4. In the spring and summer of 2016, the
median home price in the Seattle area has
risen faster than any other city in the nation,
at about twice the national rate.
Estimates vary, although the Seattle Times
reports that the median house within city
limits is now as high as $666,500. This tops
the previous record in 2007, at the height of
the housing bubble.
5. The median household income in Seattle was
last published at $71,273 in 2014, and is also
growing faster than the national average.
However, home prices are growing much
faster than incomes. Based on the figure
quoted in the Seattle Times, the median
home in metro Seattle is priced at about 9x
the median household income.
2016
6. Amazingly, these homes are still considered
to be “within reach” by traditional measures
because of the extremely low interest rates
available on mortgages, currently about 3.7%.
Assuming a 20% down payment ($130k+) and
a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the median
income in Seattle can theoretically afford the
median home price.
And while many buyers cannot afford a 20%
down payment, lenders are now offering
mortgages with as low as a 3% down payment.
These conditions could be partly responsible
for the inflation in home prices, combined with
other factors, because they increase “demand”
from consumers.
7. At the same time, the supply of housing in
Seattle has become more scarce, in part
because of the city’s rapidly increasing
population. Seattle’s growth rate from 2000
to 2010 was 8%, consistent with growth
thoughout the 1990s — but in the 5 years since
then, that rate has doubled.
Many observers attribute this to an influx of
tech workers employed at rapidly growing
companies like Amazon.com. These workers are
typically paid much higher than average and
thus further drive housing cost inflation in the
city. Per capita GDP in Washington State had
the highest increase in the country this year.
Amazon Headquarters
8. Other forces may be at work to reduce housing
supply. In 2014, the Seattle Times reported
that Wall Street hedge funds had been quietly
purchasing large numbers of single-family
homes throughout the area, usually at the
starter end of the market, paying in cash.
These firms then turn the homes over to
property management firms to operate as
rentals, while consolidating many homes
together as a new kind of security to be sold to
international investors. The value of this asset
increases with rising rents.
The strategy closely resembles those that led to
the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2008.
9. The local real estate industry has sought to
downplay fears of a new housing bubble.
In May 2016, KIRO reported on Zillow Chief
Economist Svenja Gudell’s overview of the
housing market to the City Council: “I don’t
think we’re seeing a ton of speculation in
the Seattle market. People actually want to
live in these homes that they’re searching
for,” she said. “We’re still seeing an elevated
amount of cash buyers but fewer now than
we did two years ago.”
“These increases in prices that we’ve been
seeing are not driven by investors just trying to
flip homes over and over,” she said. “It’s driven
by true demand and true limited supply.”
Svenja Gudell,
Zillow.com
10. Construction of new apartment buildings
in Seattle is booming, but these increases in
supply almost exclusively target the high-
income market, and seem to have a buoying
effect on rents across entire neighborhoods.
The average rent in Seattle is now $2000/mo.
In 2015, over 45,000 Seattle households
(one in six) paid more than 50 percent of
their income on housing. At such a margin,
many households become vulnerable to
displacement and eviction. The number
of homeless sleeping on the streets of
Seattle has grown 73% in the last 5 years,
far outpacing the city’s overall population
growth of 8%.
11. Housing affordability disproportionately
affects populations of color. The African-
American population in Seattle is just 7%
and falling.
A recent national study found that the
average black family in America has just 6%
of the wealth of a typical white family.
12. In September of 2014, Seattle mayor Ed
Murray and the City Council responded to the
affordability crisis by creating the Housing
Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA). The
agenda is led by a 28-member stakeholder
Advisory Committee including “renters
and homeowners, social justice and labor
advocates, for-profit and non-profit developers,
and other local housing experts.”
After much contentious debate—especially
between for-profit and non-profit developers—
in August 2015 the committee finally agreed
to a set of 64 recommendations that would
produce 20,000 new affordable housing units
in Seattle over 10 years.
13. A core recommendation of HALA is the
Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA)
Program, with the goal of creating 6,000
affordable homes over the next 10 years.
The program is more commonly known
as the “Grand Bargain,” because of the
tense negotiations required to reach
a compromise between the for-profit
development community and low-income
housing advocates. In the plan, all for-profit
developers in the city will be required to
include some proportion of affordable
housing in their buildings, or else pay into a
fund. In exchange, city zoning policy will be
changed to allow developers to build taller
and denser projects.
