Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan praises Legislature’s effort to address homelessness

For years, local leaders, especially here in Seattle, have been saying they can’t take on the homeless crisis on their own and need everyone to pitch in, including the state. It’s a top priority,  regardless of party or district, for virtually all lawmakers this year.

Democratic Representative Nicole Macri says they went into this session with an aggressive agenda on housing and homelessness.

The result?

“This really was unprecedented,” Macri said. “We got more done than I could have ever expected and I am really, really grateful to all the lawmakers who pitched in.”

Lawmakers attacked the crisis on multiple fronts, with affordable housing among the primary targets.

“There were big investments made in affordable housing, including $175 million dollars in our Housing Trust Fund which is used to build housing,” Macris said. “We also included in our operating budget a sales tax credit so that local cities and counties can have a credit against the sales tax they usually remit to the state if they keep those dollars to build affordable housing. They could also bond against that and they could use the money either for building or for supportive housing, which is housing for people usually living with disabilities.”

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan praised the Legislature’s accomplishments.

“The Legislature made some key strides. While the budget did not go as far as we hoped, it makes important investments in a more affordable, healthier, and inclusive future,” Mayor Durkan said in a statement.

The mayor noted the sales tax bonding tool and other changes made by the state would be a great help to the city’s efforts on affordable housing.

“In the coming months, I will announce a proposal to fully utilize these resources to bring online additional affordable housing and to leverage other local, state and federal resources, including the Housing Trust Fund,” Durkan said.

“Even as we celebrate this new tool for Seattle, we have a lot of work to do to make Seattle more affordable and build more affordable housing options. We must listen to community and continue our investments in our housing levy, continue implementing Mandatory Housing Affordability, renew the Multi-Family Tax Exemption program, invest in parks and green spaces, and continue to have critical investment from our state, regional, and federal partners,” continued Mayor Durkan. “Working with community members, business, labor, and the City Council, in 2019 we must increase our commitment to building more affordable housing as quickly as possible.”

Macri noted the affordable housing investments would benefit the entire state.

“These new investments will create over 5,000 units of affordable housing across the state in big cities and small towns,” Macri said. “The money will start when the budget year starts, which is July 1, and it will depend really on the ability to kind of build these contracts, but usually they take anywhere between 18 months and three years from conception to opening the doors.”

Legislation passed to allow more tiny house villages, ease restrictions on accessory dwelling units — mother-in-laws or backyard cottages — and there’s also $10 million dollars for modular housing to help transition people out of homelessness.

“It is more cost effective because you build out the apartment units in the factory,” Macri said. “If you think about it, every single affordable housing building that’s built in Washington is essentially custom built — you have an architect doing a new design, custom built construction essentially. The idea is that if we can innovate modular, we could really bring to scale the amount of housing that we need in a way that’s more cost effective.”

Lawmakers also passed several other policy changes that do everything from incentivizing more affordable housing in the private market by removing development barriers like strict parking requirements, to making it easier to build condos, expanding property tax exemptions for low-income seniors and disabled veterans, and reforming landlord tenant laws.

“I went to Olympia because I knew the state had to be a better partner in helping local communities if we were going to solve these problems like lack of behavioral health resources, homelessness, affordable housing … and I feel really good about the stuff we [did] this last session,” Macri said.

In the capital budget:

The budget includes $175 million in affordable housing loans and grants through the Housing Trust Fund. Allocations within the Housing Trust Fund include:

• $10 million for high-quality modular housing to transition people out of homelessness quickly.
• $35 million for supportive housing and case management services for people living with behavioral health disorders.
• $10 million for competitively awarded grants for state matches on private contributions to fund affordable housing
• $10 million for housing preservation grants
• $5 million for housing veterans
• $5 million for housing to serve people with disabilities

In the Operating Budget:

Affordable Housing: In addition to the state capital budget, the state operating budget makes key investments in housing programs and services.

• $15 million focused on permanent supportive housing and youth homelessness.
• $14.5 million for the Housing and Essential Needs Program, which helps people with disabilities who are struggling to find or maintain housing.

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