Call to Action: Please Answer Our Questions About the Grand Bargain

Posted by on Saturday, January 23, 2016 · Leave a Comment 

Greetings and Happy New Year!

It’s been awhile since I asked you to write emails and attend an event. We just found out this last week about an event being hosted by the Mayor to promote the recommendations of his Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Committee. One of these recommendations (out of 65) is a mandate to require that a percentage of all new housing build outside Downtown and South Lake Union include rent restricted units in exchange for upzones. Our preliminary calculations indicate that this proposal is infeasible; added construction costs combined with lost rent revenue mean that many projects won’t pencil. The proposal is called Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning (MIZ)

The Mayor needs to hear from YOU! This proposal, if it proceeds without changes would seriously impact housing construction and development for decades! 
The MIZ proposal started with a lot of momentum but serious questions have come up. Why are Downtown and South Lake Union given such low in-lieu fees? Has the MIZ proposal been market tested to take into account changes in the housing market? How do smaller, for-sale projects like townhouses meet the new requirements? We’ve asked many of these questions and are still waiting for the answers.
The event is Tuesday, January 26 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Seattle City Hall (600 4th Avenue).
Attend if you can but please go to our petition page or send your own e-mail. I’ve included a sample text below. 

 

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Dear Mayor Murray and Councilmembers,

People who build housing outside of Downtown and South Lake Union are very concerned about the elements of the Grand Bargain. Everyone recognizes the need to work together to address housing issues in our city, but the proposals in the Bargain seem quite complicated and, in the view of many developers and builders, will make many new housing projects financially infeasible. We want to be a partner with you and the City as you consider how and whether to implement the Grand Bargain. The additional costs created by Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning are likely to drive up the price of housing overall and adversely impact housing supply by making projects financially infeasible.

We have submitted 10 questions about the Grand Bargain to City staff and have yet to hear back in writing from them. Our questions are substantive and even technical. Can the Bargain effectively create more housing choices and options for people all over the city? Right now it’s hard to tell. Here is a link to the questions we’ve asked: http://www.seattleforgrowth.org/grand-bargain-10-questions-mayor-city-council-city-attorney/

While we were not signers of the Grand Bargain, and we’re skeptical about Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning, the builder and developer community that creates the majority of housing (single-family, townhomes, small apartments, multifamily housing) in Seattle wants to be supportive of ideas that work.

We urge you to direct staff to work with Smart Growth Seattle and the wider builder and developer community on how we can efficiently and effectively address housing issues in our city.

Sincerely,

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