15. David Wertheimer
Co-Chair Citizen, Philanthropic Sector
Faith Li Pettis
Co-Chair Partner, Pacifica Law Group
Alan Durning
Executive Director, Sightline Institute
Betsy Braun
Administrative Director of Facilities
Management, Virginia Mason
Bill Rumpf
President, Mercy Housing Northwest
Catherine Benotto
Seattle Planning Commission
Cindi Barker
City Neighborhood Council
David Moseley
40 year administrator for Washington State
David Neiman
Principal, Neiman Taber Architects
Don Mar
Owner, Marpac Construction
Estela Ortega
Executive Director, El Centro de la Raza
Gabe Grant
Vice President, HAL Real Estate Development
Hal Ferris
Principal, Spectrum Development
Jermaine Smiley
Washington & N. Idaho District Council of
Laborers
Jon Scholes
Vice President, Downtown Seattle Association
Jonathan Grant
Executive Director, Tenants Union
Kristin Ryan
Director, Seattle Office, Jonathan Rose
Companies
Lisa Picard
Executive Vice President, Skanska
MA Leonard
Vice President, Enterprise Community Partners
Maiko Winkler-Chin
Executive Director, SCIDpda
Maria Barrientos
Owner, Barrientos
Marty Kooistra
Executive Director, Housing Development
Consortium
Merf Ehman
Attorney, Columbia Legal Services
Mitch Brown
ASUW Representative
Paul Lambros
Executive Director, Plymouth Housing Group
Sean Flynn
Board Vice President, Rental Housing
Association
Sylvester Cann IV
Advocacy Lead, the Road Map Project, CCER
Ubax Gardheere
Lead Coalition Organizer, Puget Sound Sage
The HALA Advisory Committee is:
16. National / Multi-national:
• Skanska
• Jonathan Rose Companies
• HAL Real Estate Development
Local:
• Spectrum Development
• Neiman Taber Architects
• Marpac Construction
• Barrientos
Advocacy groups:
• Rental Housing Association
• Downtown Seattle Association
For-profit developers/builders
Local developers:
• Mercy Housing Northwest
• El Centro de la Raza
• Seattle Chinatown International District
Preservation and Development Authority
(SCIDpda)
• Plymouth Housing Group
Advocacy groups:
• Housing Development Consortium
• Puget Sound Sage
• Tenants Union of Washington State
Real estate equity:
• Enterprise Community Partners
Non-profit developers/builders
Law firms:
• Pacifica Law Group
• Columbia Legal Services
Unions:
• Washington & N. Idaho District Council of
Laborers
Non-profit organizations:
• Sightline Institute
• The Road Map Project / Community
Center for Education Results (CCER)
Government agencies:
• Seattle Planning Commission
• City Neighborhood Council
• Washington State
Institutions:
• Virginia Mason
• Associated Students of the University of
Washington (ASUW)
Others
• Seattle Housing Authority (SHA)
Conspicuously absent?
Breakdown of HALA participating organizations:
17. Ed Murray (D)
Mayor of Seattle
• Elected Mayor 2013
• Washington State Senate - 6 years
• Washington State House of
Representatives - 11 years
• Led the creation of the Housing
Affordability & Livability Agenda (HALA)
committee in 2014
18. Sally Bagshaw
Rob Johnson
Kshama Sawant
Lorena Gonzales
Mike O’Brien
Debora Juarez
Bruce Harrell
Lisa Herbold
Tim Burgess
2 overlapping subcommittees preside over the HALA-recommended legislation:
“Planning, Land Use & Zoning” + “Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods & Finance”
Seattle City Council
(elected Nov 2015)
Initiator of the
“linkage fees” model
Favors rent control
19. What are linkage fees?
Linkage fees are a policy where a city imposes a fee on market-rate private
developers to help subsidize the development of affordable housing. This policy
exists in hundreds of U.S. cities, often in combination with an “inclusionary
zoning” policy. Inclusionary zoning is a zoning code that requires any new
building to include a certain amount of affordable housing at the developer’s
expense. Linkage fees in this context can be a way for developers to opt out of
the zoning rule by paying a fee, sometimes called an “in-lieu fee.”
An ethical concern with linkage fees is that they can be used to divert low-
income housing to the least desirable parts of a city, thus incentivizing
economic segregation. Requiring developers to build affordable units on-
site ensures lower income populations have access to high-opportunity
neighborhoods.
20. A brief history of linkage fees in Seattle
• Seattle has been experimenting with a “voluntary incentive
zoning” policy since 2008, applied only in Downtown and
South Lake Union.
• Under the policy, developers are allowed additional building
height and size in exchange for either including affordable
housing, or paying a linkage fee.
