YIMBY News for 4/14

[Eric Budd]

Light Rail Connection Arrives in Bellevue at a Political Inflection Point

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 55.88. apartment, complete street, comprehensive plan, density, development, downtown, growth, height limit, housing, mixed-use, multimodal, parking, parking lot, planning commission, preservation, project, rent, single-family, transit-oriented, transportation, urban, walk, zone, zoning

[image: Light Rail Connection Arrives in Bellevue at a Political Inflection Point] It's been just over two weeks since Sound Transit cut the ribbon on the Crosslake Connection, finally bridging its light rail network across the I-90 floating bridge. But visiting Downtown Bellevue Station at rush hour, you'd be fooled into thinking that a direct light rail connection between Seattle and the Eastside has existed for years. Unlike with other light rail extensions, where ridership has needed to build over time, 2 Line trains are already packed with folks taking advantage of a 25-minute trip betwee

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Builders Push for Temporary MHA Fee Break to Spur Housing Starts

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 55.52. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, comprehensive plan, condo, construction, development, downtown, growth, housing, income, market-rate, occupancy, project, rent, supply, urban, walk, zone, zoning

[image: Builders Push for Temporary MHA Fee Break to Spur Housing Starts] A coalition of builders is seeking reforms to Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability program in hopes of aiding a sputtering housing sector, which they portray as at risk of lurching to a halt. The Seattle Housing Roundtable, as the group of nearly 30 developers calls itself, is urging policymakers to pass a deep reduction in housing fees for a duration of three years. "Seattle’s new permits are down almost 90% from 2020, which sounds alarm bells for all of us who care about new housing production and urbanism," Ben M

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Affordable Teacher Housing Is Scarce. This Group Is Trying An Innovative Solution in Oakland.

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 31.25. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, construction, house, housing, income, project, real estate, rent, urban, walk

[image: Backyard] Melanie Turner, a special education teacher at Emerson Elementary, speaks about the impact of securing housing as an educator during a press conference in Oakland, California, on Thursday, April 2, 2026. On the far right is Rooted's CEO, Kyra Mungia. (Image courtesy Rooted) *This story was originally published by The Oaklandside and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.* Before Melanie Turner joined Oakland’s Rooted program, she was house hopping and couch surfing, moving between the homes of families and friends with her preschool-age son in tow. Pursu

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This Program Pays Nonprofits To Take the Time To Consider Solar

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 25.69. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, construction, development, housing, income, project, urban

Resonant Energy helped the affordable housing developer Harborlight Homes add solar panels to its new apartments in Beverly, Massachusetts, through the Solar Technical Assistance Retrofit program. Now, Resonant’s Solar Upgrading Nonprofits program can help nonprofits do the same. (Photo courtesy Resonant Energy) *This story was originally published by Canary Media.* As a key deadline for federal solar tax credits ticks closer, a Massachusetts program is helping the state’s nonprofits get solar projects underway before the incentive disappears. The Solar Upgrading Nonprofits, or SUN, program pr

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What If All Cars Were Autonomous, Electric, and Free?

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 21.78. affordable, bus pass, mobility, parking, parking lot, single family, transportation, walk

Imagine a world where, with the wave of a magic wand, we could make every car on the road perfectly autonomous, fully electric, and dirt-cheap to boot. Thanks to our theoretical fairy godmother, we’ve vaulted past decades of scientific progress and bruising political battles, and immediately welcomed in the era of the magical, mysterious Wondermobile— without even needing to wait for those pesky motorists to retire their old vehicles and phase in new ones. Every car on the road is completely perfect. It will never hit a single pedestrian, spew an ounce of carbon, put a single family into finan

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European Researchers Are Working With Residents To Restore Urban Soil

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 21.02. construction, development, growth, house, project, rent, urban

(Photo courtesy URSOILL) Every city is different, but most share one key feature: their soil has been trashed. That’s the case even in Forua, a small Basque town in Spain’s Basque Country. Though it sits within the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve and is known for its natural beauty and stunning landscapes, its neglected soil still results in “limited biodiversity and reduced ecological function,” says Daniel González, international project manager at Cluster GAIA in nearby Bilbao, Spain. Last fall, a major new project called URSOILL launched to revive Europe’s urban soils using nature-based solutio

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How a Chinatown Arts Center Helped Block a New Philadelphia Arena

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 20.53. construction, development, house, project, rent, urban, walk

(Photo courtesy Asian Arts Initiative / Rodney Atienza) Sponsored content from The Culture & Community Power Fund. Sponsored content policy *This sponsored series is created in partnership with The Culture & Community Power Fund (C&CPF), a national funders’ collaborative advancing the role of culture in building identity, agency, and collective power. This series explores the cultural ecosystem—the traditions, stories, rituals, and spaces that sustain frontline communities—and what it takes to support and strengthen it. Read the complete series.* When developers for the Philadelphia 76ers prop

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