Tag Archives: affordability

‘Downscale the Proposed One Seattle Rezoning Plans for Madrona’ — How Hollingsworth’s office is handling neighborhood pushback on Seattle growth plan update

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There are petitions in Madrona and letters from angry realtors.

“We are welcoming any and all feedback,” Anthony Derrick, chief of staff to District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth tells CHS about the ongoing process the council member is leading to forge an update to the city’s comprehensive plan and new zoning across its neighborhoods. “With the law, the city is going to see some massive density changes.”

Wednesday afternoon, the Seattle City Council committee Hollingsworth leads formed to take on the nearly impossible task of reaching compromise on Seattle’s comprehensive plan update will meet.

A report on displacement, a core issue for Hollingsworth who grew up watching her Central District neighborhood struggle with gentrification, is on the agenda. But the important statistics and challenges raised in the presentation on the city’s Anti-Displacement Action Plan (PDF) might get lost.

The second half of Wednesday’s meeting will focus on public engagement around the comprehensive plan update — including the city’s meetings on the update it has been hosting since 2022.

Protests and pushback from a growing chorus of property, business, and homeowners from across the city and District 3 are becoming louder as a key February 5th public forum on the comprehensive plan update proposal approaches.

In Madrona, groups are forming to oppose upzoning in the neighborhood as Seattle leaders say more areas of the city must rise to meet state required changes hoped to address growing housing and affordability challenges.

The Madrona neighborhood, they argue, should be treated differently than the rest of the city when it comes to efforts to increase density. Continue reading →

Why the Broadway Center for Youth is coming to the center of Capitol Hill

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Weinstein A+U’s rendering of the now under construction Broadway Center for Youth at Broadway and Pine

By Matt Dowell

A planned two years of construction has begun on the Broadway Center for Youth, an affordable housing and workforce development hub at Broadway and Pine. Why develop the project here near the core of the neighborhood’s entertainment district on one of the most expensive blocks in the city and in an area experiencing some of the deepest pains of the city’s ongoing challenges around addiction and mental health?

Officials at YouthCare, the nonprofit behind the center, say they want to create this resource for the young adults they serve at Broadway and Pine for the same reasons anybody might want to live here — community, culture, transit, and jobs.

YouthCare has worked for 50 years to help address youth homelessness in the Seattle area. Their Constellation Center, a part of the Broadway Center for Youth, will connect to Community Roots Housing’s new eight story building with 84 affordable homes on the busy Capitol Hill corner. Imagined as a hub for young people aged 18 to 24 who need job training, case management, housing, and mental health services, the center will expand programs already offered by YouthCare.

YouthCare CEO Degale Cooper highlighted the advantages of the well-connected location. It is close to two local colleges, employers with jobs, and public transportation. And it’s near the healthcare organizations that provide care to those under YouthCare’s wing.

Plus, it’s close to those who need help.

“More young people who use YouthCare services are moving out of the downtown corridor as more condos and businesses go up. They are moving to Cap Hill,” said Cooper. Continue reading →

Seattle voters considering Social Housing funding, school levy replacements on February Special Election ballot

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Voting in the February 2025 Special Election is underway. Ballots are due by February 11th.

