Tag Archives: affordability

Seattle’s 2025 ‘Notice of Funding Availability’ push to develop, preserve, and ‘stabilize’ rental housing reaches $170M

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(Image: City of Seattle)

The Harrell administration is calling it the “largest single-year funding commitment to affordable housing in the city’s history” as the Seattle Office of Housing’s 2025 Notice of Funding Availability includes $170 million for the development, preservation, and stabilization of rental housing in the city.

“An affordable home provides stability, security, and the foundation to grow and thrive,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said in the press release announcing the opening of the 2025 funding window. “This investment will create additional affordable homes and maintain existing ones, with a focus on providing housing for families with very low incomes and for people exiting shelter into permanent housing.”

For the first time, the city’s NOFA is including opportunities for “stabilization.”

“Production funding creates new, long-term affordable homes. Preservation funding keeps existing properties well-maintained and accessible, and stabilization funding helps financially challenged properties continue serving their communities,” the city says.

The City’s Office of Housing will evaluate candidate projects with “available data, community input, and market conditions” to set funding priorities for NOFA applications. Continue reading →

There are still single family-style homes across from Capitol Hill Station

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A rendering of the planned affordable Alnus building as viewed from 11th Ave E (Image: Hybrid Architecture)

A long-running effort to replace a set of old single family-style homes and duplexes north of Cal Anderson and across the street from the mixed-use development above Capitol Hill Station with a new eight-story apartment building is moving forward this summer.

There is still a long path ahead including the public process around a proposed rezone to allow the project to rise to 85 feet even as the city is going through the final months of settling out a compromised overhaul of its zoning hoped to more equitably distribute growth across Seattle as part of its new 20-year plan.

Developers behind the Alnus project in the 100 block of 10th Ave E have filed paperwork for land use and construction permits for the planned affordable, eight-story, multi-family building with 221 residential units above an underground 30-stall parking garage.

Affordable housing developer Great Expectations says the 10th Ave E project’s design will require a contract rezone with the city. Continue reading →

$2M loan proposed for early boost to Seattle Social Housing Developer

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Seattle’s Social Housing Developer has held up Maryland’s The Laureate, a 268-unit mixed-income, mixed use, new construction project from Montgomery County’s Housing Opportunities Commission, as a model development.

Mayor Bruce Harrell is proposing a $2 million loan from the city to help the Seattle Social Housing Developer start on its mission to provide a wider variety of public affordable housing in the city.

“Increasing housing supply and diversity have been top priorities for my administration, creating more safe, affordable places for people to call home,” Harrell said in a statement. “While there were different strategies for how to fund the social housing developer, we share a vision for this model to be successful and add more housing options across our city. This loan will provide critical support during this interim period for planning and capacity-building so that the developer is set up for success and can achieve its goal of operating publicly owned, mixed-income housing.”

The Harrell administration says the loan would allow the developer “to sustain core operations and potentially pursue near term property acquisition opportunities” until revenue from a voter-approved tax on city employers is available. Continue reading →

‘$15 Now’ — Seattle marks ten year anniversary of a new path for the city’s minimum wage

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Marches and “fast food strikes” like this one in 2015 outside the First Hill McDonald’s were part of the push for the new minimum wage

By Domenic Strazzabosco

April marks the tenth anniversary of Seattle taking a new path on its minimum wage. On April 1, 2015, the city became the first in the United States to enact a $15 minimum wage and a process to lever the wage higher to account for rising costs and inflation. As of January 1st, Seattle’s minimum wage sits at $20.76 an hour.

It has been a long climb to get here. A look around Capitol Hill shows some of the impact.

CHS checked out local postings to see what employers were offering new workers come the decade anniversary of the legislation. Continue reading →

‘Home, health, and hope’: Longtime 43rd District leader and housing advocate Chopp dies — UPDATE

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Chopp at the 2014 debut of 12th Ave Arts

Democratic State Rep. Frank Chopp who helped lead the 43rd District including Capitol Hill for three decades from 1995 to 2025 has died.

Chopp was 71.

“The 43rd District Democrats are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our former Representative, Frank Chopp,” the 43rd District Democrats group said in a statement. “Frank served the 43rd and the people of our State with honor for 30 years, and played a critical role in the betterment of our community.”

Remembered for his help funding the development of affordable buildings across the region, Chopp was a focused housing champion.

“The best approach is to build equity, to own it,” Chopp told CHS as he mounted one of his reelection battles in 2014. “The key is to capture any public land that is available for affordable buildings.”

Lika many of his later races, the 2014 election was an easy win for Chopp as he easily defeated an inexperienced Socialist Alternative candidate. Two years prior, he handily dispatched the protege’s mentor Kshama Sawant. Sawant would turn her political focus to Seattle. Continue reading →

Seattle Council approves workforce housing and ‘affordable workspace’ plan for Stadium District

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(Image: Seattle City Council)

The Seattle City Council approved a bill Tuesday from council president — and former beer brewery owner — Sara Nelson that will change the zoning in a small area near the city’s stadiums to allow the construction of “workforce housing and affordable workspaces for Seattle’s small manufacturing businesses.”

