(Image: Madkin Tenant Association)
By Elizabeth Turnbull
An E Madison apartment building has become the latest flashpoint in efforts to preserve affordable rents and a push for social housing in the city as residents of The Madkin gathered with advocates outside their homes at 1625 E Madison on Wednesday to protest potential rent hikes that they fear may accompany a sale of the building and to call for support for social housing.
“We’re calling on and urging city leaders to stop this kind of thing that has been happening in the city of Seattle for many years,” Violet Lavatai, the executive director of the Tenants Union of Washington State, said at Wednesday’s press conference. “For-profit owners would come and buy the building, fix it up and then increase the rent, where there is none of the tenants that can afford these rents.”
Backers are hoping to put an initiative on the ballot this fall that would establish a public developer to create more rental housing options in Seattle, powered by public funding, and protected from free market influences, and city and county restrictions.
In the meantime, remaining islands of affordability like the family-owned Madkin are being snapped up.
The Madkin was built in the early 1900s, and boasts an extensive history at the intersection connecting the Capitol Hill and Central District neighborhoods. Today, its 23 units are home to many long-time residents. In the mid 1900’s, the building was bought and named after its new owners, Robert and Esther Madkin, Black leaders in the local civil rights movement.
Before passing away in 2020, Fally Tyson — the building’s recent owner and the third landlord in a string of Black ownership of the building — provided what tenants say were generous accommodations with low rents and a family approach to owning the building.
“When I met Fally Tyson he gave me a job, he gave me comfort and gave me rest. Even my mother worked for Fally too, my brother lived here before I was here,” said Anthony Williams, a long-time resident of the Madkin, for over 45 years. “Fally was always here for me and I loved him for it.”
With Tyson’s passing, residents of the apartment complex are worried about what what will come next now that the building is being sold. As a result, residents formed the Madkin Tenant Association and are calling on local officials to ensure that the building is acquired by a non-profit, to secure affordable rents in the future. But there may not be time though no details of a deal are yet public. King County records don’t show any sign of a sale.
The building was listed at $6.25 million.
“We want the best for Fally’s family, who have chosen to let go of this building,” the MTA residents said in a statement. “We would have loved to have the time and opportunity to secure the building’s future ourselves. But we also want to preserve our family, a trace of old Seattle, the community at The Madkin Apartments.”
For updates and to learn more about how to support residents at The Madkin, follow the MTA group @savethemadkin.
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