Report: Seattle’s Vacant Offices Could Become Shared Living Spaces

A new report says Seattle could become a national leader in office-to-housing conversions to tackle homelessness and a growing affordable housing crisis.

The report — from The Pew Charitable Trusts and multinational architectural firm Gensler — cites a glut of empty office space, downtown buildings large enough to accommodate micro-units, and legislation on both the city and state levels that remove barriers to low-cost housing.

Specifically, the report notes that larger office buildings could accommodate six units that ring the perimeter of a floor, with shared amenities including kitchens, living room, bathrooms, laundry and storage.

“That means it’s possible to build this downtown housing at a cost that is less than half of a studio apartment,” says Alex Horowitz, project director, Housing Policy Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts. “Housing costs in Seattle have gotten so expensive. Seattle also has a much higher homelessness rate than the U.S. overall and an above average office vacancy rate.”

Seattle’s downtown office vacancy rate is 30%. The city has approximately 198 downtown office buildings of more than 50,000 square feet (large enough to accommodate micro-units). Median rent here is $2,031 per month, a 6% increase from 2018 and well above the national average, according to the report.

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority also counted more than 16,000 homeless individuals earlier this year. The homeless rate of 59.4 per 10,000 inhabitants “far exceeds the national average and is one of the highest rates among major cities in the country.”

Earlier this month, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell released details of the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan Update that would increase zoning capacity for more than 330,000 new units, more than doubling the city’s housing capacity. It also allows for duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes in all neighborhood zones across the city.

The state Legislature passed several affordable housing bills this past session, including making a $127 million investment in the Housing Trust Fund, bringing the total to $527 million for affordable housing. Other actions included easing regulatory barriers for co-living micro-units and requiring increased density near heavily used public transportation routes.

The report notes that regulatory hurdles and high development costs have prevented oft-discussed office-to-housing conversions here and elsewhere, but says “developing the flexible co-living product (in Seattle) at rents between $750 and $1,250 per bed per month would meet the target resident’s housing budget in the market and provide an affordable option as compared to other available housing, delivering new supply at a significant discount to other market-rate offerings.”

The study also focused on Denver and Minneapolis. More cities will be analyzed in coming months.