SOCIAL HOUSING INITIATIVE

Seattle voters will have a say next year when they are asked to accept or reject the establishment of a public developer to create permanent affordable housing. It is potentially one of the more promising steps toward bringing housing to those who cannot meet today’s cost of housing in the city.

Initiative 135 will appear on the February ballot. If passed, the city will form the Seattle Social Housing Developer. It would use government and philanthropic funds to build new housing and take over existing properties to establish renter-governed homes that would be protected from market forces.

Results of a survey this fall may be an early indicator of how people will vote. Seven hundred registered Seattle voters found affordable housing/cost of living to be among their top concerns for the city, along with the issues of homelessness and crime/drugs. Voters appear to be in strong support of addressing affordable housing (the figures in parenthesis show the change in their responses from a similar survey earlier in the year):

Unlike current forms of public housing, the city’s new social housing group would not have to abide by federal rules in determining who qualifies for a home. I-135 would create housing for people who earn from 0% to 120% of the area’s median income. Most federal housing funds go to people who make 80% or less of area median income. Seattleites earn a median household income of $110.8K (U.S. Census data, 2021).

The forthcoming vote comes on the heels of recent laws aimed at selling City of Seattle public land for the best use for lower income people. SoundTransit is also committed to the effort to increase affordable housing close to its transportation routes.

More than 75 organizations and dozens of labor groups have endorsed the initiative. The Housing Development Consortium, a group that represents King County’s major nonprofit housing developers and local housing authorities, opposes the idea, saying the new corporation would only add “another government entity to build housing.”