The city is putting more of the revenue raised by its tax on Seattle’s largest companies to work to create affordable housing. The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to dedicate JumpStart tax funding to a new program dedicated to investing in organizations and projects officials say are working to address displacement and “redress the longstanding harms of discriminatory housing practices.”

Sponsored by Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, the JumpStart Acquisition and Preservation Program will dedicate up to $2 million a year to administrate a new effort to offer “technical assistance and funding to support CBOs (community based organizations) interested in acquiring and developing affordable housing” and, later, funding to support “acquisition and development activity and loan application.”

Altogether, an estimated $24 million annually will be available for supporting the program’s housing and anti-displacement efforts.

CORRECTION: CHS erroneously described the effort as a $2 million program. The $2 million value represents the funding being dedicated to administrate the program.

The program’s early phase will make grants of up to $250,000 available to organizations for “training and capacity building activities.” The second phase will fund up to $500,000 grants for specific development or projects.

Seattle’s tax on its largest employers is generating around $200 million a year with a spending package dedicated to initiatives including pandemic recovery and affordable housing. Last week, the Washington Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought in December 2020 that tried to challenged the constitutionality of the tax.

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