are torn down to make way for larger apartment buildings. Ideas for achieving the community's goal of providing adequate housing to serve low- and medium-income populations include establishing rent control, avoiding gentrification in redevelopment, and working with city, state, and federal housing programs to develop affordable housing. Local affordable housing providers, such as Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program (CHHIP) will continue to play an important role in this effort. <i>See also: "Provide housing for populations with special needs," p. 21.</i><p><b>Provide a range of housing options.</b> Capitol Hill has historically been a neighborhood that provides an array of housing — from mansions to rooming houses — and residents would like to preserve this variety. [Figure 11.] Community members like the mix of rental homes and owner-occupied homes. They also like more unusual housing types, such as live-work units, mixed-use buildings with housing above commercial uses, warehouse lofts, and accessory units. Residents requested more housing to serve particular populations, such as students, families with children, and seniors. In terms of new housing, there is a need to balance affordable housing with market-rate housing, especially single-family housing. Outreach participants offered creative suggestions for new housing that included developing housing above existing single-story commercial buildings (especially on 15th Avenue), converting commercial buildings into residential spaces, and building more cluster housing around shared courtyards. <i>See also: "Provide housing for populations with special needs," p. 21, and "Support families with children," p. 49.</i><p> <p><img SRC="images/figure11.gif" ALT="Figure 11. Housing types currently existing in Capitol Hill."> <p><hr SIZE="2" WIDTH="50%" ALIGN="left" NOSHADE> <font FACE="times roman" SIZE="-2"> Figure 11. Housing types currently existing in Capitol Hill.</font> <p><b>Preserve some single-family houses. </b> Approximately 300 single-family houses currently exist within the boundaries of the Capitol Hill Urban Center Village. Given household growth estimates, the fate of the single-family homes in the Capitol Hill urban village will be an important issue for the community. Since there are few vacant parcels, housing growth will mean that lower density housing in areas zoned for higher density housing may redevelop into higher densities. Thus, single-family structures in multi-family zones will be particularly vulnerable to redevelopment as denser residential buildings.<p>Currently, community opinion is split regarding the preservation of single-family houses in the urban village. Some residents question the long-term sustainability of keeping single-family houses in an urban area where infrastructure and services are designed to serve a dense population. Others lament the potential loss of single-family houses to multi-family structures. Single-family houses do contribute to the range of housing types and the scale of housing that community members say they value. These factors should be weighed in determining the fate of single-family houses on Capitol Hill. <i>See also: "Support families with children," p. 49.</i><p><b>Preserve older housing structures. </b> Nearly every neighborhood planning respondent expressed the wish to preserve Capitol Hill's older bungalows, grand 14th Avenue mansions, historic apartment buildings (Anhalt buildings), and classic brick apartment buildings. The community may want to seek historic preservation status to protect some of these older residences. <p><b>Develop high-quality housing that blends with historic housing.</b> Most of Capitol Hill's housing stock (90%) was built before 1980, with 50% built prior to 1940. While residential architectural styles in the neighborhood vary, community members strongly prefer the small to medium scale, masonry, and style of older structures, which lend a character to the neighborhood that residents would like to preserve. While residents want housing to be affordable, they also want it to be high quality. They generally dislike cheaply built newer apartment buildings and condominiums. <p>Regarding architectural style for new construction, community members requested that new multi-family housing match the scale, height, and style of the area's older buildings. Residents like the "single-family house look," and they generally favor medium-scale multi-family housing such as small apartment buildings, multiplexes, mansions divided into multiple units, townhouses, garden apartments, cottages, and condominiums. Residents desire views, decks, porches, gardens, and off-street parking for multi-family housing. Planning efforts might seek to develop neighborhood design guidelines and design review mechanisms to ensure that new development maintains Capitol Hill's character. The neighborhood plan may develop design guidelines to ensure that new housing is compatible with older multi-family housing styles. Programs to help homeowners restore housing in keeping with historic character would also help maintain the area's historic character. <i>See also: "Preserve historic landmark buildings," p. 38; "Retain Capitol Hill's pedestrian scale and character," p. 38; and "Encourage high-quality new construction," p. 39.</i><p><b>Encourage maintenance of residential properties.</b> A number of Capitol Hill rental properties (both apartments and single-family houses) that are owned by absentee landlords suffer from lack of upkeep. Neighbors of these properties are concerned about the negative impact of this disrepair on the surrounding properties and the character of the neighborhood. Planning efforts need to find ways to motivate non-resident property owners to support the character and health of the neighborhood. <p><b>Increase the number of households on Capitol Hill.</b> Although significant housing growth is targeted by the Comp Plan, increasing the number of households on Capitol Hill was rated by community members as a low priority. Community members want housing growth to be managed in such a way that it supports the community's other objectives, namely preserving the existing neighborhood character. <p>The housing growth goals set forth in the Comp Plan anticipate a 17% increase in the number of households in Capitol Hill over the next seventeen years. City planners estimate that, under current zoning, there is enough land capacity zoned for housing development in Capitol Hill to accommodate this expected growth. In fact, the Comp Plan targets represent only about 62% of available land capacity zoned for residential development. Because the residential neighborhood west of Broadway is already densely developed, that area will probably not grow substantially. Most of Capitol Hill's housing growth will likely to occur east of Broadway. <i>See also: "Integrate transportation improvements with housing and job growth," p. 31, and "Retain existing density levels," p. 39.</i><p> </body> </html>