MBAKS hosted our annual Housing Solutions Breakfast on October 14 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. This year’s program focused on unlocking housing supply and featured Justine Underhill, economist, journalist, filmmaker, and Falls Church, Virgina Council Member, as our keynote speaker.

Justine shared valuable insights on how to use storytelling to convey the benefits of increased housing supply. She also showed examples of her videos explaining why housing at every level helps improve affordability. Visit Justine’s YouTube channel to learn more about her work.

“We’re grateful so many members and public officials could be part of this important conversation on ways we can work together to make home happen,” said MBAKS Government Affairs Director Jennifer Anderson.

As part of the program, MBAKS recognized Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County as our Housing Solutions Community Partner of the Year.

Here are some Housing Solutions resources MBAKS shared at the event:

• MBAKS’s 2026 Legislative Priorities
• MBAKS’s Housing Toolkit

We encourage members to keep the momentum going by attending our monthly Builder Council meetings, following legislative updates on MBAKS Connect, and voting for pro-housing candidates on Election Day November 4.

Your voice matters. By staying engaged, you help amplify our collective efforts to advance housing solutions and make home happen for everyone.

View Housing Solutions Breakfast Photos 

By MBAKS Content Strategist James Slone

What makes a house a home? Is it an inviting place to raise a family, an escape from life’s worries, or a vantage point to take in nature? Is it a sustainable retreat or a base of operations in a bustling city? It’s all up to the people living there.

But what makes a home amazing? Building a truly inspiring abode requires a touch of magic. To find out what that magic is, I talked to two local firms with very different sets of priorities and approaches to custom homes—CAST architecture and Everton Homes—to learn how they create spaces that enchant.

Letting the light in: Villanueva Residence in Seattle by CAST architecture. Photo credit: Andrew Giammarco Photography

CAST architecture: Cast in the Northwest

There is something singular about the Northwest. Maybe it’s the vast open spaces, or forward-looking communities. Perhaps it’s the vivid contrast between the sun-dappled lands east of the Cascades and the rain-blanketed forests of the maritime coast.

Whatever it is, Seattle-based CAST architecture has channeled it since 1999 with a focus on sustainable, contemporary design that reflects the diverse landscapes of this region.

The firm casts a wide net of services—construction administration, feasibility studies, and master-planning—aimed at municipalities, businesses, and early education providers. But it’s their arresting portfolio of homes that truly captures the imagination.

Designing With Place in Mind

When it comes to designing homes, the Northwest is always front and center. “Balancing the environment with our clients’ needs is the most important part of what we do as architects,” explains Stefan Hampden, a principal at CAST.

He offers an example of contrasts. “In Methow Valley [in Eastern Washington], we design for snowy winters and sunny summers, with simple roof planes that stretch out and over the conditioned spaces to create protected, accessible outdoor spaces usable during seasonal weather extremes.”

But when building west of the Cascades they use flexible massing and rooflines to keep out the rain and “create a graceful transition” from inside to out. “With thoughtful planning,” says Stefan, “we are able to create indoor-outdoor spaces that bring a sense of connection to nature even in our light-challenged winters.”

Principal Tim Hammer expands on the theme. “A home that provides abundant natural light to interiors can be a huge benefit in a region that is gray for much of the year. Successful homes take advantage of what the natural environment provides and connect our clients to their surroundings.”

Demands differ based on location, says Hammer. “When designing in the city, finding a balance of privacy and connection to nature and the outdoors is always a challenge. Working in rural areas, we have a lot more freedom to capture views and connect to the immediate surroundings.”

Nelson Residence in Methow Valley is a vacation home for family and friends to enjoy and explore outdoor recreation. Photo credit: CAST Architecture

Casting a Single-Family Spell

When it comes to single-family homes, CAST’s work is spellbinding. Their buildings are not just designed for function and comfort; they’re stunning, visually cohesive spaces embodying new construction techniques and traditional craft. Open floorplans seem to segue right into the landscape.

Describing CAST’s style, Hampden says, “While we’re guided by the context and client’s preferences, we tend to embrace an expressive Northwest modernism.” That translates to legibility in materials and structural systems, celebrating what the building is made of instead of hiding it.

The 12-member CAST team utilizes a wide spectrum of materials, looking for unassuming colors and textures that invite nature in. Despite their eye for handcrafted details, the overall construction is relatively simple to make the most efficient use of resources and energy.

Dream Cast

Given the ambition of CAST’s work, I was curious about what they look for in clients. “Clients who are excited about the process and keen to collaborate,” Hampden replies. “Standout projects happen when clients have a dream and are reaching for something larger— sustainability, social equity, or even something playful. The best projects and clients tend to be ones that are aspirational.”

The magic ingredient to CAST’s success is careful listening and clear communication. Through close collaboration, the CAST team creates a vision that sets project goals and parameters and works with clients and contractors to overcome any challenges that arise.

“Our clients are often drawn to our projects because they speak to them,” Hammer tells me. “If they’re realistic about time and budget and their values align with ours, we’re off to a good start. It is important we feel like trust and good communication will come easily as we navigate the project.”