  • Social housing funding vote: Ballots are being mailed for the February 11th Special Election including a vote on a new Seattle Social Housing payroll tax featuring a proposal from housing advocates and a competing proposal form the Seattle City Council. Seattle voters will face two questions when filling in the bubbles — 1) Should either of these proposals be approved? and 2) Which one? The Let’s Build Social Housing ballot Initiative 137 would add a 5% tax on companies for every dollar over a million paid to a Seattle employee in annual compensation including salary, stock, and bonuses to fund the city’s new public Social Housing Developer. A Seattle City Council-backed alternative would not create a new tax, instead amending the existing JumpStart payroll tax to provide $10 million annually to the Seattle Social Housing Developer in funding administered by the Office of Housing for five years with an option for extending the program. The House our Neighbors group behind the salary tax proposal says it would add up to around $50 million a year to fund the development authority and power its ability to borrow to build or acquire 2,000 units of housing over 10 years. Social housing advocates, meanwhile, have blasted the city council alternative saying the proposal would slash funding to the newly formed developer while also limiting how that funding can be used in ways that would undermine the effort’s key tenets around expanding affordable housing to include a wider range of income levels. Under the proposition, JujmpStart funding would limit the Social Housing Developer to offering affordable housing to only the city’s lowest income levels.
  • School levy replacements: The February ballot also includes a vote on replacing two expiring levies to fund Seattle Public Schools. While the city’s voters have typically enthusiastically backed school spending in past votes, the new ballot arrives fresh after a tense reversal by the district on a school closure plan that has bolstered criticism of the state’s largest school system. The new proposed operations levy would provide SPS with $747 million to pay its faculty and staff while the new capital levy proposal weighs in at around $1.8 billion to help the district construct new buildings and facilities. The capital levy faces increased skepticism after the fall’s showdown over closures as the district has focused increased resources on larger campuses including the proposed closure of North Capitol Hill’s Stevens Elementary that was planned to include consolidation of its student boundaries with the newly overhauled Montlake Elementary School and its $64.8 million renovation and expansion. Voters will consider each levy replacement proposal separately with yes/no votes on each. UPDATE: Looming over all of this are the increasing challenges to local budgets presented by the state’s 1% cap on levy revenues. The complicated restriction limits the total revenue collected in property tax to 1% annually leaving local governments scrambling to keep up with inflation.
 

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DESC Capitol Hill ‘supportive housing’ project part of $108M in city affordable development funding

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(Image: DESC)

Money from $108 million in Seattle Housing Levy funds will go to support affordable housing across the city and new developments across Capitol Hill and the Central District including a new “supportive housing” facility from the Downtown Emergency Service Center planned for Belmont Ave.

Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the funding this week, marking the first full allocation of funds from Seattle’s newly approved 2023 Housing Levy.

“This funding, awarded through the 2024 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), will support the construction of 655 new affordable homes, an important step in increasing Seattle’s housing stock to meet growing demand and ensure long-term affordability,” the announcement reads. Continue reading →

After transportation levy’s big win, push begins for voter support for new Seattle Social Housing payroll tax

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Tech 4 Housing volunteers were out in support of ballot Initiative 137 this weekend (Image: @tech4housing)

The Prop 1 transportation levy had strong support across the city (Image: wacommunityalliance.github.io)

With more than 66% of Seattle voters approving the city’s $1.55 billion transportation levy earlier this month, attention is now turning to the next big financial decision set for the ballot this winter

Volunteers from Tech 4 Housing were at the Capitol Hill Farmers Market this weekend raising support for funding social housing.

Advocates won’t have to pitch more property taxes for this one. The Let’s Build Social Housing ballot Initiative 137 would add a 5% tax on companies for every dollar over a million paid to a Seattle employee in annual compensation including salary, stock, and bonuses. It will appear on the ballot in a special election in February.

A Seattle City Council-backed alternative initiative will also be presented to voters. That proposal would not create a new tax, instead amending the existing JumpStart payroll tax to provide $10 million annually to the Seattle Social Housing Developer in funding administered by the Seattle Office of Housing for five years with an option for extending the program.

Under state law, voters will be presented with a two-part decision. “Should either of these measures be enacted into law?” will be the first question. Then voters must select which of the two options they prefer.

As for the transportation levy, Seattle voters easily backed its focus on spending on streets, transit, sidewalk, and bike lanes for the next eight years with only the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods voting against the proposition.

 

As rising rents erode queer communities across Capitol Hill and the Central District, leaders pin hope on state rent stabilization legislation

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Rep. Nicole Macri at the September affordable housing forum (Image: CHS)

Nobody in Washington rents like the queer communities living across Capitol Hill and the Central District rent. Political and community leaders say there could be new opportunities in Olympia to address the climbing rents in the city’s core causing continued displacement among the city’s LGBTQIA+ population.

