The problem isn't the builders, it's the city's fear of its own NIMBY residents. It takes 4-5 years to build an apartment building, but less than 1 of those yea

The problem isn't the builders, it's the city's fear of its own NIMBY residents. It takes 4-5 years to build an apartment building, but less than 1 of those years is actual construction. The rest is taken up by draconian regulatory compliance, permitting, and several community reviews where developers basically have to concede to every possible demand of current residents. And this is the best case scenario. If you need to rezone, you should be prepared to sit on empty land for ten years or more. If Seattle was more serious about increasing supply, that build cycle would be a lot closer to 1 year than 5...housing developers would love to respond more quickly to demand.