A new ballot initiative seeks to implement 'social housing' in Seattle

A ballot initiative filed this week by a housing and homeless advocacy coalition would create a public developer that would build, own and maintain public housing in Seattle.

That coalition, called “House our Neighbors,” formed in opposition to Charter 29. That charter, known as “Compassion Seattle,” would have required the city to build 2,000 homeless shelters within a year, and keep parks and sidewalks clear of encampments.

“We opposed the Compassion Seattle Charter Amendment because it failed to address any of the root cause issues that lead to homelessness,” the coalition’s website says. “Instead, it proposed a set of mandates that sensationalized vulnerable people for political gain while claiming to be compassionate.”

That initiative was removed from last year’s general election ballot by the Washington Court of Appeals, which ruled that it would supersede the legal powers of the state.  

In its place, House our Neighbors hopes Seattle voters will approve an initiative to implement what’s known as “social housing.” That model, popular in Europe and other countries, centers on publicly owned housing that’s designed to be permanently affordable and shielded from private market forces.

If approved, the ballot initiative would create a public development authority called the Seattle Social Housing Developer. That authority would buy already existing property and turn it into social housing. It could also purchase land that would be used to build more social housing units.

The House our Neighbors website says the development authority would be forbidden from selling any of its assets or shares to private buyers. This keeps social housing in the hands of the public, the website says.

The initiative would also create governing board of 13 members — seven of those members would be renters living in social housing units — to oversee the public developer. The seven renters would be elected by fellow tenants, while the other six members would be professionals with varying housing and government backgrounds. Those members would be appointed.

The House or Neighbors website does not specify how much the new authority would cost or where startup funds would come from. But once its up and running, the authority would be able receive grants and donations, and, importantly, could issue bonds in exchange for loans. That bonding power creates a repeating cycle that would finance social housing in Seattle.

Here’s how it works: The authority would use the loaned money to begin building and acquiring social housing. Once tenants move in, the authority would use rent money to pay back those loans (which usually have low interest rates when used for public infrastructure projects). The authority can then issue more bonds on the payment of future rents in exchange for more loaned funds. That allows the authority to build and acquire more social housing, which means more tenants and more rent payments. Then the cycle would repeat.

Because the authority would be independent of the government, it wouldn’t be beholden to federal rules for public housing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sets criteria that tenants have to meet to live in low-income housing. Generally, those who earn 80% or less of their area’s median income are eligible.

Conversely, the Seattle Social Housing Developer aims to create housing for people ranging from zero to 120% of Seattle’s median income. Advocates for the ballot initiative say this will allow more people to access affordable housing, and create a diverse mix of tenants within social housing facilities. The authority’s governing board would decide who could live in its units.

Now that the initiative has been filed, the city clerk’s office will review it and issue a ballot title if everything is in order. From there, House our Neighbors can begin gathering signatures from Seattle residents. They would need about 27,000 signatures for the initiative to make it on the ballot this fall.