Joshua McNichols
Growth and Development Reporter
About
As KUOW's Growth and Development reporter and co-host of KUOW's Booming podcast, Joshua's "growing pains" beat sits at the nexus of housing, transportation, urban planning, government and the economy. His favorite stories also include themes of history, technology, and climate change.
Joshua holds a B.A. in Architecture from the University of Washington. Public Radio is his second career; architecture was his first. He is proud of the many odd jobs he's held in his life, such as salmon fisher, author, bike courier, and bed-and-breakfast cook.
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: he/him
Professional Affiliations: The Society of Professional Journalists, Western Washington Chapter
Stories
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How to create community out of a bunch of buildings: The Ripple Effect
It takes more than good planning to create a community that’s there for you when plans fall short.
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Four big housing ideas that could reshape greater Seattle: The Ripple Effect
The greater Seattle metro region is a hotbed of housing experimentation right now. In many different cities, people are talking about new ideas, new approaches to this problem of how to build enough housing without tearing apart vulnerable communities in the process.
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What we can learn about Seattle area housing from hermit crabs: The Ripple Effect
When housing becomes too expensive, people wind up getting pushed out before they’re ready. If you could step back and observe from a distance how people move from one place to another, it would look like ripples on the surface of a tidepool, extending outward.
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How displacement feels in this South Seattle community: The Ripple Effect
Below market rent prices have attracted a lot of new residents to the South Park neighborhood, where existing residents are especially vulnerable to being pushed out.
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Ripple Effect: a special Soundside episode about housing in greater Seattle
A quest across greater Seattle to understand how we can grow as a region without forcing people out.
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What Washington's housing legislation could look like in 2023
How to build more housing, quickly, will be on the agenda when the Washington state Legislature begins its session in January 2023.
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Environment
One year after the Nooksack River flooded Sumas
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In Burien, an unusual affordable housing experiment gains steam
Buying a home is out of reach for most low-income families in the ultra-expensive greater Seattle metro area. The city of Burien is trying to change that. It's experimenting with tiny cottages, with up to two bedrooms, that families earning less than $50,000 per year can buy.
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Seattle gets a little more ambitious as it updates its growth plan
It’s been eight years since Seattle updated its comprehensive plan. That’s the document that says where the city will allow new homes. In that time, we’ve seen a dramatic population growth, a pandemic, downtown got knocked off its feet, we had protests against racial inequity, and there’s a climate crisis. All of those things are changing how the city thinks about how it should grow going forward.
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Emergency Covid orders are ending. Where does that leave renters and landlords?
Covid emergency measures end Monday, Oct. 31 in both Seattle and Washington state. Those emergency orders include protections for tenants who fall behind on their rent. KUOW looked into what their expiration means for renters and their landlords.