Home in Tacoma Project

Tacoma is facing a housing crisis. It is becoming more difficult to find housing we can afford, particularly for people with fixed or lower incomes. Growth in our region is driving prices up faster than incomes. The economic impacts of the pandemic mean more people are facing financial instability.

Housing meets our need for shelter and also connects us with family, friends, community, transportation, employment and more. For all those reasons, housing matters deeply to our wellbeing, health and prosperity.

As part of the response to Tacoma’s housing crisis, the City is revisiting the rules governing housing development. We need to hear from you about how Tacoma can make our City a place that everyone can call home.

1. Increase housing supply to meet current and future needs throughout the City’s neighborhoods
2. Increase housing affordability reflecting the financial means of Tacoma residents
3. Increase housing choice to meet household needs and preferences across Tacoma’s neighborhoods

While there are many actions needed, one critical step is to create more homes for more people. To do so, Tacoma is taking steps to:

1.      Diversify housing types: Promote mid-scale housing types, such as two and three-family attached housing and low-scale multifamily, in more areas of the City.

2.      Promote affordable housing: Encourage more affordable housing units in areas where growth is happening more quickly through use of City incentives and bonuses.

The Puget Sound region is growing—and so is Tacoma. To prepare, Tacoma is planning for about 60,000 new housing units by 2040. The City plans for most of that growth (about 80%) to be Downtown and in other Centers and Corridors and about 20% to be in other neighborhoods. Tacoma needs to take steps to plan for growth to serve our diverse community.

According to the Puget Sound Regional Council from 2010 to 2019, the region added 3 new residents for every 1 new housing unit.

Tacoma’s space to build housing is limited. Through this effort, Tacoma will explore ways to support growth in our Centers, as well as accommodate more growth in residential neighborhoods through infill of Missing Middle Housing types.

The City doesn’t control housing construction, but City rules do control what housing types are allowed where. Under the current rules, most of Tacoma’s housing land supply is set aside for single-family detached housing, with room for large-scale multifamily housing in Centers and Corridors.

What’s missing is space where mid-scale housing types are encouraged. For that reason, mid-scale housing types are referred to as “Missing Middle” Housing.

For most Tacomans, incomes are not keeping pace with rising housing costs. When new housing is built, prices are generally not affordable to most of us. As a result, housing affordable at Tacoma incomes is becoming harder to come by.

• About 40% of Tacomans pay more than they can afford in housing costs
• About one-third of Tacomans feel insecure in their housing

Housing affordability affects everyone, but particularly lower income households. In Tacoma today, because of lower average incomes, people of color are struggling disproportionately to find housing they can afford. 

The City can’t control the price of housing, but we can encourage developers to offer affordable units in larger projects by offering bonuses, such as allowing more units or reducing parking requirements.

Another action the City can take is to allow Missing Middle Housing types. Since they are more compact, the cost of land and infrastructure is shared across more units. While this doesn’t guarantee an affordable price, it generally brings down costs and creates relatively affordable housing choices.

Where we live is about more than just shelter. Our location connects us with family, friends, community, transportation, employment and more. When there are no housing options we can afford in the neighborhood we want to live in, we lose out on those opportunities.

Different households have different incomes, needs and preferences. Diversifying housing options is based on flexibility. It allows people to decide what makes the most sense financially and for their household needs.

Unfortunately, opportunities are not equal across our city. In 2018, Tacoma developed the Equity Index which looks at accessibility, education, economy and livability across Tacoma. The lighter areas have less access to opportunity.

Where we live today didn’t happen entirely by chance. Tacoma has a history of using policy tools that were unfair to people of color. Insurance redlining put in place in the 1930s meant that more than two-thirds of the city had limited or no access to funds for buying or building a home--particularly in areas where people of color lived. Racially restrictive covenants were also used to prevent people of color from owning homes.

These racists practices limited people of color from building family wealth through homeownership and access to education and employment. As a result, Tacoma residents of color today have lower incomes and are less likely to be homeowners.

Redlining and restrictive covenants are gone, but our neighborhoods still reflect the patterns they reinforced. Areas not redlined have some of the highest prices in the city. Conversely, those that were redlined and lacked private investment are worth less.

Tacoma is one of the most racially diverse cities in Washington State—nearly 40 percent of our residents are people of color. Yet Tacoma residents of color are more likely today to live in areas with fewer opportunities, while high opportunity areas are disproportionately white. These patterns of wealth, opportunity and race correlate with Tacoma’s historic exclusions of non-white families from high opportunity neighborhoods.

Commitment to antiracism: Tacoma is working to transform all institutions, systems, policies, practices and contracts impacted by systematic racism. An important step is to address existing disparities by fostering access to opportunities through our City. Helping people access housing that meets our needs is one of the most important actions the City can take.

The One Tacoma Plan – Urban Form Element is Tacoma’s blueprint for growth. Tacoma’s official growth targets call for about 60,000 new housing units between 2010 and 2040. The City plans for most of that growth (about 80 percent) to be built in to Tacoma’s Centers (including Downtown). About 20 percent (approximately 9,300 new dwellings) would be in other neighborhoods. 

Diverse housing types are nothing new – many older Tacoma neighborhoods offer a mix of housing types today. However, in the 1950s Tacoma put in place zoning that set aside the majority of residential land for single-family housing exclusively. Our current housing growth strategy was put in place decades ago when housing needs and preferences were different.

• There is growing interest in compact homes, walkable neighborhoods, the ability to generate rental income, shared living, aging-in-place and caregiving at home.

• A strong economy needs adequate workforce housing.

• Housing in walkable, transit-oriented areas helps reduce cost burdens and promotes health, sustainability and access to opportunities.

• Meeting housing needs is fundamental to Tacoma’s vision to be a great place to live for our diverse community.

• Tacoma has a high quality of life and great opportunities to share with more neighbors.

Through early 2021 the Planning Commission is asking the community to join in a discussion about housing needs, development trends and neighborhood change. Using community ideas and feedback, the Commission will make recommendations to the City Council for planning, zoning and other actions to meet our community’s housing needs. With thoughtful planning, Tacoma can take steps to ensure that new housing benefits everyone and compliments the unique character of our neighborhoods.