• The program has been a mixed success, as many developers
have simply chosen not to build bigger, citing the high cost of
steel and concrete in large downtown high-rises.
• Some developers have taken advantage of the program
however, usually opting to pay the fee. Some 30 “off-site”
affordable housing projects have been built in Seattle funded
in part by this program.
• The city works with non-profit developers to build the off-site
housing. As seen in the map at right, these projects have in
general been well-located in desirable parts of the city.
21. Sharon Lee
Low Income Housing Developer
• Executive Director of the Low
Income Housing Institute
• Linkage fees are an important source
of capital for development work
• LIHI has developed or participated
in developing more than 4,000
affordable units in greater Seattle
• Latest development is a 49-unit
apartment building in the U-District
for homeless youth with an
integrated food bank and rooftop
farm
• Famous for developing tiny home
villages and tent cities in Seattle for
the homeless
“The thing that’s very interesting is we’ve improved the property
values next door. We hire really good architects. We don’t make
housing look like public housing. We want to look better and be
a better neighbor than typical spec development.”
—Sharon Lee, interviewed for this piece
22. Lee is not part of the HALA advisory committee,
but in March 2015, early in the HALA deliberation
process, she participated in an independent group
of non-profit housing advocates calling itself the
Community Housing Caucus. The group was
sponsored by city councilmembers Kshama Sawant
and Nick Licata, as well as Frank Chopp, Speaker of
the Washington State House.
The CHC developed an “immediate action” agenda
to address the housing emergency of 2,813 people
sleeping unsheltered on the streets. In general, the
group opposes the “upzoning” approach that was
later adopted in the Grand Bargain. They argue
instead that the city should treat the situation
as a public health emergency and dedicate its
considerable fundraising resources to address the
problem directly. A combination of issuing bonds,
appropriations from the general fund, and liquidating
low-earning investments could raise $600 million up
to more than $1 billion. Development costs could be
minimized by building on publicly owned land.
23. “It’s not that we don’t have enough money,” Lee told
Crosscut in 2015. “It’s about priorities.”
Lee believes the most critical subsidy needed is to
provide housing for people below the 30% median
income level, who are trying to get off the streets.
Safe shelter is a prerequisite, she says, for improving
health and career prospects. Otherwise people will
stay homeless indefinitely.
Inclusionary zoning, in her view, is not an appropriate
or important solution. She much prefers to receive
the linkage fees, and use them to build high quality
housing in collaboration with other nonprofit service
organizations. The problem is that the linkage fees
will be too little, too slowly, and come at the cost
of considerable concessions to developers. A better
solution is to raise money and land directly, rather
than to further subsidize high-income projects with
zoning changes.
Marion West,
University District
Othello Village
24. Marty Kooistra
Affordable Housing Leader
• Member of the HALA Advisory
Committee
• Executive Director of the Housing
Development Consortium (HDC)
• Former CEO, Habitat for Humanity
Seattle-King County, 2008-12
• Fellow in affordable housing and
social work at Harvard
• HDC members encompass all of
the major nonprofit developers and
service professionals in the affordable
housing sector of King County
• Promotes collective advocacy,
networking, and collaboration
“The Grand Bargain represents a collective shift from self-interest
to common interest. No one got to declare themselves the
‘winner.’ We must now continue to replace the lack of trust that
stood as the biggest obstacle with a willingness to let go, so that
the community can succeed.”
—Marty Kooistra,
writing in Stanford Social Innovation Review
25. Downtown Emergency
Service Center (DESC)
YWCA
Low Income Housing
Institute (LIHI)
Parkview Services
Community Frameworks
Hopelink
SCIDpda*
Bellwether
Pioneer Human Services
YouthCare
Pike Place Market PDA
Habitat for Humanity
Solid Ground
Senior Housing Assistance
Group
Compass Housing Alliance
Friends of Youth
HomeSight
Downtown Action to Save
Housing (DASH)
Imagine Housing (Eastside)
Capitol Hill Housing
Housing Resources
Bainbridge
Plymouth Housing Group*
Mt. Baker Housing
Mercy Housing*
Inter*Im CDA
SouthEast Effective
Development (SEED)
El Centro de la Raza*
Nonprofit developers belonging to the Housing Development Consortium:
* Represented on the HALA Advisory Committee
26. Jack McCullough
Lawyer for Big Developers
• Partner in McCullough Hill Leary,
66th floor of the Columbia Center
• Clients include the Gates Foundation,
Chris Hansen, Martin Selig
• Key advocate for market-rate
developers in negotiating the
“Grand Bargain,” threatened to sue
the city if developer fees became too
onerous
• Peter Eglick, a lawyer often opposing
McCullough, calls him “highly ethical,
but often wrong.” “Collaboration was easier in the past, when a local developer,
banker and contractor were behind a project. The city’s
globalization has eroded some of that trust.”
