This was the conclusion reached by local architect David Neiman, who just wrote an extended piece for the Seattle-based Sightline Institute called “How Seattle Killed Micro Housing.” The article is a case study in how regulations can metastasize indirectly; it’s not that any one Seattle law states, point-blank, that micro-housing can’t exist. But the units have become so burdened by design reviews, parking mandates, micromanagement of layout, and location limits, that they make little economic sense for developers, and few are built. In this respect, they have become de facto “illegal…”
Neiman drew up one scenario in which a micro-housing project built beforehand would have provided 40 units, at an average of 175 square feet, and $900 monthly rents. Following all these regulations–which were mandated by a city administration that claims to care about affordable housing–that same project will provide only 21 units, at a 330 square-foot average, and $1400 monthly rents.
Read more – http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottbeyer/2016/09/13/seattle-is-regulating-away-micro-housing/#4a40539537ee