код какого города 886372

(Family or 3) + 2-5, depending on zone

Family +6, not counting children

Family +6 unrelated individuals, not counting children

“Family Plus” Limit, if Any

# Adults Permitted to Share Unit,ВPIf All Unrelated

Roommate Limits, Cascadian Cities

For simplicityвІ s sake, IвІ ve assumed in this ranking that none of the roommates are related to each other by blood, marriage, or adoption and that all of them are adults. The cities selected include all the large cities in the region plus a smattering of small cities. The limits are from the citiesвІ municipal codes or, in a few cases, from information provided by city staff. A detailed version of the table, with links to sources, and notes on exceptions and special provisions is . I encourage you to review it and read about your cityвІ s rules.

Medford, Oregon, says no more than two unrelated roommates may share housing. Nampa, Idaho, limits occupancy to three, nearby Meridian, to ten. Cities fall all along the line between these endpoints: Everett, Washington, and Langley, BC, at four; Salem, Oregon, and Yakima, Washington, at five; Richmond, BC, and Tacoma, Washington, at six; Spokane and Vancouver, Washington, at seven; and Seattle at eight.

To show one axis of this swirling variation, IвІ ve listed below the occupancy limits for unrelated adults in 31 Cascadian cities. The lower the limit, the more constraining it is for housing affordability and the fewer unoccupied bedrooms get rented.

The dizzying variability of occupancy rules accentuates their arbitrariness and absurdness. Cities offer different treatment to temporary boarders, mixed groups of families and unrelated roommates, children, foster children, and even (as IвІ ll explain in my next article) servants. Cities also vary in their policies concerning group homes for people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence, and other special populations.

Occupancy limits are written differently in almost every city, and each cityвІ s rules are curious in their own way. Still, two things are true everywhere. First, in every city, families are exempt from occupancy limits. A family, including distant relations, can crowd into an apartment or house according to its tastes or needs. For example, as far as the occupancy codes (though not all parts of the housing codes) are concerned, infinite family members may share a house in Langley, BC, but only four unrelated people may do so. Second, occupancy limits are unrelated to the size of the dwelling. The limits are the same for micro-apartments and palatial estates. Ten unrelated people in Meridian, Idaho, can share either a 20-bedroom mansion or a studio apartment, but eleven unrelated people may not live in either.

Do you find this article interesting?

Reality TV is a frivolity and its legal status a mere curiosity. I bring it up only to underline the arbitrary and absurd nature of CascadiaвІ s occupancy limits, which affect not only the purveyors of televised narcissism but also millions of regular Northwest households. These limits constitute perhaps the most easily erased obstacles to inexpensive housing in the region. , more than 5 million Cascadian bedrooms—more than one third of the total—go unused on any given night. Were it not for occupancy limits, some of their owners would offer them for rent.

Meanwhile, not a single big Northwest cityвІ s code would allow ВPto film. In Big Brother, members of an even larger cast of scheming competitors try to sidestep personal eviction from a shared house. Seattle allows eight, and Spokane seven, unrelated people to share a dwelling unit. Surrey—the Vancouver, BC suburb thatвІ s the fourth largest city in Cascadia — has no limit on long-term residents but limits short termers to two people.

When The Real World filmed its recently, it did so in apparent violation of city law, which forbids more than six unrelated people from sharing a dwelling. The Real World puts seven young adults with outsized personalities together in a house and films the resulting train wrecks for television. ItвІ s not just Portland. In fact, Seattle and Spokane are the only big Cascadian cities where TRW could have filmed without breaking local laws on roommates. TRW did film its in Seattle. Everywhere else, The Real World would break the law, as it did (occupancy limit for unrelated roommates: three).

Updated, January 15, 2013: BendвІ s occupancy limit, which I reported as five unrelated persons, was eliminated by the city. The article is now corrected.

on January 2, 2013 at 10:25 am

No reality TV (or reality?) for us.

The Roommate Gap: Your CityвІ s Occupancy Limit

The Roommate Gap: Your CityвІ s Occupancy Limit | Sightline Daily