Imagine Tacoma as smorgasbord of housing options. Imagine us getting growth right

The city’s “Home in Tacoma” land-use proposal would create more housing in more places. The key change: Replace single-family zoning with “low-density” and “medium-density” zones.

This isn’t new ground. Minneapolis, Sacramento and much of Oregon have already eliminated single-family zoning. Dozens of large and mid-sized cities in the South and West are considering similar action.

And why not? City governments rely on growing populations for revenue, but across the country people are leaving cities to find reasonably priced housing in the suburbs.

Supporters have high hopes: redressing the harms of red-lining; protecting farms and wilderness from sprawl; increasing middle-class home ownership.

Opponents dread condos looming over modest bungalows, renters flooding owner-occupied neighborhoods, property values plunging.

Let’s step back from the debate over housing and use a metaphor – food – to consider the dynamics at play.

Let’s imagine T-Town as a city whose economy is based on food. One in four jobs grows food, ships it, cooks it or serves it. Everyone shops at a vast outdoor market nestled among hills and a river.

Fees and taxes from the market fund local government. Strict rules govern the size and location of food stalls. Food prices are reasonable for most people because supply and demand are roughly balanced.

Until they’re not. An out-of-town newspaper praises the market’s “authenticity” and suddenly artisanal cheese tourists fill the aisles. The river floods the market in a neighboring village and the villagers must shop in T-Town. Almost overnight demand swamps supply; prices shoot up.

Higher prices bring problems. A brawl starts in cube steak and jumps to free-range chicken. Parking becomes impossible. Food inspectors can’t get through the crowds.

Tourists understandably grow wary as the fighting spreads. Then a new company announces free food delivery to neighboring villagers. People who can afford to shop elsewhere, do.

When demand starts to slow, prices stutter, and businesses worry about re-paying loans. Local government stops filling potholes. Insufficient food supply threatens T-Town’s economy.

When supply and demand are balanced, prices are stable and the market is healthy. Too little supply drives up prices; too much supply and prices fall. The current problem is how to increase supply enough to meet demand but not so much that prices fall.

Food markets expand three ways: out, up or among. Because of the hills and river, T-Town’s growth can’t be out, but the other two paths are open.

The market can add platforms with stairs, for example. This creates more selling space but also increases traffic to the platform areas. The regulators decide second stories should be on wide corridors able to handle more shoppers.

The market also can relax rules about stall size and spacing, allowing smaller stalls to fill in among larger ones. This creates more inventory and variety in the existing space.

It may also make areas of the market more congested, and some newer, smaller stalls may be different from their well-established neighbors. Difference makes some merchants nervous.

T-Town’s leaders choose both options, up and among. This doesn’t solve every problem, naturally, and creates new ones. Those who couldn’t afford food previously still can’t afford it. Flour merchants feel threatened by frozen waffles. The Red Delicious crew complains about noise from Fujis on the second floor.

But shoppers return and the market grows again, though more slowly. Yes, it may take a bit longer to shop but variety increases and despite more stalls, merchants are more successful than before.

No one becomes rich overnight, but most shoppers find fair value. And T-Town is known as a place that got growth right. Imagine.

Ken Miller is an occasional TNT guest op-ed contributor. He has lived and eaten in Tacoma since 1970. Reach him at krm403@gmail.com