We are nearing the end game of the legislative part of Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning (MIZ), the requirement that all new development included rent restricted units or pay a few in lieu of that inclusion. The money generated from this tax would go to fund non-profit housing. I’ve warning and fighting against this for 3 years. The last hurdle for the Council was jumped when the neighborhoods efforts to stop the program, called Mandatory Housing Affordability or MHA by the City, failed at the Hearing Examiner. Here is their full schedule just recently published.

I don’t know if the development community is just stunned, or if they haven’t grasped what this really means. Across the city of Seattle projects ranging from townhouses to larger apartment projects will be subject to arbitrary fees for every square foot of the new building. I’ve still been getting questions from builders and developers wondering if they only have to pay for the bonus area. No, it’s everything.

We’ll keep sounding out whether we can pull together a legal challenge. This will require fortitude. It will require money. What’s so ironic is that everyone thinks we have “deep pockets.” We don’t. If we did, this would already be in court. Instead we have hard working people too busy to think about this and others who are just bracing for it.

One additional warning: prices for housing are falling. If someone out there thinks that higher prices will rationalize, that is, absorb the fees I wouldn’t bank on it. We’ll be taking a closer look at this.

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