Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Sean Debenham
“we need a comprehensive setback analysis of our Title 21 code that's 1,000 pages.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Bob Dole
“That cost them hundreds of— actually, thousands of dollars and a 3-month delay in construction. That's why we are going forward to address where— to give the Director the authority to just deal with these de minimis variances rather than tie up the cost, the delay, the risk of missing a building season”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“that represents 30% lot coverage ratio. 30%. Now, that's interesting because R-3, which is the zone that I'm in, allows 40%, right? So I missed out by 30%. I could have increased the number of units if I had actually been able to get to 40% just simply because of existing Title 21 setbacks and other types of regulations that they have.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Tyler Robinson
“So right now it's paused. It could come back in 2028.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Tyler Robinson
“Obviously, not having to do these things is a big deal. It saves cost. It saves a ton of time. We have two developments right now that are underway because a process requirement has been suspended.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Bob Dole
“what really excites me is what we're doing now, rolling out first quarter of next year, which is a new permit management system.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Bob Dole
“They said— we looked at all the appendices we could adopt. So if you wanted to do something that is not normal construction, we will already have in place, if the International Code folks have looked at it, the code path you can expect. So you have predictability when you show up for your permit on how that looks.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“here we have 44 feet of asphalt, and that's because of the fire code on our south side. And on our north side, we have a 38-foot drive aisle All asphalt, all extremely ugly because of our fire code. Now I ask the question, why is a fire truck dictating housing policy in Anchorage, Alaska? So that fire lane access represents 7,520 square feet, which is 15 units, just because of our fire code policy.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“Took me 9 months to go through and get a permit. 9 Months! Like, this is crazy.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“in Anchorage, we have a very short little window for construction. And when it extends an extra even 3 months and it takes you past the ability to get in the ground and put a foundation in, then we've got serious issues when a permit is taking so much long. And it's easily resolvable.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“a hotel has no design standards requirement, right? But if I want to do multifamily, I have to increase my cost by 15% in order to achieve those design standards. And so why do we have design standards for multifamily, and we really desperately need multifamily, but no design standards for hotels”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“We need to outsource it, right? This is not a hard thing. If we outsource a review, If we outsource our inspections, we have very talented people here in Anchorage that are more than capable of doing this and doing it well and quickly and under the time constraints that we currently have.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Bob Dole
“So where do we as a municipality lower the cost going forward? There's basically 4 areas we look at. First one, cut red tape.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Bob Dole
“Our permit management system now is the equivalent of carbon paper and multiple copies that don't talk to each other. It was an over-customized system that they continued to over-customize after they brought it online in 2005. It is unwieldy. It's clunky.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“this is Raspberry Townhomes. It's a development we're doing in South Anchorage. It's It's a $20 million project, 58 townhomes.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026
Sean Debenham
“the fire code has got to be changed. Okay, this is Raspberry Townhomes. All right, a normal driveway is 25 feet.”Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 · Aug 28, 2026