—Jack McCullough,
interviewed by the Seattle Times
27. McCullough chairs the Coalition
for Housing Solutions (CHS), an
advocacy group made up of large
for-profit developers that support the
greater building heights and density
promised by the “Grand Bargain.”
The largest financial backer in the
group is Vulcan, the real estate firm
owned by billionaire Paul Allen,
most known for its work in South
Lake Union developing high-end
market-rate housing and office space
for tech companies like Amazon. In
2014, Vulcan entered the affordable
housing market as a developer in
Yesler Terrace.
Yesler Terrace
Developed by Seattle Housing
Authority, a federally funded
agency
28. Locally based:
• AMLI Residential
• Bob Dedon, Dedon Consulting
• Columbia City Condos
• JC Mueller LLC
• Judith M Runstad
• Kauri Investments, Ltd
• Legacy Partners Residential, Inc
• Mack Urban
• North Way Investments, Inc.
• O & S Partners, LLC
• Parkstone Properties
• Quintana Consulting
• Teutsch Partners, LLC
• Vulcan
For-profit developers/builders
• Building Owners and Managers
Association (BOMA)
• Downtown Seattle Association*
• NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate
Association), Washington State Chapter
• Rental Housing Association
• Seattle King County REALTORS
• Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of
Commerce
• Smart Growth Seattle
Trade Groups and Lobbyists
Law firms:
• Cairncross & Hempelmann
• Charles R. Wolfe, Attorney at Law
• Judith M Runstad
Financial services:
• Columbia Pacific Advisors
• Emerald Bay Equity
Others
Breakdown of Coalition for Housing Solutions members:
* Represented on the HALA Advisory Committee
29. Lisa Herbold
Seattle City Council
Jack McCullough
Coalition for Housing
Solutions (CHS)
August 1, 2016
On behalf of CHS, McCullough sends a
warning to the Seattle City Council not
to make any of the changes to the Grand
Bargain proposed by Councilor Herbold.
He again raises the threat of a lawsuit, and
reminds the Council of his group’s large
HALA campaign contributions.
Herbold’s changes would raise the
affordable housing requirements in
neighborhoods with a high risk of
displacing the poor, or of demolishing
“naturally affordable” older buildings.
August 2, 2016
The City Council subcommittee ignores
the warning and votes unamimously
to recommend approval of the
Grand Bargain including Herbold’s
amendments.
30. Steering Committee Co-Chairs:
McCullough and Kooistra
In late 2015, an advocacy group called Seattle for
Everyone formed to maintain support for HALA’s 64
policy recommendations, among them the Grand
Bargain. The group bridges all of HALA’s stakeholder
perspectives, including for-profit developers as well as
advocates of affordable housing, social justice, and the
environment. The Coalition for Housing Solutions and the
Housing Development Consortium are key leaders of this
cooperative handshake.
31. Roger Valdez
Lobbyist for Small Developers
• “evangelist for growth and free-
market economics”
• writes for Forbes and Seattle
Metropolitan
• outspoken critic of HALA and the
Grand Bargain, believes Seattle for
Everyone is a sham organization
funded by Vulcan
• pro-density, anti-rent control,
anti-”linkage fees,” anti-NIMBYism,
promotes neoliberal philosophy
• leads Smart Growth Seattle, an
advocacy group sponsored by groups
like the Master Builders Association
“Tonight, thousands of people will sleep in cars, tents, or in
doorways. The stubborn resistance to the simple fact of supply
and demand and the argument that building new housing
displaces people is slowing production by promoting policies
that further restrict new housing. That is harmful to poor people.”
—Roger Valdez, writing in Forbes
32. What is neoliberalism?
Refers primarily to the 20th century resurgence of 19th century ideas
associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism. These include extensive
economic liberalization policies such as privatization, fiscal austerity,
deregulation, free trade, and reductions in government spending in
order to enhance the role of the private sector in the economy. The
implementation of neoliberal policies and the acceptance of neoliberal
economic theories in the 1970s are seen by some academics as the
root of financialization, with the financial crisis of 2007–08 as one of the
ultimate results.
33. August 2, 2016
Seattle voters approve a $290 million affordable housing levy by
a landslide, with no organized opposition. The money is expected
to provide 2,150 affordable units.
