The Seattle City Council is close to sending voters a $970 million property tax levy, which would build affordable housing, boost pay for human services workers and fund affordable homeownership programs.

The measure would renew and triple the existing Seattle Housing Levy, which expires this year. City leaders say expanding affordable housing is crucial as the costs of living in the city continue to climb and more people experience homelessness.

The levy will allow Seattle to “continue to address the most pressing crisis we see playing out every day across our city and our region,” said Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda.

Mayor Bruce Harrell, backed by affordable housing advocates, proposed tripling the levy to $970 million in March. After two months of discussions, the Seattle City Council green-lighted the total levy amount and high-level spending plans with a unanimous 8-0 committee vote Wednesday. (Council President Debora Juarez was absent.) The council will take a final vote Tuesday to send the measure to the ballot.

The new seven-year levy would charge 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value, costing about $390 per year on the median $866,000 Seattle home, or a $260 increase from the current levy rate.

Councilmember Alex Pedersen raised concerns about the cost of raising the total levy amount to a record high. Pedersen said he would reserve his final decision for Tuesday, but was “feeling more optimistic” about the proposal.

The levy will direct $707 million over seven years to construction and preservation of rental housing affordable to people making 60% of area median income or less ($74,000 a year for a family of three). Nearly two-thirds of that funding will pay for housing affordable to the lowest-income people making 30% of area median income or less ($37,000 for a family of three).

The city aims to help fund construction of 2,881 new affordable rental apartments and 277 new affordable homes for sale, plus improvements in 635 existing affordable apartments. Despite tripling the levy, the number of new homes built will not triple because of rising construction costs.

The levy also includes $122 million for operations, maintenance and services in affordable housing; $51 million for affordable homeownership programs, including construction of new housing, home-repair grants, foreclosure prevention and loans for homebuyers; $30 million for assistance for low-income tenants; and $60 million for administration.

Some operations funds will help boost wages for workers employed at certain subsidized housing locations. Workers say low wages make it difficult to hire and keep workers on the frontlines of the city’s homelessness response.

The city would pair money from the levy with funds from the city’s JumpStart payroll tax, then distribute that funding to nonprofits based on the number of apartments they operate. The Office of Housing plans to track worker turnover and wages at organizations receiving those funds.

The city will also spend up to $30 million on short-term loans to allow nonprofits to buy existing apartment buildings. (That funding would come from levy funds not yet spent for other programs, then be repaid.)

Councilmember Lisa Herbold argued city agencies should focus on acquiring existing buildings and keeping them affordable, given the climbing costs and timelines of building new housing.

Council members tweaked a resolution accompanying the levy, including requesting that the Office of Housing prioritize family-sized units, focus homeownership funds on communities that face displacement or discrimination in the past, and seek broad geographic distribution of affordable housing, a struggle for the city’s housing programs.

The council is likely to give final approval to the measure Tuesday. Voters would weigh in during the Nov. 7 election, when seven council seats will also be on the ballot.

Source: Seattle Times