Sticky compromises on transit-oriented development.

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Easing barriers to denser housing around public transit is proving to be a heavy lift for folks who like their housing affordable and their transit zippy. 

The idea behind Senate Bill 5466 from Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, is to ease traffic congestion, pollution, and time-sucking commutes by building denser housing near transit. The question of how much of that housing should be affordable and how close it needs to be to transit is where it gets sticky.

The bill passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote, but that cross-aisle bonhomie wasn’t on display in Friday morning’s vote on a revised version from Rep. Julia Reed, D-Seattle, in the House Capital Budget Committee.

For affordable housing, Reed’s revisions would require 20 percent of residential units within most of the areas above to be affordable for folks making 60 percent of the area median income, save for cities that already upzoned around transit by June 30, 2023. That prospect irks Republicans and folks in the real estate business who worry the bill will derail market-rate housing projects before they can begin.