Seattle Ballot Initiative Would Create Social Housing Program

SEATTLE — A new ballot initiative filed Monday in Seattle seeks to create a "social housing" program, which would develop and maintain publicly-owned affordable housing projects in the Emerald City. Led by the group House Our Neighbors, the potential ballot measure would create a Seattle Social Housing Developer, with a 13-member board, with a majority comprised of renters.

Unlike existing low-income housing projects, the social housing plan would create housing for a broader range of incomes, with rents set below market prices and varying by income level.

As House Our Neighbors explained in a news release Monday:

"Social housing is publicly owned, permanently affordable, cross-class housing, removed from market forces and speculation. It is built with the express aim of housing people equitably and affordably, not producing a profit. Under public control and oversight, social housing is sustainable and remains affordable in perpetuity. By establishing a public developer, Seattle will have a powerful new tool to create publicly owned, permanently affordable housing throughout the city to combat homelessness, displacement and poverty, and to create a city where all can live and thrive."

According to The Seattle Times, the plan is built upon existing models in Europe and seeks to create affordable housing for people making from 0 percent to 120 percent of the median income, which, for a Seattle household, is higher than $100,000.

The proposed charter for the social housing developer includes setting rent based on each building's operational, maintenance and loan costs, with renters paying no more than 30 percent of their income.

The ballot initiative awaits approval from the Seattle City Clerk, then organizers will have 180 days to collect signatures for their petition. To qualify for fall ballots, the group must submit enough valid signatures to equal 10 percent of the people who voted in the last mayoral election, which this year would amount to roughly 26,741 signatures.

Learn more about the social housing initiative and Seattle's ballot initiative process online.