Social Housing

By this winter, Seattle voters will have before them the question of whether to fund the city's new social housing developer with a tax on the highest compensated employees in the city. To make it happen, House Our Neighbors gathered more than 38,000 signatures in support of Initiative 137.

After her bill failed Tuesday, Councilmember Morales said: "My Connected Communities legislation would have produced more affordable housing, commercial affordability, and anti-displacement measures right now. I’m incredibly disappointed in its failure to pass today."

Chair Tammy Morales appeared flabbergasted as she initially failed to get a second to her motion to introduce her bill providing incentives for affordable housing.

The mayor's comprehensive plan proposal failed to deliver real solutions on housing abundance, affordability, and climate. It promises only modest zoning changes at the margins and 100,000 additional homes over 20 years.

Filed Tuesday, I-136 would create a dedicated income stream for social housing, generating around $50 million per year.

The Urbanist's in-person monthly meetup series is back and it's headed to Yesler Terrace on Thursday, January 11, for an event focused on Seattle...

Social housing is popular in Seattle -- so popular it even seems to override concerns about appropriate building scale and amorphous "neighborhood character." To...

House Our Neighbors' coalition members reflect on how the campaign achieved social housing victory. Ballots are still being counted, but with a 14-point lead established...