The Anchorage Assembly heard story after story of frustration, heartache and anger from renters and younger homeowners about the city’s housing shortage on Tuesday night.
The testimony was a marked break from the usual public hearing on zoning in Anchorage, which have typically been dominated by community council groups and long-time residents who have been staunchly opposed to broad change and cited worries over “neighborhood character.” While those voices were still present on Tuesday night, they were far outnumbered by younger Alaskans who argued that the restrictive-by-design zoning of the past wasn’t working for them.
“I’m the father of a middle schooler and a high schooler, and I’m here tonight because I’m tired of those who don’t care whether our kids will have a place that is affordable to live in Anchorage,” said Jason Norris, a South Anchorage resident. “I’m tired of them dominating this conversation. The clock is ticking. If my kids graduated college today, they couldn’t stay.”
Testimony like that seemed to make all the difference, and the Assembly ultimately approved the Housing Opportunities in the Municipality for Everyone (HOME) Initiative on a 7-5 vote. The measure broadly allows homeowners to build duplexes on properties that once only allowed single-family homes. It also changes the rules for duplexes, allowing them to be separate structures.
Sponsors of the measure noted that building standards, such as setbacks, wastewater standards and lot coverage, will still limit homeowners’ ability to build duplexes. They also noted that homeowners’ associations can override the initiative and limit duplexes.
The measure doesn’t apply to Eagle River or Girdwood, only the Anchorage Bowl. In an amendment approved during the debate, the Anchorage Assembly added an administrative site review as a condition for building duplexes in the R10 zone, which covers the most remote and hilly parcels in the city that are in greater danger of fire.
Opponents to the measure shared similar messages of worries about the loss of “neighborhood character,” impacts on infrastructure, snow clearing and home appraisal prices. Frequently, the talk of “neighborhood character” centered not on what made their neighborhoods so great but on what made poorer parts of the city so bad in their eyes.
One opponent claimed that Mountain View was once a good neighborhood but that multifamily housing and renters turned it into the “murder capital of Alaska.”
Renters, who made up a large chunk of the testimony on Tuesday night, frequently bristled at the accusations that they were somehow less desirable than wealthy and whiter areas of the city where large, single-family lots have made it difficult for anyone to move into those neighborhoods. Renters, by and large, said the city’s housing shortage has squeezed them significantly, with fast-escalating rent prices throughout the city.
That included North Star resident Brandy Bowmaster, who said she resorted to leaving notes on the doors of homes that looked unoccupied to find her place. She said that her neighborhood’s character is thanks in part to the diversity of housing options.
“I feel like you all haven’t heard much from renters,” she said. “I love it. I love my neighborhood. It has a wide variety of different types of people of all ages and a lot of duplexes, a lot of triplexes and a lot of single-family homes. I think it’s a really good combination of housing styles.”
While opponents generally demanded that the Anchorage Assembly either abandon the plan or delay it for several more months, Jeannette Lee, Alaska research director at the Sightline Institute, said that the evidence is clear that higher density housing will make a difference in home prices and home availability. She also argued that issues such as snow plowing, infrastructure and transportation are not best addressed by zoning but by directly addressing them.
“I do not think it’s worth preserving our neighborhoods in amber if it means our own kids or neighbors cannot afford to live here,” she said. “Really, the people are the character of Anchorage, not the structures.”
Several assembly members said the testimony affected them, either firming up their support for the measure or changing their minds. Ultimately, Assembly members Brawley, Zaletel and Volland were joined by Christopher Constant, Felix Rivera, Kameron Perez-Verdia and Karen Bronga in supporting the measure. Bronga, who had been against an earlier zoning measure, supported the measure after the changes to the remote areas were approved.
“I don’t know if this is going to be the silver bullet,” she said, “but we have to try something.”
The measure, however, is susceptible to a potential mayoral veto, either from Mayor Dave Bronson or soon-to-be-inaugurated Mayor Suzanne LaFrance. If that’s the case, they’d need at least one member of the opposition to switch to override the veto. That field includes members George Martinez, Zac Johnson, Mark Littlefield, Scott Myers and Randy Sulte.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.