Municipality takes action to make it easier to build housing
February 12, 2025
Last night, the Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance co-sponsored by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel, and Assembly Member Anna Brawley to reduce the cost of building multi-family housing in Anchorage.
The ordinance, which pauses design standards for multi-family housing, is part of the mayor’s 10,000 homes in 10 years strategy.
“If we want to improve our economy, grow our local workforce, and tackle homelessness, we’re going to need a lot more housing,” Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said. “This change will let us test whether removing cost-adding rules helps more housing get built.”
The ordinance passed last night, AO 2024-104(S), pauses some design standards for multi-family housing for three years. Design standards impose requirements about a building’s appearance and raise the already-high cost of building.
“Taking this step shows that we are, and will continue to be, serious about cutting the red tape that stands in the way of new housing,” said Assembly Member Brawley.
By nature, design standards do not affect life and safety concerns like fire mitigation, drainage, sustainability, or security. And some design standards reduce housing quality. For example, rules about “roof-line variation” increase the risk of water damage.
Since design standards don’t apply to single-family homes or commercial construction, they place a unique burden on multi-family housing development. They’re one reason why only about 100 units of multifamily housing were built in Anchorage last year.
Since the ordinance creates a pause but not a repeal, it offers the Municipality the chance to collect data, measure results, and adapt to changes on the ground.
“The natural progression of our housing policy work, this ordinance sets a timer to measure the collective impact of this work three years from now,” said Assembly Vice Chair Zaletel. “We will see if no-go projects can go; we will see how vacant and abandoned properties can be revitalized; we will see what new innovations come to Anchorage to solve our housing crisis.”
The ordinance, which pauses design standards for multi-family housing, is part of the mayor’s 10,000 homes in 10 years strategy.
“If we want to improve our economy, grow our local workforce, and tackle homelessness, we’re going to need a lot more housing,” Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said. “This change will let us test whether removing cost-adding rules helps more housing get built.”
The ordinance passed last night, AO 2024-104(S), pauses some design standards for multi-family housing for three years. Design standards impose requirements about a building’s appearance and raise the already-high cost of building.
“Taking this step shows that we are, and will continue to be, serious about cutting the red tape that stands in the way of new housing,” said Assembly Member Brawley.
By nature, design standards do not affect life and safety concerns like fire mitigation, drainage, sustainability, or security. And some design standards reduce housing quality. For example, rules about “roof-line variation” increase the risk of water damage.
Since design standards don’t apply to single-family homes or commercial construction, they place a unique burden on multi-family housing development. They’re one reason why only about 100 units of multifamily housing were built in Anchorage last year.
Since the ordinance creates a pause but not a repeal, it offers the Municipality the chance to collect data, measure results, and adapt to changes on the ground.
“The natural progression of our housing policy work, this ordinance sets a timer to measure the collective impact of this work three years from now,” said Assembly Vice Chair Zaletel. “We will see if no-go projects can go; we will see how vacant and abandoned properties can be revitalized; we will see what new innovations come to Anchorage to solve our housing crisis.”
Contact:
Berett Wilber, Mayor's Comms + Media
berett.wilber@anchorageak.gov, (907) 343-7100
