Seattle Municipal Golf Courses: A Hole in One for Affordable Housing

Abstract

University of Washington Abstract Seattle Municipal Golf Courses: A Hole in One for Affordable Housing Marlo Kapsa Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Manish Chalana Department of Urban Design & Planning In response to Seattle’s affordable housing shortage, the City of Seattle adopted the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA), which aims to ensure affordable housing options. Yet with limited developable land, how will the City accomplish such a significant task? A possible option is redevelopment of Seattle’s four municipally owned golf courses, which offer huge amounts of developable land. Therefore, this study aims to determine: When accounting for amount of buildable land on each of Seattle’s four municipal golf courses, which course would best aid in reaching goals set forth by HALA? Research suggests that this approach is feasible, and, through a multilevel analysis of each municipal golf course, this study will determine each municipal golf courses’ redevelopment potential. Based on this analysis, Jefferson Park Golf Course offers the highest redevelopment potential. However, each municipal golf course presents potential to alleviate Seattle’s housing shortage. Further exploration regarding redevelopment potential at each municipal golf course would aid in determining if, when, and how many municipal golf course conversions would be most effective in combatting Seattle’s affordable housing shortage.