Seattle City Council Select Budget Committee 11/15/24 Session I

Good morning.

The Select Budget Committee meeting will come to order.

It is 9.30 a.m.

November 15th, 2024. I'm Dan Strauss, chair of the Select Committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Before the clerk calls the roll, I'm going to ask for the chambers.

I'm asking for the chambers to be quiet.

And for the record, there is no one from the public in here when I just said that.

It is 9.31 a.m.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Saka?

Council Member Wu?

Present.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Council Member Kettle?

Here.

Council Member Moore?

Present.

Council Member Morales?

Here.

Council Member Nelson?

Present.

Council Member Rivera?

Present.

Chair Strauss.

Present.

And.

Steffen, present.

Thank you.

And Councilmember Hollingworth and Saka had let me know that they were running late and they are excused until they arrive.

The Select Budget Committee meeting committee is not accepting verbal public comment at today's meeting.

As noted on the agenda, written public comment may be submitted by emailing the council at councilatseattle.gov and available on the public comment cards located near the podium.

We do have council members Sackett and Hollingsworth with us now.

I move to adopt today on the agenda is the same bill that we postponed from yesterday's agenda.

And I move to adopt the agenda.

Is there a second?

Thank you, it is moved and adopted to adopt the agenda.

Councilmembers, yesterday the committee took action on items two through 37 on what is listed as today's agenda.

I'm gonna seek unanimous consent to remove, I understand that there's a hand, you're out of order at this point, so we will get to you in just a moment.

Councilmember Saka, you don't need to continue raising your hand.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I move to amend the agenda to consider amending S.008A1 and S.012SB1.

Council Member Saka, a couple things.

You need to be recognized in order to speak, and that point comes in just a few minutes.

So I will call on you when we're at the right place.

Councilmembers, I'm going to seek unanimous consent to, I'm going to start over.

Councilmembers, yesterday the committee acted on items two through 37 on today's agenda.

I'm going to seek unanimous consent to remove these items to clarify that today the committee is only taking action on item 38, Council Bill 120905. If there is no objection, items two through 37 are removed from today's agenda.

Hearing no objection, items two through 37 are removed from today's agenda and we will only consider item 38. The amended agenda is before the committee and at this time, this is the opportunity for council members to move to amend the agenda to add items to the agenda.

Only new budget proposals that are not on the agenda are added at this time.

Colleagues, if you would like to raise your hand, council president, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, Chair.

Also, thank you very much, central staff, for all the last-minute work that you have been doing with some of these items that we're moving, amending the agenda for.

Chair, I move that the proposed agenda be amended to add HSD 044A, which was circulated yesterday afternoon, and that it be placed at the end of the voting group D.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded and noted that this walk-on amendment was distributed by 5 p.m.

yesterday.

Councilmember Moore, I see you, but I'm gonna come back to you in just a minute.

Councilmember Wu, do you have a motion before us?

Do you wanna vote on that one?

We're gonna do both at the same time.

Do you wanna do them one by one?

I'm gonna do the ones that were distributed by five, and then we'll move to the next item.

Councilmember Wu, do you have a motion for us?

Yes, I do.

I move to...

I request that item number HSD036A1 to be replaced with HSD036B1.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded.

And clerk, can you confirm for me that there were no further amendments distributed by 5 PM?

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Thank you.

We have these items before us, a walk-on amendment.

And I'll speak about the problems that I have with this situation later in today's meeting.

but we had a deadline of November 1st and a deadline of earlier this week for an important reason.

I'll come back to this.

Before us right now, we have a motion to amend the agenda to include walk-on amendments distributed before 5 p.m.

HSD 44A and HSD 36B.

It has been moved and seconded.

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Cuoco?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Allingsworth?

Aye.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Strauss?

Abstain.

Eight in favor, one abstention.

Thank you.

The motion passes and the agenda has been amended to include CBA's HSD 44A and HSD 36B.

So we're going to move on.

I see that there's a request for walk-on amendments that were not distributed before 5 p.m.

yesterday, which requires a rule suspension.

Colleagues, I am going to oppose this motion based on the process, which I asked for yesterday for no additional walk-on amendments.

So the rules must be suspended.

If there's a motion to suspend the rules, this is the time to make it.

I move to suspend the rule, Chair, to allow for the walk-on amendments to move forward.

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to suspend the rules.

Clerk, do we need a vote on this?

Correct, or if there's no objections.

Okay.

Clerk, will you please call the roll on suspending the rules to allow walk-on amendments to be considered, to be amended to the agenda that were not distributed by 5 p.m.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Yes.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Abstain.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Strauss?

No.

We have seven in favor, one opposed, one abstention.

Thank you.

The motion passes to suspend the rules to allow walk-on amendments that were not distributed by 5 PM of the previous day.

It's my understanding that we have three before us.

However, I'm seeing that the last one from you, Council Member Saka, has not been distributed and is not ready.

So that's the last one to come up.

So I'm going to give you a minute just to get everything organized and ready.

