Chapter 1.1
Climate Change

• ALL
• Remove Code Barriers
• Create Incentives
• Fill Regulatory Gaps

Varying Unit Sizes within Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Buildings

INTRODUCTION

Creating a variety of unit sizes (VUS) within multi-family residential and mixed-use buildings is a market-based approach to addressing the need for affordable and sustainable housing development. Many municipalities establish minimum living space requirements, as well as designated living areas, such as kitchens and bathrooms.[1] These restrictions prevent developers from building smaller and more efficient living spaces. In contrast, VUS ordinances require and/or incentivize developers to build a wide variety of unit sizes—from small efficiency apartments up to three-bedroom apartments—within the same multi-family development.[2] Recognizing that housing markets include wide varieties of buyers and renters, local governments can implement VUS ordinances to expand the supply of affordable housing options, and to improve the sustainability of neighborhoods.

EFFECTS

Traditional ordinances and building practices limit the supply of multi-family dwelling units to uniform sizes, forcing most potential renters and buyers to pay for standard-sized units, even if those units are not best suited to an individual or family’s needs and financial capacity. This lack of choice has a broader effect on the market, as it artificially increases demand and prices for standard dwelling units.[3] Further, when coupled with housing incentives and subsidies, it drives up the taxpayer costs of such programs in a cyclical fashion. Housing subsidies encourage developers to build larger, more expensive units rather than small, economically efficient units.[4] When developers build larger and more expensive units, the government is forced to increase subsidies to ensure sufficient affordable housing for low-income individuals.[5] VUS ordinances break this cycle by supplying multiple market-priced options suitable to diverse needs including, small units with low costs of entry, standard units, and larger, high-end units.

By integrating small, standard, and large units within a single multi-family development, VUS ordinances improve the sustainability of the entire community. Varied unit sizes allow populations to concentrate in a city center by ensuring single people and families both have suitable housing options, regardless of income or wealth. This concentration of diverse individuals near centers of employment also reduces the need for automobiles.[6] Reducing the use of automobiles, in turn, reduces GHG emissions.[7] Further, by allowing smaller efficiency units, more people have more housing options that meet their needs and developers are not required to build unnecessarily large, expensive, and energy demanding units.[8] VUS ordinances also allow families to opt for a larger apartment rather than a single-family house in the suburbs, which further increases population density, helping to decrease GHG emissions.[9]

VUS ordinances offer the potential to provide renters and first-time buyers a lower-cost point of entry into a desired market. As family sizes or budgets grow, these renters or owners can move into progressively larger dwelling units within their existing community. Similarly, as a family’s size or budget shrinks (e.g., retired “empty-nesters”), current residents can downsize their dwelling space without leaving their community.[10] VUS ordinances help result in diverse housing options for both new and existing residents, bringing and retaining a diverse population.

One potential criticism of VUS ordinances is that they may help raise the cost of construction by adding design costs and variability to the construction process.[11] While variation in size may produce variation in price per square foot, this is not determinative of overall construction costs nor of the price supported by a market.[12]

EXAMPLES

Seattle, WA

Seattle supports two classifications of small unit dwellings—Efficient Dwelling Units (EDU) and Congregate Residence (CR). The EDUs are residential units that total at least 220 square feet and include an area for food preparation and a bathroom.[13] The CRs are also residential units, but these allow for smaller sleeping areas with access to communal kitchens and recreational areas.[14] The code provisions permitting EDUs and CRs allow for smaller units while also insuring necessary living spaces for a person’s daily needs.  Not only does the code allow for more compact and sustainable living, but it also allows for more affordable and diverse housing units as individuals can rent smaller spaces that cost less.  The code in turn helps alleviate some of the income disparities and gentrification that are often present in cities such as Seattle.[15]

To view the provisions, see Seattle, WA, Municipal Code §§ 23.42.048 (B), 23.42.049 (2014).

Erie, Colorado

Erie has a required VUS ordinance for the purposes of neighborhood architecture, diversity, and quality. It is generally applicable to all new multi-family buildings in order to increase population density, create a variety of housing options, and foster creativity in development, as opposed to sameness or “cookie cutter” development.[16]

The ordinance requires multi-family construction to meet one of three possible types of variation: (1) “[a] minimum of 50 percent of the total planned dwelling units shall vary in size from other dwelling units by at least 250 square feet”; (2) “[a] maximum of 50 percent of the total planned dwelling units may have the same number of bedrooms”; or (3) “[a] minimum of 10 percent of the total planned dwelling units shall have at least 3 bedrooms.”[17] The Unified Development Code also provides for alternate methods of compliance with these requirements.[18] Developers can propose “alternative equivalent[s]” to the variation requirements, subject to approval by the Community Development Director (CDD).[19] If the CDD finds that the proposal meets or exceeds the intent, goals, and benefits of the provisions then the proposal will be approved as an exception to the general requirements.[20]

To view the provisions, see Town of Erie, Colorado, Unified Development Code 10.6.7. (2017).

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES

Redmond WA, Redmond Zoning Code § 21.20.040 (2011) (requiring new affordable housing units incorporate a mix of dwelling types, while also reducing the minimum square footage requirements).

San Francisco, CA, Planning Code § 318 (2013) (allowing the construction of a limited number of units less than 220 square feet in size).

Bainbridge Island, WA, Bainbridge Island Municipal Code § 2.16.020 (Q) (2017) (providing variances on height and area restrictions for developers that incorporate different unit types, affordable housing, and alternative transport infrastructure into their buildings).

Austin, TX, Code of Ordinances § 25-2-559 to 25-2-563 (current through 2018) (establishing minimum square footage requirements that vary along with the density rating for the district, from 800 square feet in high density districts up to 2,500 square feet in low density districts).

Walsenburg, CO, Ordinance No. 1045 (2014) (granting authority to approve variances to minimum size requirements so that “tiny houses” (houses less than 500 square feet but permanently attached to the ground) can be constructed in areas zoned for residential use).