“These are going to be vibrant communities.'
would establish a new standalone authority known as the Seattle Social Housing Developer, functioning outside the city’s government to build and maintain affordable, high-quality living spaces for people across a wide range of backgrounds, spanning 0% to 120% of median area income.
If it gets approved by voters and implemented, the initiative would take shape in a few ways, starting with the public developer working to acquire and construct buildings to house these new affordable units. Those living in existing buildings acquired by the developer will be able to stay, “and as they leave on their own volition, those units will be opened up to the income ranges included in the program,” House Our Neighbors Campaign Co-Chair Tiffani McCoy described.
New buildings will then fill units with a lottery system, open to anyone living or working in Seattle. They will then be selected at random “based on what income levels can be served in each building.”For anyone who eventually exceeds the range of incomes needed to enter the social housing program, they will still be able to stay, albeit while paying “a little bit more rent,” with those extra dollars going toward subsidizing those on the lower end of the income bracket.