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The largest Bellingham homeless shelter announced policy changes due to struggles of record increase in homelessness
The next day a local environmental organization celebrated the collapse of a sustainable urban infill housing project
This comes on the heels of voters approving anti-landlord rent control measure despite shortage of housing amid recent population growth
Bellingham will continue to be unaffordable and burdened with high homelessness rate due to piling on of NIMBYism, rent control restrictions, property taxes, builder fees, zoning laws, and over-regulation
Introduction
Despite facing a housing shortage caused by unprecedented population growth and anti-development zoning, fees, property tax increases, and growth management laws, Bellingham voters in the November 2023 general election overwhelmingly passed Proposition 1, a rent control initiative that will further restrict the city’s housing supply.
Then, on literally the day after Bellingham’s largest homeless shelter announced policy changes due to a record increase in homelessness, Whatcom Million Trees (WMT)—a tree-planting organization—celebrated the collapse of a sustainable infill housing project to build 68 townhouses.
Typically such groups as WMT issue statements along the lines of, “We’re not against housing development just not this type and not here.” When WMT announced their opposition to the planned development they followed that script. WMT said, “The question is, is the overall (design) the right one for the site? And is there a way that Stream [the developer] can still make a profit here but do it in a more reasonable way for our community?”
When the developer finally cancelled the project because of rising interest rates and the high cost of building in Bellingham, did WMT lament the total loss of new proposed housing? Not at all. WMT announced, “We and much of the community (i.e. 1.472 petition signers) are relieved that the maxed-out, ill-conceived Stream development proposal will not go forward.”
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