Joshua McNichols
Reporter
About
Joshua’s “Growing Pains” beat sits at the nexus of housing, transportation, urban planning, and the economy. He’s done deep reporting on Amazon and the housing shortage in our region. He interviews people who've found affordable places to live by tolerating long commutes, flooding rivers, or other hazards. He asks people what they want from work and how that's changing. He explores neighborhood "main streets" where residents and businesses come together to form community.
Public radio is a second career for Joshua, after he spent ten years in the field of architecture. He holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Washington. He has held many unusual jobs in his life, from fishing to building houses to running the kitchen at a bed and breakfast. He’s also an avid gardener who co-wrote a book on urban gardening during the Great Recession.
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: he/him/his
Professional Affiliations: Society of Professional Journalists, Western Washington Chapter
Podcasts
Stories
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Soundside
Small apartments from 100 years ago offer townhome alternative
A century ago, Seattle faced an even bigger housing shortage than it does now. Buildings people built in response offer clues as to how we might respond today. But it’ll take some changes from Olympia to make that happen.
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KUOW Newsroom
Seattle is losing more apartments than it's building. Small landlords blame overregulation
Data from Seattle’s Rental Registration and Inspection database reveal a trend: For every apartment created in a big, new building, a small landlord takes one off the market.
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KUOW Newsroom
Harrell promises downtown fix, but offers few details
Can downtown Seattle be fixed without raising taxes? Business leaders want it. Mayor Harrell has promised to do it. But his plans on what to do and how to pay for those changes remain murky at best.
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KUOW Newsroom
Backyard cottages take off in Seattle. But who benefits?
When Seattle made it easier to build backyard cottages in 2019, a lot of people worried that they’d all become Airbnbs. But a survey in a new city report suggests only 11% of them are used in that way.
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KUOW Newsroom
Racist covenants excluded many from homeownership. WA lawmakers seek to remedy 'decades of direct harms'
Homebuyers from historically marginalized groups may be getting some help with their down payments. That’s the goal of a bill making its way through the Washington State Legislature.
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KUOW Newsroom
Exploring the possibilities of downtown Seattle's uncertain future
Kim Malcolm talks with KUOW's growth and development reporter Joshua McNichols about the possibilities for downtown Seattle, which could mean fewer workers, but many more residents.
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KUOW Newsroom
Next steps for Seattle's (passing) social housing initiative
Seattle’s Social Housing initiative is leading by 14 percent and could be certified next week. So what are the next steps?
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KUOW Newsroom
What would make you live in downtown Seattle? Residents answer, city listens
One of the big lessons to come out of the pandemic – is that downtowns need people. Not just office workers – but people who live there. But how do you get people to move downtown? That’s a question Seattle officials are grappling with right now. In part 3 of our series “Downtown Reimagined,” KUOW’s Joshua McNichols went looking for downtown residents to find out what’s working, and what’s not.
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KUOW Newsroom
From offices to apartments and back: Could transformable buildings help revive downtowns?
All across this region, we have a housing shortage. On the other hand, downtown Seattle is littered with vacant offices. This has some people asking: Why don’t we turn underused office buildings into apartments?
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KUOW Newsroom
With office employees gone, downtown Seattle residents became the neighborhood's economic lifeblood
Downtown Seattle was decimated by the pandemic. Office buildings are 22% vacant right now — that’s like one in five towers being dark. But the downtown core is showing surprising signs of life.