OPINION: What we heard about the HOME Initiative and residential zoning reform

Last August, the three of us proposed the “Housing Opportunities in the Municipality for Everyone” (HOME) Initiative, introduced as Assembly Ordinance 2023-87. The Assembly is leading the conversation to address our critical housing shortage and as three members of the Assembly, we believe part of the solution needs to be simplifying our zoning code — Title 21 — to encourage more building and more types of housing in our city. The HOME Initiative proposes combining residential zoning districts to make zoning code easier to understand and give more opportunity to property owners to build housing.

The HOME Initiative was referred to the Planning and Zoning Commission to be heard in March 2024 and scheduled to come back to the Assembly in June. In the meantime, we sought robust public engagement. This week, the sponsors introduced a new version of the HOME Initiative that reflects what we’ve heard from the community.

Over several months, we had many conversations with constituents about our proposed zoning changes, and more broadly about the housing challenges we face. Between March and May, the sponsors attended 24 meetings, representing diverse interests and communities across the Anchorage Bowl. We met with community councils and HALO, where most participants are long-time homeowners. We met with business groups, who want to know how this zoning change could encourage economic growth. In conversations with the Alaska Black Caucus, the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission, we explored current inequities and how changing zoning creates more housing opportunities for all. We met with retirees, young professionals, homebuilders and as many groups as we could schedule. We also followed robust dialogue in local opinion pages and had countless conversations, calls and emails with constituents across a spectrum of demographics, political persuasions and beliefs about how to best solve our housing shortage…

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