In August 2020, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to pass the Childcare Near You ordinance, amending the city’s Land Use Code to allow child care centers to operate in all commercial and residential zones, including areas zoned for single-family housing.
Advocates for the ordinance hoped that it would remove regulatory barriers to creating new in-home child care businesses in Seattle by reducing the time and costs associated with the permitting process.
Sources:
Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections. (n.d.). Childcare Ordinance – What & Why.
Peha, J. (2020, August 17). Councilmember Strauss’ Childcare Near You Ordinance Passes. Seattle City Council Blog.
Bicknell Argerious, N. (2020, August 21). New Seattle Law Opens Door to Childcare within a 15-Minute Walk of Every Home. The Urbanist.
Childcare Near You Ordinance (2020).
Connections to Key Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H) Findings:
High-quality, affordable early education and care supports children’s healthy development and allows families to work, engage in their own educational pursuits, and/or participate in other aspects of community life. To support children and families in these instrumental ways, research suggests there is a need to expand the availability of early education opportunities across the mixed-delivery system.
Findings from the Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H) show:
- Families rely on a range of formal (e.g., Head Start, center-based care, public pre-K) and more informal (e.g., home-based, relative care) early education settings; when choosing a setting for their child, families balance many logistical constraints and personal preferences.
- But for many families – and especially low- and middle-income families – early education choices remain tightly constrained due to issues of affordability and supply.