WA lawmakers consider cutting red tape on tiny-home construction
In early December 2021, the city of Seattle cleared the last remaining residents from an unauthorized homeless encampment in Ballard Commons Park. Many of the residents moved to Rosie’s Village, a new tiny home community in the University District built as part of the effort to get campers out of the park.
Planning for Rosie’s Village got underway in early spring 2021. According to the Low Income Housing Institute, the organization that operates Rosie’s Village, tiny house villages should take about 10 weeks to plan and construct. But Rosie’s didn’t open until November because of a monthslong environmental review called the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, that tiny home villages must undergo. State Sen. Joe Nguyen, a Democrat from West Seattle, hopes to change that this year.
“If the Legislature had passed Sen. Nguyen’s bill last year, we could’ve cleared Ballard Commons in July or August instead of November,” said Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis. “Everything gets slowed down by the tedious and unnecessary environmental review process. We’re talking four to six months of delay really for no legitimate reason.”
Nguyen’s bill would exempt tiny house villages from SEPA review when they are located in communities that have declared a homelessness state of emergency, which includes Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, King County and Thurston County. The bill passed the Senate 41-8 on Feb. 8 and now must make its way through the House.
https://crosscut.com/politics/2022/02/wa-lawmakers-consider-cutting-red-tape-tiny-home-construction
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