The hotly debated legislation split the city’s growth advocates and labor leaders over its potential creation of new development and construction jobs and its potential impact on operations at the nearby Port of Seattle. Continue reading →

City Council set to buy time while Seattle City Hall debates 2025 updates to Multifamily Property Tax Exemption program

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Tuesday’s vote is expected to extend the “P6” version of MFTE through September while City Hall bangs out the details of the program’s 7th update

The Seattle City Council is prepared to approve legislation extending the city’s current implementation of the Multifamily Property Tax Exemption another six months as City Hall debates larger changes to the program that secures more affordable units in market-rate Seattle housing developments in exchange for significant tax breaks on the properties.

Developers have pushed back on efforts they say will further complicate Seattle’s version of the MFTE and that have driven the Area Median Income requirements for the program that have pushed it from achieving important goals around so-called workforce or middle income housing.

Tuesday, the full council is set to take up legislation approved by its Housing and Human Services Committee in February to buy more time for the debate over MFTE to play out. The full council vote Tuesday is expected to move a new sunset date for the current MFTE program from the end of this month to September. Continue reading →

‘Prop 1A Wins’ — Backers expect legal challenge to new Seattle Social Housing tax

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You can learn more about the Seattle Social Housing Developer at socialhousingseattle.org

The backers of the ballot measure approved handily by Seattle voters this week to create a business tax to fund the city’s new Social Housing program have a message for city leaders.

They are also expecting a legal challenge to the new tax.

“Despite a half million dollars in corporate spending and the unscrupulous tactics of our City Council and Mayor, last night Seattle voters delivered an unambiguous message: Now is the time for Seattle to take bold, innovative action to meet our housing and homelessness crises,” the House our Neighbors group said in a “Prop 1A Wins” statement. Continue reading →

A decade of development, affordability, and theater at Capitol Hill’s 12th Ave Arts

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(Image: CHS)

By Domenic Strazzabosco

A decade ago, 88 affordable apartment units above office space for nonprofits, and a street level theater complex opened along 12th Ave on land that had been a barbed wire-fenced parking lot for the East Precinct. While the affordable apartments and offices have become part of 12th Ave’s fabric, the stages of the 12th Ave Arts development are ready to grow after a challenging ten years.

Black Box, formed to manage the building’s two theater spaces, is looking forward to what comes next as 12th Ave Arts emerges from the pandemic.

“The nature of any kind of performing art is that a lot of it is developed in rehearsal, and rehearsal happens right before you go,” said administrative director Greg Carter.

Though he’s booked out the spaces months in advance, Carter doesn’t know all that much of what’s going to be performed than someone browsing the listings would. That’s part of what he loves about working in the space.

What’s exciting about how Black Box rents out its spaces, often up to a year and a half in advance, is that each production can be whatever the creators want it to be, so long as it can fit in the room. There are three resident production companies — Strawberry Theatre Workshop, Washington Ensemble Theatre, and Velocity Dance — that are guaranteed more time throughout the year. An array of other companies produce the rest of the performances, some repeat, some one-time renters. Velocity Dance became a formal partner last year after moving from across the street during the pandemic. Continue reading →

‘Downscale the Proposed One Seattle Rezoning Plans for Madrona’ — How Hollingsworth’s office is handling neighborhood pushback on Seattle growth plan update

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There are petitions in Madrona and letters from angry realtors.

“We are welcoming any and all feedback,” Anthony Derrick, chief of staff to District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth tells CHS about the ongoing process the council member is leading to forge an update to the city’s comprehensive plan and new zoning across its neighborhoods. “With the law, the city is going to see some massive density changes.”

Wednesday afternoon, the Seattle City Council committee Hollingsworth leads formed to take on the nearly impossible task of reaching compromise on Seattle’s comprehensive plan update will meet.

A report on displacement, a core issue for Hollingsworth who grew up watching her Central District neighborhood struggle with gentrification, is on the agenda. But the important statistics and challenges raised in the presentation on the city’s Anti-Displacement Action Plan (PDF) might get lost.

The second half of Wednesday’s meeting will focus on public engagement around the comprehensive plan update — including the city’s meetings on the update it has been hosting since 2022.

Protests and pushback from a growing chorus of property, business, and homeowners from across the city and District 3 are becoming louder as a key February 5th public forum on the comprehensive plan update proposal approaches.

In Madrona, groups are forming to oppose upzoning in the neighborhood as Seattle leaders say more areas of the city must rise to meet state required changes hoped to address growing housing and affordability challenges.

The Madrona neighborhood, they argue, should be treated differently than the rest of the city when it comes to efforts to increase density. Continue reading →