Tagged: housing

The Seattle City Council is considering a moratorium on apodments, the tiny rental units with shared kitchens that have been cropping up around town. Critics complain that apodment developers are able to avoid environmental and design review.

At issue is a loophole in the city land-use code. In Seattle a single-dwelling unit is defined in large part by whether or not it has a kitchen, and a building with nine kitchens triggers a design review. That means buildings with dozens of apartments, but only seven or eight kitchens, are able to avoid review.

Apodment supporters say the bottom line is, more cheap apartments are needed. Ross Reynolds talks design and development of apodments with listeners.

Kristin O'Donnell loves meetings. "Absolutely my hobby. I do enjoy meetings," she tells me over a cup of tea in the Panama Hotel. Meetings, she says, offer a way to affect change in her community. And besides, she likes to put on a show. "To a large extent community organizing is theater; it works just often enough that I'm hooked."

Dane Corrida works as a hotel manager for a luxury cruise line based in Seattle. He owns a house on Capitol Hill, but since he spends most of his time working on the boats, he rents it out. If he has a couple of weeks off here and there, he can usually charm a friend or two into letting him couch surf.