First community briefing on next city housing levy: Wednesday in West Seattle

West Seattle is the first stop on the city’s tour of briefings about the next housing levy. Mayor Murray has said he wants it to be much bigger than the last one, a $145 million, seven-year levy expiring this year, as a piece of the puzzle toward easing homelessness. While full details aren’t out yet, they apparently will be by Wednesday (February 3rd), because that’s when the tour starts here:

Todd Burley from the city’s housing office is the guest at Wednesday’s Southwest District Council meeting, 6:30 pm at the Sisson Building in The Junction (California/Oregon)

West Seattle Hipster January 30, 2016 (5:45 pm)

Do the responsible thing, vote NO.. One BILLION dollars spent in the past decade with no improvement. I would call that a boondoggle. . Time for an outside audit to see where the money to “end homelessness” is going.

SafetyOfficer January 30, 2016 (8:51 pm)

As one of the HALA report’s “privileged homeowners” who spent a decade working to save for a down payment and only have 28 more years of mortgage payment I would like Murray to know that the middle class property owners of this city are not his ATM. Too bad I have to work that night.VOTE NO!

JC January 30, 2016 (8:58 pm)

I agree, vote NO till we get a reputable outside audit to see where all of our money has gone. We all know it’s going to the politician’s pockets.

dsa January 30, 2016 (9:30 pm)

I heard someone named Donald Duck signed up for benefits from these funds. They said Washington State is the only one where you can get benefits anonymously. I’ll have to think on this before I decide how to vote this time.

Overthere January 30, 2016 (10:03 pm)

It’s like drugs, just say no. This City is has an incredible knack for wasting other peoples money with no or limited results. Notice how the homeless issues have just started to get the spotlight, this has been going on ever since I moved to this city (15 years). All they are going to do is the same thing they do with the other levy money, waste it.

Steve January 30, 2016 (10:57 pm)

If they’ll use the money to buy bus tickets to as far away as possible for those currently ruining our city then I’m a yes vote.

Jeanie January 30, 2016 (11:44 pm)

If we were getting impressive results all this time, I might be inclined to vote yes. But I agree with the other commenters about the city’s knack for wasting our hard-earned money. I can’t afford to keep giving, giving, giving, all the while knowing that inept politicians are mishandling our tax dollars.

flimflam January 31, 2016 (8:48 am)

so the “10 year plan to end homelessness” went so poorly that we’re going to double down? will they give this a more accurate name, like “5 year plan to double homelessness”? or maybe “10 year plan to tax hardworking Seattle-ites into moving the heck out of here”?

JayDee January 31, 2016 (10:14 am)

Are they going to schedule the vote for mid-August? Similar to the School Levy for mid-February? Why not try for November when people will actually pay attention? Of course, if the voters saw $1 billion worth of initiatives on a single ballot they would realize that we are being treated like cash cows. Like frogs in gradually boiling water we keep approving every fund raising initiative with a cute name like “Families and Education” “Bridging the Gap” etc. while failing to notice we are running out of money.

WSB January 31, 2016 (10:58 am)

The last housing levy was on a November ballot. We should hear before Wednesday, whenever the official announcement is made, what the plan is here.

george January 31, 2016 (10:43 am)

No no no no no. Enough is enough. Home owners are overly burdened to fund the entire city, with no results

DarkHawke January 31, 2016 (2:05 pm)

Has it occurred to ANYONE in City Hall that taxing homeowners more to “solve” homelessness is only going to lead to more homelessness? If you can’t afford the higher taxes on your home, what do you do then? Not to mention with all the money going towards the “homeless,” we’re just going to get more of them. Whatever behavior you want less of, you tax. What you want more of, you subsidize.And let us all remember that just like increased business taxes, EVERYONE pays for higher property taxes. You want to avoid that next steep jack-up when you renew your lease? Stop voting for all of these damn levies! It isn’t just the booming housing market that’s making Seattle a more expensive place to live

M January 31, 2016 (2:52 pm)

The only vote that matters is the one to get Murray out of office.

au February 1, 2016 (9:41 am)

As long as developers get a 10-12 year tax exemption I will never again vote yes for a property tax levy.

Mickymse February 1, 2016 (12:56 pm)

What the heck is wrong with people around here?!?! If you struggled to come up with money to afford a place to live around here, why do you think it’s any cheaper for the City and community providers to build housing around here? So you want to know where your previous tax dollars for housing levies went to? They built affordable housing units. But in case you haven’t noticed, it’s getting HARDER to afford to live around here. A recent national report argues that for every $100 increase in average rents, homelessness will increase by 15%. So, you do the math. Have you noticed the recent upsurge in housing prices and rents? Do you think your janitor/gardener/fast food worker/childcare assistant can afford great places to live without making good wages?

Mickymse February 1, 2016 (12:59 pm)

Oh, missed some info… Previous levy dollars went to buildings AND prevention dollars — utility assistance, eviction prevention, etc. to help households in crisis keep from ending up on the streets or rent assistance to help individuals and families transition from the streets to housing (like help with first and last or deposits).
Safety Officer February 2, 2016 (4:58 pm)

Well Micky, the increase in property tax is well over $100 a month added to my cost of living.

DawgtiredWS February 3, 2016 (3:41 pm)

Vote NO. Kiro news reported last night that Seattle homeowners will face Sticker Shock when they receive their property tax statements for 2016. An increase of 15%. HALA is the committee that wants to eliminate the single family designation so they can build wherever and whatever they want. HALA Committee is loaded with big landlords and developers. One group builds them and the other manages them. No one on the HALA Committee should be able to accept any City contracts. A conflict of interest. Let the Mayor know that we have had enough. Save Seattle. NO more taxes.

WSB February 3, 2016 (3:48 pm)

Here is the list of who is on the HALA Advisory Committee and who/what they’re affiliated with:

http://murray.seattle.gov/mayor-council-launch-new-affordable-housing-effort

Here’s today’s announcement of Housing Levy details, which we’ll be covering as part of our report on tonight’s meeting:

http://murray.seattle.gov/murray-proposes-to-expand-levy-to-support-affordable-housing

Home page for the proposal:

http://www.seattle.gov/housing/levy

DawgtiredWS February 3, 2016 (6:15 pm)

Will the West Seattle Blog be video taping this meeting ? You did such a great job on the last Homeless meeting at HPIC. It is a fantastic way for people to catch up and stay informed if they can’t attend the live meeting. You are the ears of West Seattle and you probably never get thanked enough for all you do. THANK YOU.

WSB February 3, 2016 (6:34 pm)

Dawg, thank you for the kind words. I’m sorry to say I’m not able to record tonight’s meeting. A TV crew seems to be here, but of course they’ll have to cut it into 1:30. Actually it seems to be two TV crews. Not sure from whom; the market has turned around in the 8 years since I quit the biz. – TR

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