August 16, 2016
Seattle City Council unanimously approves a regulatory
framework for implementing HALA’s “Grand Bargain.” The
measure will require market-rate residential developers to include
affordable housing in their projects, or pay into a fund. The deal is
expected to provide 6,000 affordable units over 10 years.
2016: A summer of optimism
34. The housing levy focuses mainly on low-income housing for those at 30%
of area median income, as well as some “workforce housing” at 60%. But
what about our homelessness crisis? Providing for up to 30% median
income is already spread too thin to cover the amount needed to address
our 0%, who have no power. At the same time, we should be thinking
long-term about a policy that covers all the way up to 120%.
The Grand Bargain cannot go into effect until the City Council
implements multi-family upzoning in all of the areas of the city where
it is intended to apply. Seattle’s single-family neighborhoods have been
notorious for opposing density and will not make this process easy. The
mayor has made recent changes in how his office relates to the city’s
neighborhood councils.
2017: A year of discussion
36. Communications Challenge
To communicate the complexity and nuances of affordable housing
issues to a broad audience, bringing out key ethical questions at stake
and building political will among Seattle voters and stakeholders for
increased urgency and creativity in addressing the crisis.
37. Theory of Change
If x, then y, because z
x = our project
y = social change
z = our project has superpowers
38. we create an engaging documentary video
narrative to discuss issues and viewpoints
surrounding housing affordability and
livability,
If x:
39. we will increase awareness and
comprehension of the issues at stake,
build political will for creative solutions,
and change how the conversation is framed in
places of power.
then y:
40. the interviewees are highly articulate thinkers about urban change
and passionately invested in the future of Seattle housing
and
we will compare and contrast viewpoints to dispel myths and
misdirections, distill out critical questions as we learn more
and
we will punctuate the discussion with animated infographics and
imagery of housing circumstances at different income levels
because z:
41. “The awakening of empathy within audiences’ hearts is
part of the intangible magic of documentary film.”
1. Story is everything
2. Build a strategy
3. Who are the key audiences?
4. Filmmakers don’t have to do and be
everything.
5. The story beyond the film—getting the issue
out there.
6. Resources (and partnerships) accelerate
impact.
7. Tracking impact.
8. The landscape is changing, and fast.
Hot Docs Canadian International
Documentary Film Festival
Social Change Documentary
8 KEY FACTORS IN DOCUMENTARY IMPACT
42. Bully (2011)
• Built a social
change movement
in school curricula
• 3.2 million kids
have seen it
• Changed status
quo rationale
about the problem
Tales from the
Organ Trade (2013)
• Legal, moral, ethical
exploration
• “Grass-tops” effort—
mainstream media
generated buzz
• Opened up taboo
discussions at
medical conferences
Herman’s House (2012)
• A story about a
relationship between
a prisoner and an
artist, that becomes an
investigation of justice
and punishment
• Tool for prison activists
fighting against solitary
confinement
The Invisible War (2012)
• Investigative
documentary about the
epidemic of rape in the
US military
• Penetrated to high-level
Pentagon officials and
White House, inspired 30
pieces of legislation
43. Compelling
Story
Awareness
Engagement
Stronger
Movement
Social Change
Defining Impact
Social and cultural change that has
been driven by a documentary film
and its associated campaign strategy:
• Who or what changes?
• How to distinguish change in individuals,
groups, organizations, governments,
societies?
• Over what time frame?
• Is it really possible to measure?
• Is there a perceivable shift in behaviors,
beliefs, and values?
• Are there legislative or policy shifts?
44. Story is everything
The story of HALA and affordable housing policy
in Seattle is full of smart, diverse, empathetic
characters, with complex protagonists and
antagonists.
Seattle’s growing community of homeless living in
makeshift street shelter are a sociological laboratory
of human drama — at odds against the philosophical
ideas of the powerful.
Seattle is one of the fastest urbanizing cities
in the United States — a city of embarrassing
technological riches from a gritty industrial past.
Many ask, is Seattle losing its soul? What does that
even mean for a city to have a ‘soul’?
45. Build a strategy
a. Who we want to reach
Voting urban dwellers, especially in Seattle, who
want to participate in a conversation about cities,
and the kind of city we want to live in.
Policymakers, like the Seattle City Council, as
well as thought leaders in public policy like the
members of HALA, the Community Housing
Caucus, and Seattle for Everyone.
Keywords: urbanism, homelessness, income
inequality, racial inequality, urban sociology,
global economics, social change organizations,
architecture, city planning.