Council Member Moore, I see you have a hand.

Yes, so I...

I got you.

Okay.

On behalf of Council Member Moore, even though I disagree with this, ACTION, MOVE TO AMEND THE AGENDA TO INCLUDE SCL 1B1.

IS THERE A SECOND?

SECOND.

IT HAS BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED TO AMEND THE AGENDA TO INCLUDE SCL 1B1.

WE'LL TAKE THESE ALL UP IN ONE VOTE SO WE'RE NOT JUST SITTING HERE VOTING.

COUNCIL MEMBER SACA, DO YOU HAVE A MOTION?

YES.

THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR.

I move to amend the agenda to consider amending S.008A1 and S.012SB1.

I believe it's 8B1 that you're looking to do.

Transit security in the chair's original proposed chair's package and the other pertaining to the South Lake Union streetcar offering friendly amendments and clarification tweaks.

Okay.

And by the way, that one is just approved.

Thank you, Cal.

We'll be circulated shortly.

What I have on my script is that while you moved A1, you need to move AB1.

That's correct.

So A1 is the one that we're resending when we get to that point, but B1 is the version that's been distributed.

Could you please move B1?

So what are the appropriate numbers pertaining to those categories that I described?

I got you.

Council Member Saka, on behalf of Council Member Saka, even though I disagree with this motion, I move to approve CBA S.8B1. Is there a second?

Second.

Council Member Saka, do you have another motion before us?

or we did that one actually, sorry, we're going back.

So what we have before us is we have SCL1B1, S.8B1, S.102S. Before I ask the clerk to call the roll, can I have confirmation that 102S has been distributed and is ready for committee?

I'm going to look to central staff and to the clerk here on this.

Has S.102SB been distributed and ready for committee review?

At this point, we have not had the actual version distributed at this moment.

Council Member Saka just indicated that it will be distributed.

It'd be up to the members at this point if they would like to amend the agenda with it or if they'd like to wait later to amend the agenda once it's ready.

Councilmember Saka, I'm going to request that we hold 102 SB until it's ready to be distributed so that we're not amending the agenda without information that is publicly available.

Mr. Chair, we have it right now.

If we can accommodate some way to consider this, Suppose that's fine, but we haven't it's approved the latest version that was circulated to me via email by central staff this morning.

I Just approved it.

We'll share it with you all shortly There's an opportunity to amend the agenda later through the day if we need to add it at that point when it's ready Yeah, and that's s dot 1 0 2 SB Councilmember soccer.

I'm gonna take the reins one more time.

Um Colleagues, I don't know how well this next little fact is known.

Is that at the front of our area here, we have everything that we're considering on paper in addition to it being online.

So even if it hasn't been posted online, this is an act of transparency to allow everyone who is from the public equal access to the information in which we're reviewing.

At this time, Council Member Saka, your SDOT 102 SB is not on the podium.

I'm going to ask you to hold to amend the agenda to a later point in this meeting at this time.

Mr. Chair, for Curley, I have a copy right here.

I don't know if that's a form over substance distinction, but I'd be happy to pass it around.

Council Member Taka, we all need the copy right now.

I'm going to pause.

I'm going to pause this motion.

I'm going to ask that the committee go into recess for three minutes, two minutes, until 9.45.

If there is no objection, the select budget committee will be in recess until 9.45, hearing no objection, we are in recess.

Thank you.

Microphone or is Jody on?

Jody, I'm on.

There we go.

Sorry, I didn't see a clerk.

Will you please call the roll?

Council member soccer.

Council member will.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Council member kettle.

Council member more present.

Council member Morales here.

Council member Nelson.

Council Member Rivera.

Present.

Chair Strauss.

Present.

Mine present.

Thank you.

We are back in order.

Public, where we are right now is we are in the motion to approve the agenda for today.

We have already had items HSD 44A, HSD 36B added to the agenda.

Where we are right now are the rules have been suspended by vote.

to allow for walk-on amendments not distributed by 5 p.m.

of the previous day.

We have three of them before us, SCL1B1, S.8B1, S.102S, and at this time, I am going to confirm that these items have been distributed and are available for the public.

Is that correct?

I'm seeing a yes.

We have that before us.

Colleagues, are there any other amendments?

So there are no more amendments.

Council Member Saka, do you have another amendment?

Mr. Chair, I just want to confirm with you and our clerk that my two amendments from this morning have been enabled.

You have S.8B1 and S.102S before us.

Is that correct?

I think so.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Are there any other amendments?

Before we take this vote on amending the agenda, I'm going to take a point of order regarding the process, which is we are on the final day of voting.

I'll come back to talk about transparency and public process later on in this meeting.

We do not have the ability to accept any additional amendments in the budget process after today.

we do have a select budget committee and a city council meeting where within the rules you could bring an amendment.

And the reason that it has been stated since the select budget series when we did the initial overview that there is time between our voting session right now and Tuesday's vote out of committee is to ensure the accuracy of what we have put forward before we put it into law.

