Land Use
Zoning
% of Residential Zoned for Multifamily By-Right
(Work in Progress)
Key Points
• Zoning sets the legal limit on what a parcel of land is allowed to build, regardless of demand.
• WA has already abolished exclusionary single-family-only zoning above a population threshold; this priority tracks ambition beyond that floor.
• Goal: cities zoning a majority of their residential land for multifamily by right than the state minimum requires, with new units actually being built where demand is.
What is it?
Zoning is the legal framework determining what kind of housing can be built where. Washington State has already abolished exclusionary single-family-only zoning in cities above a certain population threshold, establishing a legal floor for multifamily housing statewide. This priority is not about monitoring compliance with that floor. It is about tracking ambition beyond it, since cities can comply with the letter of the law while still zoning the bare statutory minimum, or they can go further and zone meaningfully more land for multifamily housing by right.
Why Zoning Matters
Zoning determines the upper bound of what a housing market can produce, regardless of demand or willingness to build. Decades of exclusionary single-family zoning, with origins tied directly to racial and economic exclusion, artificially constrained housing supply in the neighborhoods with the strongest access to jobs, schools, and transit, concentrating multifamily housing in fewer, less advantaged areas instead. The legal abolition of single-family-only zoning removes the floor on that exclusion, but the floor alone does not guarantee meaningful change. Cities that zone only the statutory minimum for multifamily housing can still functionally preserve exclusionary patterns. This priority tracks whether the spirit of reform, not just its legal letter, is taking hold.
Where We Want to Be
The goal is for cities to zone meaningfully more residential land for multifamily housing by right than the state minimum requires, treating the legal floor as a starting point rather than a ceiling. New units permitted in previously single-family-only zones should make up a growing and substantial share of overall production, demonstrating that newly opened zones are actually being built on rather than remaining nominally legal but practically untouched. The ratio of single-family to multifamily units permitted and built annually should shift steadily toward multifamily, reflecting both market response and policy ambition beyond compliance. The vision is zoning reform measured not by what is now legally permitted, but by what cities actually choose to build once exclusionary barriers are removed.