Durable Design

CAST draws on LEED, passive house, Living Building, and Built Green design principles to ensure the client gets the “budget, performance, and longevity” they want out of their home, and that building resources are responsibly managed throughout the home’s life cycle.

To CAST, sustainable means architecture that lasts, a “legacy of enduring, high-performance buildings that work with their environment and site.” When I asked how CAST balances resilience, aesthetics, and comfort, Hampden offered another way of looking at it.

“I don’t view it as striking a balance. I see function as an opportunity for expression rather than something to be covered up.” That can mean super-deep eaves with photovoltaic panels as an awning or an interactive water feature that feeds a water catchment system.

CAST emphasizes durability, structures that last and require little effort to maintain. “We put a great deal of thought into how structures will weather and wear and choose our structural elements and finishes accordingly.”

This careful consideration of how a home blends in makes CAST’s homes feel less like alien impositions of style on the environment and more like complementary features. Whether embedded in a city block or a forest in the foothills, they’re an elemental part of their surroundings. They’re built to last.

This Kirkland residence, by Everton Homes, takes indoor-outdoor living to the next level. Photo credit: Everton Homes

Everton Homes: The Intersection of Luxury and Livability

Everton Homes offers a captivating mix of familial warmth and sleek modern design, packed with high-end finishes and smart home features. For this Bellevue and Kirkland-based boutique builder, it’s all about the flow and function of the living space. Surfaces dazzle, but it’s the thoughtful floorplans that make their homes warm and inviting.

Each house is unique, Co-Owner Igor Tsapenko tells me, tailored to the preferences of their owners. “We’re all fans of a spectrum of architectural styles ranging from contemporary, modern, and hybrids of both, including farmhouse and craftsman styles.” But what really matters is what’s inside.

The first word that comes to mind when touring an Everton is quality. Everything from layout to fixtures is top-notch. It’s all about having the right team, says Tsapenko. “We employ people who are passionate about what they do and creating a standout product. They will not settle for anything short of perfect.”

“We hope that interior design features catch people’s attention and admiration,” says Tsapenko. “We want them to look at some of the elevated features like a work of art in a gallery.” But don’t be fooled by the spectacle. What Everton cares most about is the experience of actually living in their homes.

Multiple Generations Living Together

According to Frank Bua, Everton’s lead designer, “Creating a home is not just going down a checklist of rooms and amenities or making them all as big as possible. It’s considering how the homeowner moves from one space to another.” Everton designs spaces to make their occupants feel comfortable, relaxed, and immediately familiar with certain elements.

Bua says their designs must also be responsive to changing lives. “In 1923, Le Corbusier described a home as, ‘a machine for living in.’ The way we live in our homes continues to evolve like everything else, so the space’s functionality has to be both current and adaptable” to the needs of future generations.

Co-Owner Iryna Sysenko says that when Everton designs homes, they picture a family with children and multiple generations living together under the same roof. They always include a junior master suite and spacious kids’ bedrooms. “We try to anticipate features that offer the best use of spaces for future homebuyers.”

This luxurious yet functional five-bedroom, five-bathroom home in Bellevue is nestled on a large, quiet lot. Its spacious floor plan caters to the owners’ active lifestyle, while large doors from main rooms seamlessly transition to the outdoor space. Photo credit: Everton Homes

Tech-Friendly, Not Technocratic

Comfort doesn’t just mean a flowing space. It also means green, healthy design. For Everton Homes, that means efficient use of technology to save energy and maintain a healthy environment— smart heating, advanced insulation, EV chargers. But they tuck away the gadgetry to keep the house feeling like home.

Technology, says Sysenko, is a natural fit. “Everton’s founders came from the local tech industry, so smart technology is naturally on the top of our list of priorities, and we deploy it to make our homes more relaxing and more secure for families.”

“Along with standard smart home fare like smart thermostats, locks and chimes, switches, surround-sound audio, and irrigation control, we’ve also started providing wired security cameras and dedicated equipment closets that [discreetly] connect it all.”

Sysenko says that tech is not the main feature so much as a means to an end. “As tech gets better and smaller, it stops being a design centerpiece. This is crucial because we want to create a warm family environment.” For Everton Homes, hearth and home are always front and center.

Making the Next House the Best House

Everton Homes is involved in every aspect of homebuilding, from lot acquisition and design to construction and sale—starting from market research and ending with the buyer moving in. Getting it all right is an iterative process. “Ideally, we’d start building, staging, and selling in rapid succession after permitting,” says Tsapenko. “The reality is that we constantly go back to the design.

“We may get feedback from our open houses and sales or quality assurance info from the construction team, or perhaps learn new design techniques between projects or simply have to deal with material availability issues.” But for Everton Homes, revisiting the design isn’t a bug—it’s a feature.

As Tsapenko elegantly puts it, “All of this drives the next house to be the best house.”

By MBAKS Content Strategist James Slone

The Black Homeownership Initiative is working to close the homeownership gap.

In 2021, the Coalition for More Housing Choices joined a network of associations and organizations to launch the Black Homeownership Initiative with the goal of closing the gap between Black and white homeownership rates in Washington state.

