We are facing an unrelenting housing and homelessness crisis in Seattle, with skyrocketing rents far outpacing wages and forcing a growing number of us out of our own communities -- particularly in Black and Brown communities. Simply put, we need more affordable housing and the tools we have to build it are not enough. 

I-135 would give us a new, powerful tool to counter this crisis: a community-owned social housing developer that would build permanently affordable housing in which no one spends more than 30% of their income on rent. These high-quality, green, union-built homes would be available to people across the income spectrum, including educators, healthcare workers, child care providers, those with fixed incomes, and marginalized communities displaced from the city.    

These homes would be financed through municipal bonding and wouldn’t take resources away from existing affordable housing. This is a model with a proven record in Maryland, and around the world, including Austria, New Zealand, and Uruguay.

Together, we can create a Seattle where everyone can afford to live and thrive. Endorsed by El Centro de la Raza, Seattle Education Association, UFCW 3000, MLK Labor Council, Solid Ground, Low Income Housing Institute, NAACP Seattle-KC, and King County Democrats.

Submitted by: Frank Chopp, Tye Reed, Brandon Hersey, info@houseourneighbors.org

Over four decades, we have worked on and coordinated campaigns to preserve and expand Seattle’s low-income housing stock. Despite the sponsor’s good intentions, we urge you to vote no.

I-135 calls on the city to create, staff, and fund another development entity to produce “mixed-income” housing. More than three dozen non-profits, religious, and public development authorities have been doing this successfully for decades. Creating another agency to compete for scarce housing dollars that costs several million to set it up before one housing unit is produced doesn’t make sense. I-135 comes with no new funding source. It diverts attention from what’s most important – passing a new housing levy this fall and finding millions more necessary to overcome the shortfall of needed low-cost units.

Several housing agencies already are creating “social housing” through tenant-owned co-ops, land trusts, and mutual housing serving low-income households in perpetuity. Initiative sponsors could have proposed dedicating more city housing dollars for these efforts instead of public-private partnerships they disavow.

The city’s housing priority must be the 50,000 households below 50% of median and 12,000 homeless with little or no income – not prioritizing mixed income including housing to 120% of median. Vote no on I-135.

Submitted by: Alice Woldt, David Bloom, John V. Fox, sdc@zipcon.net

Unfortunately, Seattle’s housing levy alone won’t solve our housing crisis. It’s clear to us all —including the homelessness and housing providers that endorse I-135—that we need additional affordable housing models.

I-135 explicitly prohibits taking funds from current affordable housing. This self-financing housing will serve low-income and middle-income Seattleites. It's a public good for residents struggling with housing costs and who may be one rent increase away from leaving our city. Vote Yes on I-135.  

Submitted by: Frank Chopp, Tye Reed, Brandon Hersey, info@houseourneighbors.org

The Maryland model that I-135 seeks to emulate has for decades required millions in public funding for staffing, unit maintenance, and financing its projects. I-135 is an open-ended unfunded mandate saddling government indefinitely, requiring millions for “mixed-income” projects including high-priced rentals - which many agencies already do.  Allowing the new agency to acquire existing unsubsidized low-income apartments and convert them to higher-income units when tenants move out, only contributes to our low-income housing shortage.

Submitted by: Alice Woldt, David Bloom, John V. Fox, sdc@zipcon.net

Download the full text of the resolution in English

Simple majority (City of Seattle Charter, art. IV, sec. 1(F))

For questions about this measure, contact: Polly Grow, Seattle Ethics and Elections, (206) 615-1248, polly.grow@seattle.gov