46. b. How we want to engage the audience
Focus on people—understanding housing
experiences at every income segment from 0% to
1000% area median, not skipping the middle class.
Reality show remix of stories as they play out in real
people’s lives, united by the basic human need for
shelter. Opportunities for interesting juxtapositions
and story arcs, contrasting current policy debates
with direct observation of resident experiences.
A call to action for Seattle residents to actively form
opinions about potential solutions to homelessness
and housing affordability, to continue the
discussion in their communities, and to build
political will to try promising new ideas.
47. c. Goals
• Influence public policy: increase creativity and
innovation in Seattle housing policy
• Shift culture: No more passive stances toward
houding affordability and homelessness based
on apathy, invisibility, or ignorance
• Get the film in front of 1 million urban residents
• Raise public awareness about the scale and
negative effects of unaffordable housing, and
the political dialogue unfolding on the issue in
real time
• Reframe the issue, putting our urban future in
the hands of people rather than the market
• Raise visibility of the nonprofit development
community and support its economic
development as a viable industry
48. d. Strategy
• Wide reach with the networks of organizations
already formed on these issues
• Leverage multi-media partners to lift profile of
the project
• Work with the existing movement, creating an
authentic relationship with audiences
• Create powerful cross-sector partnerships with
public, private, and nonprofit sectors
• Give voice to poor, homeless, and marginalized
people in the campaign to build empathy for
the problem
• Coordinate campaign launches and events with
episode screenings and tapings
• Distribution on public television in addition to
online channels
49. Exploration Interviews
• Dry run, rookie mistakes
• Choosing a quiet yet interesting interview site,
guaging lighting and background frame
• Equipment checklists, triple-check the audio!
• 30-40 minute interviews, good length for editing
• Deceptively difficult process of achieving comfort
level on both sides
• Illustrating narrative descriptions with B-roll
50. Cary Moon
- Activist and writer
- Just published a 4-part series in
The Stranger on the housing crisis
- First source for background research
and contacts
- Masters of Landscape Architecture
from University of Pennsylvania
51. Cary Moon highlights
Housing is a human right, just the same way clean water is a human right, or being
able to go to the emergency room, or have the ambulance come to your house is a
human right. Those are the things that make society healthy.
Housing is a human right in a lot of places in the world — Germany and Vienna are
two examples. There are many different ways to approach affordable housing and a
million great ideas waiting to be discovered.
The first time you decide you fall in love with cities, wherever you came from,
whatever your educational background is, there are a few basic elements people
always appreciate. One is people coming together and inventing stuff and watching
what each other’s doing and being inspired by one another. The other is feeling
like you can make your city—you have to have access to help shape it through
constructive positive interaction with your fellow humans.
52. Cary Moon highlights
One of the biggest solutions we can do locally right now is find the political will to
get a ton of money into the pipeline to build non-profit and public housing.
This idea that housing is something the free market is going to provide, and we
have to beg the developers, you know, please make housing for us—we shouldn’t
play that game. Upzoning is part of it, but the bulk of the solution is elsewhere. It’s
getting enough non-profit affordable housing into our system so that people at
middle to low incomes can stay here.
There are like a thousand ideas for how to do this, so there’s not really like one
funding source and one answer, there’s a whole bunch of everything. If we can just
rally around, “the way we’re working on this is not enough, we need much bigger
tools, and much more solutions on the table”— I have faith in Seattle.
53. Cary Moon highlights
Some examples of those great ideas:
• high-earners income tax;
• getting rid of some of the Boeing tax breaks;
• a capital gains tax;
• real estate excise tax – increasing that for the luxury properties;
• using the city and the county’s bonding capacity to build housing;
• getting philanthropists to help pay for buying land and operating it as a community land trust;
• co-op housing, basically getting bridge loans and philanthropy to help establish people who
live in an apartment building buying the building and keeping it in community ownership so
the rents stay affordable.
54. Cary Moon highlights
On HALA: the Mayor’s idea was to put a bunch of competing stakeholders – you
know, people with a completely different idea of how to solve the problem – in the
room at the same time and make them come to an agreement. And that’s nice in
theory, but in reality, some people have a lot more power than other people. Wealth
is power. And if the developers of the city band together and say, we will veto any of
those solutions, and sue you, what’s the mayor doing to do? They’re going to cave.
