A dismal future awaits another great Capitol Hill neighborhood as signs prohibiting parking are in full bloom along Boylston Avenue in the vicinity of the “Caroline W” site (431 Boylston Avenue E). The “Caroline W” is a micro-housing complex being built and supported with tax dollars (http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2012/12/19/new-grants-by-the-city-of-seattle-will.html?page=all).

The “Caroline W” is for troubled low-income residents of Seattle. It only has cramped micro-sized studios and almost no parking. It is tragic that the Seattle DPD green-lighted a project to pack the most vulnerable residents of Seattle into suffocatingly small housing units. Even if you believe the units are big enough for one person, they are not big enough for families.

Publicly supported projects have a higher standard to meet than privately supported projects. They must not discriminate against segments of the public in their use. The plans approved by the DPD – a presumed guardian of the public – are truly discriminatory because there is no way they can humanely house families.

Another micro-housing development has received Seattle DPD go-ahead.

The “Caroline W” is a micro-housing development in Capitol Hill.  All of the apartments are suffocatingly small studios for low-income people in Seattle.  This one is a little different than the others in that it is receiving tax dollars for its construction and ongoing operating costs.

The thinking of the project’s creators must be that troubled low-income residents only come in one size (are only single) and don’t need much space.

The website with project information (complete with glitzy photo-mockups) is here: http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/edms

The project number is 3013899.