How a Tacoma affordable housing project wound up on Airbnb | Opinion
Developers originally billed an apartment building in east Tacoma as a new approach to affordable housing. They offered the building’s 13 new mini-units at below market prices. The hope was that the lower price and extensively remodeled facility would make up for the units’ tiny floor plans.
Things worked out differently. The units at 4601 Pacific Ave. are now listed on Airbnb for short-term rentals. Reached by phone in Florida, a developer involved with the building confirmed the units were now on Airbnb after a “change in strategy.”
The building, called “Pacific Flats,” features units with 150-250 square feet of space. It’s enough room for a bed, a mini fridge and a microwave in the main room, with a full bathroom attached. Some units also included features like desks and a lofted space. Rents were set at between $975 and $1,200, developers told The News Tribune.
For the record, the plan never made sense to me. I admired the developers’ intentions, but the lower rent didn’t seem like it would make up for how tiny the dwellings were. Tenants also faced the prospect of sharing a kitchen and laundry machine with a dozen other residents.
On the other hand, there’s this: We need as much affordable housing in Tacoma as we can get. So as much as I scratched my head when I first read that the modestly sized, two-story building would somehow fit 13 apartments, I don’t fault anyone for trying something different. Everyone involved in building housing in Tacoma needs to keep trying.
In the broader conversation about affordable housing, the idea of co-living is growing in popularity, said Jason Gauthier, manager of the South Sound Housing Affordability Partners. That can mean some mixture of private space and shared facilities. The Pacific Flats project is just one example of that approach.
“There is an effort to see more of them,” said Gauthier, whose agency is an intergovernmental partnership between local municipalities, tribal governments and Pierce County.
Cities throughout the state are also rolling out revised municipal codes to comply with recent bills passed in the Washington state Legislature mandating that local governments allow a broader range of housing types, including co-living. Known as “missing middle” housing, those options aren’t as dense as apartment blocks but hold more than a single-family home. Gauthier’s agency just published resources for local governments aiming to comply with the co-living law.
Missing middle housing can include things like townhomes, fourplexes or courtyard apartments. It can also include shared facilities like community buildings and open spaces. Co-living can also include dormitory-like facilities.
Bill Schilling, a developer who spoke to The News Tribune about his vision for the property in 2023, didn’t respond to multiple attempts to reach him via phone and email. In May 2023, Schilling detailed the extensive remodel his company gave the 1920s-era building. After purchasing the building for $315,000, crews removed everything inside its 14-inch concrete walls and completely re-installed electricity and plumbing.
“We totally gutted everything on the inside,” Schilling said at the time. “Even the concrete floor, we cut down to the dirt.”
Given that up-front investment, it would make sense to pivot to something more profitable if the apartments weren’t getting enough tenants. While it’s disappointing the building turned into Airbnb units, the simplest explanation is a failed business model.
Until this week, the building had a designation of subsidized housing on one line of the Pierce County Assessor Office’s records for the property. That worried me at first, because I found no evidence that the project received any kind of public funds or tax credits at any level of government. But I was reassured when I asked the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer’s office about it.
The only place the property is referred to as subsidized housing is in its “use code.” That line doesn’t have an impact on the value of the building or how much the owners would pay in property taxes, said deputy Assessor-Treasurer Alice McDaniel.
A building’s subsidized status can affect its value. But in this case, assessors correctly noted that the project didn’t receive federal subsidies and treated it like a typical commercial property when it came up with a valuation. Nonetheless, she said, the use code has now been updated to reflect the fact that it’s not subsidized housing.
It’s not clear whether anyone ever leased the building’s micro-units as a regular tenant. The leasing website is no longer functional.
So developers, take note. A miniscule floor plan might not attract renters. They might expect lower rent for such a small space or balk at the idea of living in a room without space for much more than a bed.
But there are still plenty of things to try.
This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