The Coalition—representing a spectrum of nonprofit, business, civic, and labor organizations, including MBAKS— came together to develop a plan to build enough homes to accommodate regional growth in a way that “benefits current residents” and offers affordable housing choices.

The Black Homeownership Initiative was a natural outgrowth of the Coalition’s approach to housing with its strong focus on equity, seeking to align “infrastructure development, housing production and preservation, and underwriting and lending” to double the Black homeownership rate in the state.

They have their work cut out for them.

Mind the Gap

A history of exclusionary housing policies has meant that people of color and other minorities have been denied the financial equity, stability, and peace of mind that comes with homeownership—the basic building block of the American dream. The Black community has been especially impacted.

According to the Urban Institute, Black homeownership in the U.S. has not increased since the 1960s. Indeed, it’s actually declined 5% since 2011 versus just 1% of white households. These days, affordable housing is scarce for everyone, but for Black households, it’s even more elusive.

The situation is especially dire here in our own backyard. The Seattle Times recently reported that just 34% of Black people statewide own homes (compared to 68% of whites). In Seattle, it’s an abysmal 26%.

It is hardly surprising to learn that the median net worth of Black households in Seattle is just $23,000, compared to $456,000 for white households. Economic inequality means Black households are likelier than whites to spend more than half their income on rent and debt (e.g., student loans).

And even when they can save, their chances of being denied a home loan are much greater. An analysis by Zillow found that Black applicants were denied mortgages at a rate 84% higher than white applicants in 2020.

How did it come to this?

Racism’s Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Black and other non-white people were kept out of most Seattle neighborhoods in the early twentieth century through zoning and racially restrictive housing covenants. While the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the covenants in 1948, lenders and real estate companies continued to discriminate through “redlining,” a practice of designating communities of color “high risk of default.”

Redlined maps determined which neighborhoods received favorable mortgages, interest rates, and refinancing. The result? Homes in Black communities hemorrhaged value, decent loans became hard to come by, and predatory loans led to defaults. The stigma of redlining also led to a loss of jobs, resources, and investment in these communities as capital—and white residents—fled to the suburbs.

The 1968 Fair Housing Act made racial discrimination illegal, but the resulting gap persists—Black households have less intergenerational wealth to pass on or equity to invest in new housing. While gentrification displaces Black residents, single-family zoning means that more affordable types of housing cannot be built in threequarters of Seattle neighborhoods.

(See “Codifying Prejudice” in the fall 2020 issue of Master Builder.)

Mending the Gap

There are signs that things are changing. Perhaps the most prominent recent example is the Africatown Community Land Trust, which has created affordable housing and cultural spaces in the Central District to mitigate the effects of gentrification and underinvestment in the historic Black community. Another recent initiative spearheaded by the Seattle Foundation’s Civic Commons seeks to help 1,500 Black households become homeowners across the Puget Sound over the next five years.

MBAKS supports the Black Homeownership Initiative because closing the gap is a crucial part of solving the housing crisis in the Puget Sound region—which will need to accommodate 60,000 new residents a year—and because it’s the right thing to do.

The Housing Development Consortium (HDC), which encompasses all major nonprofit housing developers in King County, is a leading partner of the Initiative as part of its mission to “ensure that all people live with dignity in safe, healthy, and affordable homes within communities of opportunity.”

Patience Malaba, executive director of HDC, laid out the stakes last June. “We have decades of racial injustice and economic inequality that has consistently, persistently led to disparities in wealth, specifically for BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] communities and disproportionately for Black households. One of the foundational steps in America to build wealth is homeownership.”

MBAKS’ Senior Policy Analyst, Allison Butcher, agrees. “The association recognizes the need to address race-based housing policies of the past to create a more inclusive future for our region. Part of the solution is creating more attainable housing choices for more people close to jobs, transit, schools, healthcare, and other amenities.”

The Initiative’s plan includes seven interrelated strategies to bolster Black ownership. These include marketing and outreach, pre- and post-purchase counseling, purchase supports and tools, changes in policies and practices, support for existing Black homeowners, and housing production to increase affordable homes.

MBAKS’ role, says Butcher, is “advocacy to enable more infill and more affordable ‘missing middle’ housing.” MBAKS sees increasing housing supply of all types as a key strategy to lowering home prices and barrier of entry for Black households.

Only the Beginning

The Initiative is off to a great start, but there’s still much to be done.

Currently most of the focus is on increasing the supply of and access to affordable homeownership. Looking toward the future, Initiative partners and the HDC hope to develop a policy framework that can be used to monitor and evaluate their collective efforts to increase homeownership opportunities.

Meanwhile, a Washington State Department of Commerceled Homeownership Disparities Work Group has developed recommendations for reducing the gap for BIPOC communities that intersects with the Initiative’s work. The report includes specific statewide recommendations that could be actionable in late 2022 or during the 2023 legislative session, creating additional momentum.

These are heartening developments. Solving the ownership gap means ensuring that everyone can find a home of their own. But to be lasting, it must go beyond up-zoning and legalizing more housing types.

It requires acknowledging the long history of racial discrimination that has narrowed homeownership options for Black people and actively working to overcome its grim legacies. Acknowledging that the gap exists—and why it exists—is an important step.