55. John Chau
- Design Partner at LMN Architects
- 36 years of experience in Seattle,
Singapore, and Hong Kong
- Sought-after designer of commercial
and residential high-rise towers
- First source for understanding the
market-rate perspective
56. John Chau highlights
There’s some misconception about affordable housing, as to whether it’s treated
as less special or whatnot. From the standpoint of planning and laying out a (large,
urban) building, there is no difference between including affordable housing and
so-called market rate housing... If you were to go into the unit, you wouldn’t know
which one was affordable housing unit and which was market rate.
The units that get assigned to become affordable come way after the project is
designed. It’s not like, we’re going to put 30 of the affordable units here, so let’s
make it cheap. It’s not like that. It’s like you design the project for all the units
that make sense, and then they get assigned subsequently. (speaking from his
experience designing Stadium Place)
This shortage of affordable housing is not going to go away. I think we all need to
get into it and figure out how to solve it. HALA is a wonderful first step.
57. John Chau highlights
I believe that diversity is actually attractive as part of urban living, and when I say
diversity it’s not just about racial or gender, but it’s economic in this case. I think
that’s actually healthy. So short answer is, I think putting (affordable units) onsite is
better—it makes the project more desirable.
If you look at Singapore, Hong Kong, that is serious density. And it’s just as livable if
it’s done right. In those cities, between market-rate housing and affordable housing,
the cost differential is so vast that actually the government is the one that builds
affordable housing. The towers are all the same height, tall towers, and often they
are across the street from a tower that is private development. There shouldn’t be
any difference when density is done right.
I would also add to that, when we talk about affordable housing, and with the
expansion of light rail and public transit, density only makes sense if there’s great
public transportation at scale.
58. John Chau highlights
When I lived in Hong Kong, the government had a whole architecture department
as part of their planning department that actually plans and designs a lot of the
government buildings and housing towers. Affordable housing towers are actually
planned by a government agency that serves as both the architecture firm and the
developer. They build towers next to other towers that a private developer built. So it’s
inclusive in the neighborhood sense, not in the strata between say floors 5 and 6. Over
here though, we’re just kind of taking the first step in terms of including it in projects.
I think it’s great that we’re talking about HALA, and we’re talking about affordable
housing. What are we doing for the homeless? I feel like the urgency is even higher.
What have we done the last couple of years now, what are doing collectively? There’s
a lot of talk about trying to do something, but I don’t know what is being done. That
is something I extremely support if there’s a plan to do something about it. Not to
undermine or trivialize the affordable housing need that we have. But homelessness
is such a day to day, it’s today,
59. John Chau highlights
I believe in density, we have to make sure we don’t overuse the natural resources we
have, plain and simple. I think it’s a better city. It’s more liveable, it’s more exciting.
And in the long run it uses less energy. Density matters. Now, density can be kind of
dangerous because a lot of times you use the word without thinking about it — if we
have cities with a lot of towers and density, how do we balance that with enough
outdoor spaces and open spaces? And if I may specifically about downtown Seattle,
aside from affordability, the problem we have is we don’t have a fricken school. You
know? That’s one way to help solve it. Have an elementary school, have a middle
school as part of the mix.
I don’t know where it’s going, there’s been an eyesore, a hole in front of our City Hall
for what, 10 years? Let’s make it a park, with open space, a school, and an affordable
housing tower. How about that? That would be awesome. I’m only half joking, I’m
trying to find a way to push for that.
60. Sharon Lee
- Executive Director of the Low Income Housing Institute
- largest and most innovative nonprofit developer
working in Seattle
- responsible for creating Seattle’s tent cities and tiny
home villages
- Masters in Architecture and City Planning from MIT
61. Sharon Lee highlights
We had to overcome significant obstacles to build this building. The first was we were
turned down for funding. Essentially, some of the, I hate to say this, but some of the
bureaucrats, said oh, we should put housing for homeless young adults in south King
County, because that’s where a lot of low income young adults are, and they should be
able to stay in their community and be able to access services. So we had to overcome
this sense that the U District was not appropriate and that people who are homeless
in Auburn, Federal Way, Tukwila, Kent, should stay in their own community. Which is
ridiculous if you think about it – if you were a middle class, young person, or a wealthy
young person, who wouldn’t want to be in the U District? This is a place of opportunity.
Homeless young adults are never seen as a category for the market to house. So we’ve
been on this campaign for a number of years that this is a really unmet need. I went
down to Olympia a few years ago, and I met with Senator Ed Murray. And I said Ed, this
is project is in your district, and we need housing for homeless young adults, and he
was just absolutely terrific. He said Sharon, how much do you need?
