One big ballot measure in this election – the renewal/expansion of the Seattle Housing Levy, which would collecdt almost $1 billion over seven years. Here’s tonight’s first and only round of results:
SEATTLE PROPOSITION 1
Yes – 74,078 – 65.98%
No – 38,196 – 34.02%
Housing will be less affordable a typical renter’s rents will be going up $20 to $30 a month to reflect the added taxes associated with this levy.
Which is why only property owners should be allowed to approve property tax increases.
So affluent white men should make all the budget decisions for the city? Because that’s how the demographics of property ownership overwhelmingly distributes voting power in your proposal.
They levy is replacing an expiring one, and property tax and other SALTs are typically deductible from personal and rental income as well. Speaking as a landlord, it seems a bit disingenuous and greedy to try to use the levy as an argument for raising a tenant’s rent.
Landlords will increase the rent no matter what is happening with their taxes, and they will increase by a lot more than they’re paying in additional taxes. How much they can get away with charging is about supply and demand, which is why we need measures like this and why landlords fight so hard against bills like this, trying to scare renters into taking their side. You’re not fooling anyone.
no. rents are going up b/c of greedy landlords thinking they deserve much higher returns on their real estate investments than most other places in the country.
Glad this passed at least. Needed SOME good news on this day the closet republicans took over city council.
You mean, got voted into the council. Seems like the majority of your neighbors are also “closet republicans”, or just sick of the way the previous council destroyed the city.
I can’t remember a levy that didn’t pass. It seems like people always vote yes to more taxes or to renew previous levies. Look at the state of our city! Are we getting what we vote for? “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
The last housing levy actually (shockingly to me as well) exceeded its goals. https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/03/30/mayor-harrell-unveils-970-million-housing-levy-proposal/I do certainly wish things looked better, but I highly doubt taking money away is going magically fix any of those problems.
People say it’s expensive to live here and they (currently 65%) keep voting for more taxes. Hmmm.
Because even though it is expensive to live here, some of us (currently 65%) still have compassion for and want to help those less fortunate?
Well said. City has been going downhill ever since the let Bezo take over the city. All of a sudden people got priced out of their apartments. People living in an apartment for years. All of a sudden the rent goes from $800 a month to $1600 a month. Only thing the landlords had to do was give a longer notice. Excellent long term residents traded for greed. Shameful.
We expect visible results & quickly. Invest in no interest loans for DADU, 4-plex and other entry points to home ownership. Neighborhood associations should be running these efforts., not corporate non-profits with city-ins. No more studies. No more assessments. Habitual homeless with substance and/or mental health issues in patient medical housing. Corporate nonprofits collaborate to make that work. Youth ~ safe homes of intentional communities…grassroots communities and city make it work. And most disgusting reflection of us as a society….To “Grandma” who sleeps under security camera @ the “safer park n ride” at night and drives to work in the morning to serve breakfast with a smile…I’ll work to get a place for you in my backyard, I know you only need a couple of months to bounce back to where you were preCovid. Please endure a little longer and know we see you. Time for Real Change…as the newspaper has suggested for decades. Good read at times, too.
For that kind of grassroots housing effort to work, we need serious revision of recent municipal landlord-tenant law changes. Seattle regulations have made it too risky and complicated for “regular” people to provide rental housing to other people. The broad social obligations and eviction preventions that supersede basic contract law are more than most small landlords can viably take on, which is an unfortunate impact of echo chamber’d legislation that hasn’t included housing provider perspectives for many years. It would be great if Seattle became a city where small property owners were encouraged and assisted in providing rental housing to more people. The trend (per the city’s RRIO registration database) is the opposite for small rentals — for very practical reasons that city council and renters’ rights advocates have been totally resistant to talking about. If you want to live in a big corporate apartment building, Seattle is the place for renters. If you want locally owned, independent rental housing (which is where ‘naturally affordable options’ have been concentrated), that is diminishing and the housing levy won’t make a dent on that aspect without regulatory changes.
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