Advocates and legislators met in September with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance to discuss rent stabilization and support, where House Bill 2114— which passed in the House and died in the Senate this past year — took up much of the conversation and was the’ go-to answer when responding to community questions about how they will improve the lives of renters.

A National Low Income Housing Coalition report this summer found that workers in the Seattle and Bellevue areas would need to earn $50.87 per hour to afford a two-bedroom unit.

A recent University of Washington graduate spoke about their experiences with renting in Seattle.

“The lack of stable rents really makes me feel as if Seattle doesn’t want to support young people, especially those who are all about improving their communities and not just making a big salary,” the renter said.

“It’s likely I won’t be able to stay in Capitol Hill at a certain point due to a future rent increase.”

The challenges for renters in Seattle hit the city’s LGBTQIA+ communities especially hard. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council holds special meeting on Social Housing Developer funding ballot alternative

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The Seattle City Council is holding a special meeting Thursday afternoon to handle legislation to create an alternative to a new social housing tax for the February ballot.

Thursday, the council is expected to pass the bill from Councilmember Maritza Rivera representing the city’s northeast District 4 that would put a competing measure on the February ballot presenting voters with an alternative for funding the newly created Seattle Social Housing Developer.

The Let’s Build Social Housing ballot Initiative 137 would add a 5% tax on companies for every dollar over a million paid to a Seattle employee in annual compensation including salary, stock, and bonuses. It will appear on the ballot in the special election in February.

The House our Neighbors group behind the salary tax proposal says is would add up to around $50 million a year to fund the development authority and power its ability to borrow to build or acquire 2,000 units of housing over 10 years.

The Rivera alternative to be voted on by the full council Thursday to be included on the ballot for voters in February would amend the existing JumpStart payroll tax to provide $10 million annually to the Seattle Social Housing Developer in funding administered by the Seattle Office of Housing for five years with an option for extending the program. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council cooks up alternative to new social housing salary tax for February ballot

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The Seattle City Council has been eyeing the city’s pandemic-era JumpStart tax used to pay for services and affordable housing as a possible band-aid to patch up myriad holes from the city’s projected deficit. Now the council is considering a proposal that would raid the funding as an alternative to the upcoming ballot measure to create a new $1 million salary tax to fund social housing.

Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera representing the city’s northeast District 4 has unveiled proposed legislation that would put a competing measure on the February ballot. If passed by the council, the proposal would present voters with an alternative for funding the newly created Seattle Social Housing Developer. Continue reading →

A Seattle first at 14th and Union, the Heartwood’s residents can see, touch, and feel the timber — But challenges to affordable housing have trimmed the excitement

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With reporting by Alex Garland

In better times, you would hear more about the Heartwood, a recently completed mass-timber affordable apartment building at the core of Capitol Hill and the Central District, that puts its residents in direct contact with a building material more closely connected with the planet and the feelings of home.

The cross-laminated timber project is one of the first in the country to be designed with full exposure of mass timber in the structure. The newly opened building’s eight stories feature full exposure of its timber beams so residents and visitors can see, touch, and feel the wood. Other types can build higher — like this project on First Hill — but require that the wood be kept “encapsulated.”

But the Heartwood’s amazing composition has been overshadowed.

“[The timing surrounding the development and lease up of the Heartwood has presented challenges,” a spokesperson for the building’s developer Community Roots Housing tells CHS. “We’re seeing a softened rental market that has led to a slower lease up of the property than we anticipated, which is having an impact on other projects in our pipeline.” Continue reading →

Seattle starts process of renewing valuable Multi-Family Tax Exemption Program

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The Central District’s Midtown Square (Image: Weinstein A+U)

As it faces an ongoing affordability crisis, Seattle must extend a valuable tax break designed to encourage development of multifamily housing.

Wednesday, the Seattle City Council’s Housing and Human Services Committee is scheduled to discuss legislation that would extend the Multi-Family Tax Exemption Program, “a tax exemption on the residential improvement portion of a development in return for the property owner agreeing to income and rent restrictions on a percentage of units.”

The program is scheduled to end on December 31st. Continue reading →