If you or someone in your family is considering senior-living options, you have the opportunity later this month to get answers about multiple types, during one panel discussion. Village Green West Seattle (2615 SW Barton; WSB sponsor) is hosting at 5 pm Thursday, August 17th – here’s the announcement and RSVP request:

So this is senior living? A night of great information and clarification – learn about all types of senior living local to our area. We will have a great panel with community partners from Quail Park Memory Care of West Seattle, ComeForCare home care, Avamere at Park West, and of course Village Green West Seattle. Please RSVP to event at 206-937-6122.

You can see the event flyer here.

So far this year, you’ll be voting on a $1.25 billion behavioral-health levy in April and the half-billion-dollar renewal of the Veterans, Seniors, Human Services Levy in August. Those are both countywide proposals. Now, one from the city – Mayor Bruce Harrell has gone public with his $970 million proposal to renew/expand the Seattle Housing Levy, aiming for the November ballot. The city has had a housing levy since 1986; the one that’s expiring now was passed in 2016 and was for $290 million, less than a third the size of the new plan. From the mayor’s office, here’s how this version would break out:

Rental Housing Production & Preservation: $707 million

Creates and preserves affordable rental housing, including Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), for seniors, people exiting homelessness, working families with children, people with disabilities, and other low-income households.

Operating, Maintenance, and Services (OMS): $122 million

Ensures safe, sustainable operations at in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and creates a new wage stabilization fund for workers in PSH buildings.

Homeownership: $51 million

Creates new permanently affordable for-sale homes, provides down-payment assistance for low-income homebuyers, and stabilizes low-income homeowners through emergency home repair grants and foreclosure prevention assistance.

Prevention & Housing Stabilization: $30 million

Provides short-term rent assistance and housing stability services to help low-income households avoid eviction or homelessness.

Program Administration: $60 million

Ensures continuous and effective administration of all Housing Levy-funded programs by covering costs associated with project selection and contracting, development underwriting, construction monitoring, project performance and compliance, fiscal management, program policies and reporting.

Tax rate: $0.45/$1,000 assessed value

Cost to median Seattle homeowners: $383/year or $31.92/month (based on assessed value of $855,136)

The City Council will review the levy proposal in a series of meetings before deciding whether to put it on the November ballot.

One month after Seattle Initiative 135 won approval in the February special election – final count was 57 percent yes – the process of turning its provisions into reality has begun. Its provisions stipulate that the Seattle Renters Commission appoint a majority of the board for the new Seattle Social Housing Developer, for starters. So they’re looking for potential board members. Here’s the announcement:

The Seattle Renters’ Commission is seeking community members to serve on the board for the newly established Seattle Social Housing Developer, a Public Development Authority (PDA) responsible for developing, owning, and maintaining social housing in Seattle.

The Seattle Social Housing Developer was established with the passage of Initiative 135, a citizen-initiated measure approved by Seattle voters on February 14, 2023. Under this initiative, social housing will be publicly owned, publicly financed, mixed-income housing, removed from market forces and speculation, and built with the express aim of housing people equitably and affordably.

A new board of directors to oversee the Seattle Social Housing Developer will be formed in the coming weeks. Seven of the 13 board members will be initially appointed by the Seattle Renters’ Commission. Per the terms of the initiative, the board members appointed by the Seattle Renters’ Commission shall include at least one member who has experienced housing insecurity; at least one member who has experienced financial eviction; and at least one member who has been displaced. In addition, they shall represent a range of incomes, including three members living at 0-50% Area Median Income (AMI); two (2) members living at 50-80% AMI; and two members living at 80-100% AMI.

Full details on the roles and responsibilities of the board of directors can be found in the Charter for the Seattle Social Housing Developer PDA. Prospective board members can expect to spend up to 20 hours per month in their role.

Those interested in being considered for the board should complete the online application by Friday, March 31 at 11:59 p.m.

The Seattle Renters’ Commission will review applications on a rolling basis and reach out to applicants who advance in the application process to coordinate next steps.

The charter is also where you’ll find the explanation of the various entities who appoint the other six members.

If you own a house and/or other property in King County, you can now see your property-tax bill for this year. The King County Assessor is sending out 2023 bills starting today, but you don’t have to wait for yours to arrive in the mail – you can look it up right now online via kingcounty.gov/propertytax. If you pay your tax bundled with your mortgage, you won’t get a paper statement, but you can still see the new amount online. The assessor’s website also enables you to see how the tax you pay is split between various agencies – though the bill comes from King County, the money goes to a variety of entities. A few other notes from the announcement:

Because of the way the calendar falls this year, property taxpayers will have an extra day to pay the first half of their property taxes. The statutory due date for the first half falls on a Sunday in 2023, so payments will not be due until Monday, May 1. Payments are accepted online, by mail, and by drop box. Visit kingcounty.gov/PropertyTax for details on payment options. Customer service representatives are also available to assist Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Contact King County Treasury Operations at 206-263-2890 or email propertytax.customerservice@kingcounty.gov.

Information on tax exemption and deferral programs for seniors, people with disabilities, or other qualifying conditions can be obtained from the King County Assessor’s Office at TaxRelief.kingcounty.gov, by emailing exemptions.assessments@kingcounty.gov, or calling 206-296-3920.

SIDE NOTE: The Legislature has been looking at expanding tax relief, and Assessor John Wilson has been advocating for it. Both proposals are still in committee.

Although this year’s biggest election will be the City Council primary in August, that won’t be the first election of the year. You’ll get a ballot in less than three weeks for the February 14th special election, with just one measure on your ballot: Seattle Initiative 135. Not familiar with it? Here’s the text that you’ll see:

City of Seattle Initiative Measure 135 concerns developing and maintaining affordable social housing in Seattle.

