In June, CHS reported that, sadly, Capitol Hill’s rents were continuing to soar as Seattle delayed its affordable housing plan. City Council firebrand Kshama Sawant is hosting a town hall meeting on Sunday night to re-kindle the discussion about affordability in the city:
Sawant to Host Community Meeting on Affordable Housing
Invites the Public to Comment on Seattle Housing Authority’s Low-Income Rent IncreasesSeattle – Councilmember Kshama Sawant will host a town hall meeting to discuss the crisis of affordable housing and the Seattle Housing Authority’s proposal to raise rents for low-income residents. Sawant will focus her comments on skyrocketinghousing prices and high rents, which force working people to leave the city and exacerbate the problem of homelessness.
She will be joined by community activists working to defeat the Seattle Housing Authority’s proposed rent increases, along with advocates for rent control.
Members of the public are urged to attend and learn more about this important issue. Refreshments will be provided.
WHAT: Town Hall meeting to discuss Seattle Housing Authority’s low-income rent increases
WHEN:
5 p.m., Sunday, September 14WHERE:
New Holly Gathering Hall7054 32nd Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98118
It would be helpful to know some details of the SHA’s proposal.
http://realchangenews.org/index.php/site/archives/9293
http://seattlehousing.org/about/steppingforward/
SHA is pulling the rug on people with the last fragment of affordable housing in Seattle. Who knows, they might all go to work at Microsoft or Amazon. More likely they’ll be driven from the city limits, as so many are already.
pulling the rug from people? the changes proposed, per the real change article, would take place over the course of 6 years. that’s in addition to any time the tenants have already been in the program (which, at minimum, was last year when the last lottery was held).
i would hope that a person, over the course of 6+ years, would be able to improve themselves in such a way that they could start to afford market rate housing. sha and section 8 aren’t meant to be permanent support; particularly if you are able bodied and can work.
Able bodied people should be showing an attempt to work like unemployment income.
These are people working already. SHA is planning to raise their rent from 30% of income.
I agree, Patrick. It’s too easy for able-bodied people to choose to stay unemployed when they receive multiple subsidies from the government, such as SHA housing. This proposal apparently seeks to help some SHA residents to get employed, and this would happen over quite a few years, so I think it’s a reasonable change. But the “devil will be in the details.” If a person gets a job and his/her income goes up, it would be best to keep their rent at 30% of income, as otherwise there would be a disincentive to work.
It would be interesting to know what percentage of SHA residents are working, and whether full or part-time. I suspect it would be fairly low. Many are on Social Security Disability or regular SS.
some of these units are 3-4 bedroom townhouses for 130$ a month,how many people are working and not on leases,or working off the books..