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3,000 down, 17,000 to go? Mayor proposes $290 million Seattle Housing Levy

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 6.06.29 PMMayor Ed Murray introduced his proposal Wednesday for a doubling of the Seattle Housing Levy to create a $290 million pool “to preserve and produce affordable housing” as the city moves forward on its goal to create 20,000 affordable units by 2025.

“Expanding the Housing Levy is the most important thing we will do this year to support affordability in Seattle,” Murray said in the plan’s announcement. “We know what works – build more affordable homes for low-income families, preserve the affordable housing we have, and keep people from falling into homelessness – and we must renew our commitment and expand the levy so we can do even more.”

A community meeting on the proposal will be held on Capitol Hill later this month. The levy could go to voters as early as August.

CHS reported on the mayor’s levy plans in January as officials responded to the growing Seattle homelessness crisis with calls for more funding. District 3 rep Kshama Sawant has called on City Hall “to allocate $10 million for additional shelter beds” immediately, a call that has — so far — gone unheeded. Sawant also last week repeated her calls for Seattle to move forward with rent control and using the city’s “bonding capacity” to build affordable housing.

Wednesday’s announcement will bring a new 7-year ballot measure to Seattle voters later this year:

Responding to a broad range of affordability needs in Seattle, Mayor Murray’s initial 2016 Housing Levy proposal will produce affordable housing for seniors, people with disabilities, low-wage workers, and people experiencing homelessness. The Levy also provides funding for homelessness prevention and homeownership assistance. The program areas include:

  • Rental Production and Preservation ($201 million capital funding; $39 million operating funding):The Levy proposal will produce and preserve 2,150 apartments affordable for at least 50 years, and reinvest in 350 existing affordable apartments. The proposal also provides operating funds to supplement tenant-paid rent in 475 apartments serving extremely low-income residents.
  • Homelessness Prevention ($11.5 million): The Levy proposal will provide short-term rent assistance and stability services for 4,500 families that are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness.
  • Homeownership ($12.5 million): The Levy proposal will help 200 current low-income homeowners stay in their homes, and help 180 first-time homebuyers with limited income find a stable and affordable home for their family.

Mayor Murray is committing 60 percent of Rental Production and Preservation funds ($144 million) to serve those who are currently experiencing homelessness and those who earn no more than 30 percent of area median income ($24,250 for a family of three). The remainder of the Rental Production and Preservation funds will be dedicated to serving lower-wage workers who earn less than 60 percent of area median income ($48,420 for a family of three).

The mayor’s office says the 2016 Housing Levy would increase property taxes “by $61 a year on a Seattle home with an assessed value of $480,000.”

Seattle’s City Hall is working toward the goal set last year to create 20,000 affordable housing units in the city by 2025.

Since the first levy in 1981, the property tax “has created over 12,500 affordable apartments throughout the city, helped 800 families purchase their first home, and provided emergency rent assistance to 6,500 families,” the mayor’s office said.

According to the Seattle Times, there will be a record $228.5 million in voter-approved levy taxes collected in the city in 2016. But the paper’s analysis concludes that Seattle ranks extremely low in the nation when it comes to its effective tax rate. “Seattle property taxes are high because our homes are worth so much, not because we’re being gouged by an excessively high rate,” the Times reports.

You can learn more and comment on the proposal at seattle.gov/housing/levy. There will also be a series of community “conversations” on the levy including February 18th on Capitol Hill:

·         West Seattle: Feb 3, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon St) with Southwest District Council

·         East Seattle: Feb 18, 6:00 – 8:00 pm at 12th Ave Arts (1620 12th Ave), with Capitol Hill Community Council and Capitol Hill Housing

·         North Seattle: Feb 20, 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Lamb of God Church, 12509 27th Ave NE with Lake City Neighborhood Association

·         Central Seattle: February 24, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at IDEA Space (409 Maynard Ave S) with SCIDpda, Interim CDA, and CIDBIA

·         South Seattle: Feb. 25, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at New Holly Gathering Hall (7054 32nd Ave S) with SouthCORE, Southeast District Council, and Greater Duwamish District Council

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12 Comments
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AbleDanger12
AbleDanger12
8 years ago

Kshama can have some free beds in her place, right?

go2link.net
8 years ago

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Adam
Adam
8 years ago

We should give Ed a punch card and give him a free sandwich after his 10th levy proposal.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
8 years ago
Reply to  Adam

He should get double-punches for each one that he has the balls to include on a ballot that has other levies on it. Or maybe double-word-score for the August levy he’s proposing just 3 months before the November ones closely following. And of course the two we’re looking at right now, and the Move Seattle one from back in November.

citycat
citycat
8 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

He could get triple points for proposing a levy while informing homeowners that they shouldn’t be stingy and heartless because their property taxes are actually too low!

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
8 years ago
Reply to  citycat

just curious, citycat. Do *you* own a home? Have you even seen a property tax bill in the last 3 or 4 years?

citycat
citycat
8 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

I do own a home and have seen my property tax bill over the last 3-4 years. I am absolutely dreading the arrival of the 2016 tax amount that will be coming out in the next week or so.

It appears that you may not have gotten the sarcasm in my response. Just last week, the mayor made a statement that the only reason our taxes are high is the value of our homes and that our tax rate is actually very low. He said this while implying that Seattle homeowners worried about their tax bills lack compassion and are being stingy. Leave it to Ed Murray to insult the very people he wants to collect more money from. I sorry you didn’t get my post.

JayH
JayH
8 years ago

Do these social service programs cause more problems than they solve, locally? If Seattle offers more help to the indigent, does this not attract people from outlying areas to come here thus making Seattle’s problem worse? Recent news stories tell us that the homeless arrests and victims are from places like Tacoma and Olympia. Would it not be better if these were regional programs rather than local? Should Seattle programs be restricted to people that can prove prior residency? Discuss.

Privilege
Privilege
8 years ago
Reply to  JayH

Per another thread, recent surveys put the number of Seattle-based homeless at 90%, and Washington-based at 97%.

So maybe we should test people for Washington blood before offering help? Or maybe that talking point will need to be retired, unless 10% sounds really scary. “Oh god, he’s from TACOMA. He might be LGBT, abused, or god knows what else, but seriously, screw that guy.” LOCALS ONLY, AMIRIGHT?

Funding property developers and bankers/capitalists
Funding property developers and bankers/capitalists
8 years ago
Reply to  JayH

Where does the money actually go? It goes to builders/property developers right? And using Seattle’s bonding capacity means borrowing money: in other words tax payers pay extra to the capitalists.

Timmy73
Timmy73
8 years ago

Can we send the bill to those cities/states that ship their homeless to Seattle? We should all pay our fair share and not foot the bill for everyone else who doesn’t want to deal with their own population.

jameshilton
jameshilton
8 years ago

I agree with Timmy73.Seattle needs to impose a city sales tax,that way the burden is spread more evenly.