62. Sharon Lee highlights
(Marion West) is permanent housing. We know that, especially the young adults, they’ll
move on, they’re not going to stay here for the rest of their lives. But it’s a place to get
their life together, so that when they transition to become adults, they will not end up
homeless, and not end up chronically homeless.
The unit design is essentially market rate if not better, but they’re going to be extremely
affordable. The young adults will be paying 30% of their income. So their rent might
be $50, or it might be $75, but as their income increases, then their rent will increase
proportionately, and it’ll still be affordable. The workforce units are pegged at people
making 50-60% of the Area Median Income. And they’re nice sized studio units. They’re
not like these claustrophobic micro units that are 400 something square feet.
63. Sharon Lee highlights
it’s sort of a hidden issue, but can you imagine trying to sleep on the street when
you’re at your most vulnerable? People are dying not just from the cold, but they’re
dying from violence, from sexual assault, from suicide, because it’s so traumatic trying
to sleep on the street. So I think there were 91 men and women who died, just from
being homeless, last year, in Seattle and King County. And I think that should be
unacceptable. Why should we have a death rate from being homeless?
A lot of people are being evicted. And then they stay at their friend’s house, and after
a while that doesn’t work, and they try to live in their car for a while, and then their car
gets towed or their camper will get towed. So people are trying to survive. And I think
this should not happen in this wonderful city. With this great safety net system that
we’re supposed to have, we really need to prioritize the most vulnerable.
64. Sharon Lee highlights
I think housing is a human need, and housing is a human right. Housing is the
platform, if you want people to get the most out of their education, like children, and
people who are not well to get well, or make the best use of mental health treatment,
they cant be out on the street! You’ve got to house them and work from there.
Under the housing levy, I think we’ll only build like 600 or 700 units of housing for
homeless people. And then the rest would be for higher income people. So one thing
we think is needed is for the city council and the mayor to commit other city funds.
All the cranes, and all the commercial development, and all the luxury housing being
built is being paid into the city’s tax base. Those funds are not being used for low-
income housing. So I think a portion of the city budget that’s related to all this new
development should be devoted to low income housing. But a lot of the density bonus
money is tied into affordable workforce housing, not for homeless housing.
65. Sharon Lee highlights
We have found out that a lot of people who are homeless are actually our neighbors.
They lived in West Seattle, they grew up there, they lived in Ballard. Actually I think a
large number lived in Seattle and they were forced out because of the rents, and they
moved to South King County, but they were originally from Seattle. I mean, 55% of the
renters of color are cost-burdened and cannot afford to pay the rent.
We go out of our way to pick neighborhoods where it makes sense to have income
integration and racial integration. We want people to be in places of opportunity. We
want people to enjoy what every middle class family wants. So we don’t say, oh, we’re
just going to find land in the cheapest part of the city and put all that housing there.
Sharon supports off-site housing funds, because the city can go to nonprofit
organizations, which in some cases provide services, and help create a community.
66. Sharon Lee highlights
We create lots of jobs. Believe me the nonprofit housing sector, and the thing that’s
very interesting is we’ve improved the property value of the properties next door... And
the trick is – you guys should understand this – we hire really good architects. And we
don’t make housing look like its public housing. And we also hire terrific contractors. So
we want to look better and be a better neighbor than typical spec development.
The neighbors are thrilled, because their number one complaint is that we’re going
to decrease their property values, and we’re going to affect the equity they’ve built up.
And we prove otherwise.
The subsidy that’s really really important is for people who are exiting homelessness. They
can’t pay very much, but once they start a job and get promoted and sort of work on
their careers, then their incomes can go up. But it’s a timing factor. We want people to
increase their household income. And we want them to increase their self-sufficiency. So
we do need rental assistance very early on. Otherwise people would just stay homeless.
You don’t want people staying homeless living in a shelter their whole life.
67. Sharon Lee highlights
If you look at some of the European countries, they make a significant investment in
the housing infrastructure. And that’s sorely needed here. I think we have a sense that
oh, the private sector should take care of it here. Frankly the biggest subsidy here is for
upper middle class and wealthy individuals through the mortgage interest deduction.
There are lots of ways we can generate more resources for affordable housing. I think
we have to be creative and it can happen.
Seattle’s black population is down to 7 percent and going down even more, let alone
the Native American population and Hispanic population. Do you realize a quarter
or a half the black population in Seattle lives in Rainier Valley, and Rainier Valley with
Sound Transit is getting gentrified. And there’s lots of displacement, and rents have
skyrocketed. So we’re sort of losing our soul here.