This measure would create a public development authority (PDA) to develop, own, and maintain publicly financed mixed-income social housing developments. The City would provide start-up support for the PDA. The City Council would determine the amount of ongoing City support. Before it transfers any public lands for nonpublic use, the City would be required to consider a transfer to the PDA. The PDA’s Charter would govern the election, composition, and duties of the PDA’s Board of Directors.

So what’s “social housing”? Here’s how the organization behind the initiative explains it:

Housing created outside of the private market, publicly financed and publicly controlled. Unlike public housing models in the United States, social housing does not rely on profit motives, the private market or private partnerships, which creates permanent affordability and housing free from market speculation. Residents and their homes are shielded from the free market, with specific measures prohibiting the sale and marketization of social housing to ensure it remains in the public’s hands, for public use.

Also from their FAQ page, the explanation of “who will pay for it?”, since the city “start-up support” does NOT include funding:

Our initiative follows the path of the Pike Place Market and the monorail. This is a multi-step process. We are setting up the structure and the vision to get this public developer started, then we will begin raising money. We are pursuing several options, but money that is available today will not necessarily be the extent of what’s available tomorrow.

Once the public developer is established, they can receive and request funds from city, state, federal governments, as well as private donations if those donors feel so inclined.

You can read the full text of I-135 here. For a slightly shorter overview, see this page on supporters’ site (which also includes the full text). The House Our Neighbors political committee of Real Change gathered signatures to get it on the ballot. No opposition campaign is registered, so far. Ballots are scheduled to be mailed January 25th. Not registered to vote? Here’s how to do it.

(WSB photo)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

On Tuesday, we reported on a microapartment project in The Junction. Across 44th SW from that site is a relatively new all-studio building that is in the process of being sold. That alone is not unusual – a check of commercial real-estate listings will show that apartment buildings are often on the market (and some sell without ever being publicly listed). However, this deal is unique: Post-sale, the Vega Apartments (4528 44th SW) are to be managed as “affordable housing,” according to a letter sent recently to nearby residents. A WSB reader forwarded it to us. The letter reads:

SRM Development is in contract to purchase the Vega Apartments located at 4528 44th Ave SW.

SRM is partnering with the Urban League of Seattle to preserve rents at affordable levels for 99 years and offer resident services. Our goal is to create and maintain safe, quality affordable housing options for individuals and couples in urban Seattle neighborhoods.

The Vega is an existing 5-story apartment building in West Seattle, built in 2017, which includes 58 studio units. It will serve tenants ranging from 50% or below of the Area Median Income (AMI) up to 80% of AMI, which ranges from $45,300 to $66,750 for an individual or $51,800 to $76,250 for a couple living in Seattle.

The acquisition offers a unique opportunity for low to moderate income residents to afford to live where they work and with close access to public transport line, which meets to goals and objectives of the City of Seattle’s Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development. We are seeking financing for the acquisition and management of the Vega Apartments in part from the City of Seattle Office of Housing.

SRM and Urban League are grateful for the opportunity to provide and maintain more affordable housing in the West Seattle neighborhood and look forward to being long-term community partners.

The letter also points to a page on SRM’s website which says this is one of six apartment buildings around the city that would be involved in the deal; the others are all outside West Seattle. The information on the page otherwise largely replicates what was in the letter sent to neighbors. It also links to a current page for Vega, showing vacancies for ~240-square-foot studios at rents ranging from $1,325 to $1,425.

So what would change for current and future tenants if this partly publicly funded deal goes through? And will the deal proceed if public funding is not obtained? We have been trying to get answers to those and other questions, but both SRM Development and the Urban League have not responded to our inquiries. The city Office of Housing would only say, through spokesperson Nathan Haugen, “We can confirm that SRM and Urban League have applied for funding … We unfortunately cannot comment any further as we are currently in process of closing out any awards.” According to the Office of Housing’s website, the department was accepting applications through mid-September for shares of $44 million in its Rental Housing Program. The notice says in part:

Seattle OH seeks to fund projects that:

• Combat residential displacement in communities that have experienced and continue to be at greatest risk of displacement.

• Address essential preservation and rehabilitation needs in existing OH-funded properties.

• Deliver new housing in geographic locations that offer access to transit, job centers, and services

According to this industry-publication report, the SRM Development executive who signed the letter about the West Seattle plan was hired by the company last year to head a new “affordable housing” division. One more note: Five of the six buildings involved in the pending deal are owned by West Seattle-headquartered Blueprint. We’ll continue following up.

The first major mixed-use project to be built in The Admiral District in several years is now open. A grand-opening celebration is happening through 4 pm today at Admiral Station Apartments (2715 California SW) – all are welcome to drop by for food (catered by Husky Deli and Puerto Vallarta), a raffle, swag, and tours through 4 pm.

We visited Admiral Station, which has 49 apartments – 12 already leased – earlier this week for an advance tour. Here’s what we saw:

Read More

The King County Assessor’s Office has announced that “the annual process of mailing property valuation notices to taxpayers” has begun, and West Seattle property owners will get theirs soon. According to the announcement: “Median residential property values rose by 18.3% in West Seattle, and by 11.4% in North Central West Seattle.” (The median is “half more, half less,” NOT the average.) For the latter, that’s a higher increase than the 8% a year earlier. As decreed by state law, these valuations were set at the start of this year for taxes that will be due next year – these notices are not a bill. The KCAO says a major factor in the rising property values was the continued low inventory of housing for sale, coupled with high demand.

P.S. You don’t have to wait for the postcard to arrive by mail – if your new valuation has been finalized, it’ll show up online; one way to look it up is to use the King County Parcel Viewer to check – once you’ve gotten to the page for your address, click through to the “property detail” page. One more note: If you disagree with your valuation, you can appeal it – here’s how.