Mayor challenges council on affordable housing legislation

Mayor Greg Nickels has urged the Seattle City Council to take action by the end of the year on legislation he says could create hundreds of new, affordable homes for working families.

Nickels proposed the "Seattle Homes Within Reach" program to the Council in July, and he claims the costs of delay are mounting. Nickels says that unless the Council acts soon, the city could miss out on the opportunity to set aside as many as 1,600 new affordable apartments for middle-income workers, such as firefighters, grocery clerks, industrial workers and others who are being priced out of the city's housing market.

"This is not a back-burner issue for people who are stressed out by housing prices growing faster than their paychecks," Nickels said. "The longer we wait, the more opportunities we lose to keep Seattle affordable for working families. It is clear from the broad support for this proposal that people want action on this issue."

The mayor's Seattle Homes Within Reach strategy would expand and update an existing housing incentive program, bringing it to Ballard, West Seattle, Lake City and many other neighborhoods where affordable housing has become a growing concern.

The legislation is now before Councilman Tom Rasmussen's Housing, Human Services and Health Committee.

"This is too important an issue to wait any longer," said Steve Cohn, chairperson of the Ballard District Council. "There is a huge demand for affordable homes in my neighborhood. All the new housing projects breaking ground in Ballard should have the option of tapping into this program."

City staff visited nine district councils around the city and found that the communities were very concerned about home prices and the increasing difficulty working families and individuals have finding affordable housing in Seattle's neighborhoods. They often said it makes sense to expand the program to create affordable units within projects that would be happening anyway. Councilmembers were involved in the discussion at five of those meetings. Further, councilmembers have held two Council committee meetings at which they have gathered public comments, largely in support of proposed changes.

Seattle Homes Within Reach would provide a 12-year tax exemption on the residential portion of any new apartment building in which 20 to 25 percent of the units are set aside for individuals who earn up to $49,000 or families who earn up to $62,300. Today, there are more than 8,000 units of multifamily housing units in the pipeline in neighborhoods that would be covered by the new program, creating the opportunity for as many as 1,600 affordable homes, if all projects participated in the program.

Condo developers can also opt into the expanded program by offering units that are affordable to individuals and families who earn up to $74,760 a year for a two-person household. The income limits vary according to household size. For condos, the tax exemption would be available to only the units in the building occupied by people who meet the Seattle Housing Within Reach income guidelines.