Capitol Hill’s affordable 12th Ave Arts was developed by Community Roots Housing, also a Public Development Authority (Image: City of Seattle)
The search has begun for candidates to be part of the first board to lead Seattle’s new Seattle Social Housing Public Development Authority.
The Seattle Renters’ Commission announced this week the call for community members to serve on the board will be open through March: Continue reading
Officials say Seattle’s reforms designed to boost the creation of so-called accessory dwelling units have succeeded with a “350%” boost in production since the legislation was passed in 2019.
The Seattle City Council’s land use committee heard an update on the city’s “backyard housing” trends Wednesday afternoon based on the city’s “2022 ADU Annual Report.” (PDF)
According to the report, production of the units “has exploded by 3.5 times, from 280 units a year in 2019 to 988 in 2022,” the council’s notes on the session read.
The 2019 reforms came after city analysis showed only 1% of approximately 124,000 single-family zoned lots in Seattle in use for single family residential development had added attached or detached “accessory dwelling unit” structures.
Next steps, according to the review, include continuing to monitor trends including sales data, informing the mayor’s growth planning work, and finding ways to “support more equitable use of ADUs by helping lower and moderate income homeowners” build or live in the housing.
30% of ADUs permitted in 2022 were in census tracts with a median household income above $135,000, “consistent with the share of all tracts at that income level in Seattle,” the report notes.
PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
Habitat for Humanity has brought its philosophies around equality — and sweat equity — in home ownership to 11th Ave E between Harrison and Republican on Capitol Hill.
Over the weekend, it celebrated the completion of the Capitol View Community building along with the new condo owners who will call the development home.
“My best friend used to live down the street from here near the park,” new owner Amber Cortes said at Saturday’s ceremony. “And she said when she first lived here 10 years ago, there were all sorts of people in the building — an opera singer, a landscaper, a pastry chef. And over the years, rent went up, housing cost went up, and people started moving out.”
“I’ve honestly lost track and count of all the artists I know who have moved out of Seattle, and they’re bringing their talents and their potential to enrich the city with them,” Cortes said.
Ownership of the 13 units at the Capitol View Community is restricted to households making 80% or less of Area Median Income. Habitat says 11 of the 13 units have completed the purchasing process with five going to BIPOC homebuyers. Part of the Habitat tradition, the new owners also gave 250 hours of “sweat equity” volunteer work as part of the purchasing process.
The Liberty Bank Building’s financing recipe combining debt, tax credit equity and critical funding from the Office of Housing and the state’s Housing Trust Fund could be the kind of creative combinations Seattle’s new Social Housing Developer will need to employ (Image: Community Roots Housing)
With Initiative 135 to create a Seattle Social Housing Developer winning handily with voters, backers are now turning their attention to pushing the effort forward with the Seattle City Council and Mayor Bruce Harrell including making sure the $750,000 in administrative and staffing startup costs gets accounted for quickly.
“We’ve seen (Mayor Harrell) talk about budgeting for this next Fall, but that is not what the initiative dictates,” the House Our Neighbors group said. “We will fight for the funding for the staff positions in the supplemental budget.”
Other costs like office space that will be allocated for the process are also part of the $750,000 plan dictated by the initiative. Continue reading
Backers of I-135 to create a public Social Housing Developer at Seattle City Hall celebrated victory Wednesday as the latest tally of votes from February’s special election showed the initiative firmly passing with the city’s voters
With just under 25% counted of an expected 33% turnout, I-135’s 54% approval is now solid enough to celebrate. Continue reading
It is too late for the Madkin — but buildings like it could make for ideal acquisitions once the new entity is formed
It appears Seattle is on its way to creating a public social housing developer with hopes of helping the city combat its ongoing housing and affordability crisis after Tuesday’s first tally showed I-135 with a healthy “yes” vote lead.
With an Election Night count hitting 21% in what election officials have predicted will be around a 33% turnout in the February special election, 53% of Seattle voters were approving the initiative to create a new public developer “to build, acquire, own, and manage social housing” in Seattle.
If approved, Seattle City Hall will fund the shaping of a new Seattle Social Housing Developer to acquire and take over management of existing properties for affordable housing while also setting the groundwork for philanthropy and grants to create new renter-governed housing in the city.
I-135 backers including the House Our Neighbors coalition led by Real Change claim the initiative would create a city-run, government-empowered, renter-powered entity to help keep buildings affordable and, eventually, build more new affordable housing. Continue reading
(Image: City of Seattle)
A Monday night online meeting will cap off the city’s public engagement process around the draft plans for the so-called “One Seattle” plan, an update to Seattle’s 20-year plan to guide its development and growth and, many hope, do more to address the region’s ongoing housing crisis over affordability and homelessness.
It comes as many housing, development, and affordability advocates say the five plans being carried forward in the process will not go far enough to create the thousands of new homes, townhomes, condos, and apartments the city needs to meet predicted demand.
Those calling for an “Alternative 6” include City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda and pro-growth advocacy and information group The Urbanist, arguing that the city should keep up its housing pace established since 2015 and not slow down the effort to build new housing:
Study adding 200,000 homes by 2044. Maintaining our same pace of housing growth since 2015 would entail 160,000 new homes by 2044. Why assume and plan for a deceleration of urban housing growth in the future if we want to drive down housing prices and regional climate pollution, and create climate-resilient 15-minute neighborhoods?
(Image: City of Seattle)
The future of transit in Seattle is free. A new program is now providing no-cost ORCA cards to every resident in the 99 buildings managed by the Seattle Housing Authority.
The new program is hoped to help residents living SHA-owned and managed housing save money on transportation while encouraging increased transit use.
“This pairing between a low-income housing program and an accessible public transit initiative is the first of its kind at this comprehensive scale in the United States,” according to the announcement from Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office. Continue reading
With ballots for the February special election set to hit mailboxes starting this week, backers of an initiative to create a Social Housing Developer at Seattle City Hall are gonna put on a show.
The 43rd District Democrats and the Tech 4 Housing advocacy group have organized a Social Housing Saves Our Stages event Sunday night at Neumos on Capitol Hill.
Performers including Hollis, Tomo Nakaya, and Black Stax will join emcee Larry Mizell, Jr. in a night of music hoped to help inspire more people to get involved in the winter vote. Tickets are $20 at the door.
CHS reported here on I-135 to create a new public developer “to build, acquire, own, and manage social housing” in Seattle. If approved in the February vote, City Hall would fund the shaping of a new Seattle Social Housing Developer to first acquire and take over management of existing properties for affordable housing while also setting the groundwork for philanthropy and grants to create new renter-governed housing in Seattle. Continue reading
(Image: The Madkin Association)
It is time to vote on whether City Hall should aim directly at the center of the Seattle housing crisis and begin building government developed and managed apartment buildings across the city.
Ballots will be mailed later this month for a February special election to decide on I-135, an initiative that would create a new public developer “to build, acquire, own, and manage social housing” in Seattle.
If the majority of voters in the city approve the initiative, City Hall would fund the shaping of a new Seattle Social Housing Developer to first acquire and take over management of existing properties for affordable housing while also setting the groundwork for philanthropy and grants to create new renter-governed housing in Seattle. The process would begin with the hiring of a chief executive officer and chief financial officer for the body, positions that would be funded by the city for 18 months while the organization gets off the ground. Continue reading