Another example of this is between the chair's package and releasing and taking up our items today, or this week, many colleagues requested changes within the chair's package to fix errors that were not intentionally made, but we were working really hard and long hours.

And so for us to ensure that we are governing in a good way to ensure that we are being accurate with our work and that we are ensuring public participation in our work on behalf of the people of Seattle.

There are there's no new amendments after today's meeting are not welcome.

As I stated when we took up this item, I voted against suspending the rules for the reasons that I've stated.

I will not be supporting the amended, amending the agenda to include items not distributed by 5 p.m.

despite agreeing with their substance at times.

And so clerk, we have SCL 1B1, S.8B1, S.102SB before us.

Will you please call the roll?

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Abstain.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Strauss?

No.

Seven in favor, one opposed, one abstention.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The agenda will be amended to include CBA's SCL 1B1, SDOT 8B1, SDOT 102SB.

Colleagues, are there any other items before that need to be included on the agenda?

At this time, we're going to approve the agenda.

If there's no objection, the agenda as amended will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

We're now gonna move on to the first item of business.

Clerk, will you please read the first item of business into the record?

Introduction and process overview.

Okay, and we are gonna move right on to group D where we left off yesterday.

Colleagues, oh, that's item number two?

Correct, item one is the introduction and overview in the case that we want to.

Do we have any more overview to do?

I think we're ready to get right into it.

We're gonna move on to item number two.

Clerk, will you please read item number two into the record?

Item number two, council bill 120905, adopting a budget including capital improvement program and position modifications for the city of Seattle for 2025 and creating positions exempt from civil service all by two-thirds vote of the city council.

Okay, we are going to bring before us group D and we will vote on these items one by one.

Colleagues today, if you're marathon runners, we are I thought we were on mile 20. I think we're on mile 18 at this point.

Might have gotten ticked back a couple.

But I say that to mean when you're at mile 20, you only got six more miles to go.

And that's a warm-up run by anyone's account.

And it's the longest six miles of your life, if anyone's had that kind experience.

And so here we are.

We are going to be here until we're done.

And I was reminded yesterday that in past budget sessions, it would be all night sessions.

So folks were here until 11 or 12 p.m.

We are going to be here until we're done.

We're not coming back on Monday.

So today is the end of voting on this year's budget or on next year's budget.

And so we'll get underway.

We've got Group D before us, and then we will take the walk-on amendments at the end of the agenda.

Council Member Moore, is that an old hand, new hand?

Oh, yes, it is.

Thank you.

Old hand?

Great.

With that, Director Noble.

How would we like to proceed one by one?

Shall we have central staff brief the item and then I'll turn it to the sponsor and then we'll have discussion and we'll vote.

That's the plan we were going to follow.

So it sounds good.

Fantastic.

So we are going to have the first item before us, which is arts 10 B one.

I'll turn it over to central staff.

Welcome.

Asha Venkatraman, Council Central Staff.

Item number one is Arts 10B1.

It would impose a proviso on $100,000 of admissions tax in the Office of Arts and Culture for cultural planning.

It's sponsored by Council Member Morales.

The $100,000 would go towards an external cultural planning process intended to provide a comprehensive picture of the creative economy in Seattle and map Seattle's arts and cultural assets.

The proviso is intended to be placed on $2.5 million worth of admissions tax funds that were allocated for the downtown activation plan in arts.

Thank you.

Council Member Morales is sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

I think Asha said it pretty well, and I think this is the third time we've talked about this.

But as I've said, this is sort of the second step of the planning process that the Office of Arts and Culture is going through.

This past year, they completed an internal-facing strategic plan.

And this is now going to be looking externally to understand the creative economy in the city.

The funding is a proviso.

So this is not adding to the budget.

And I ask for your support.

Thank you.

I'll share the committee chair's recommendation on these as we move through it.

As I stated yesterday, provisos are not necessarily free as if when they have a body of work already planned for.

I believe that this is the case here, so I will be voting no.

Colleagues, discussion?

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Well, I appreciate the council member's introduction of this important work.

I did talk to the mayor's office.

I know this work is going to be happening anyway.

And very importantly, I know from having worked at the department that most of the processes for distributing allocations currently involve community input because they usually do panels when they're when they're reviewing the, they put out an RFP and then they do a decision on who's getting awarded and that usually involves community members.

So there is community robust, excuse me, robust community input when these processes are moving forward.

So I feel confident because the department's done a great job.

It's something that they've prioritized.

I think this is a duplication, and so I will not be supporting this particular amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Council Member Wu.

So as Chair of Arts and Culture, while I do recognize that cultural planning is needed, I don't like how it's taking out the Downtown Activation Fund, and so I will be voting no.

Thank you, Council Member Wu.

Colleagues, any other discussion?

Council Member Nelson.

I'm sorry.

I was trying to find it in my records, but the Office of Economic Development did recently, within the past couple years, do a report on the creative economy.

And when I find it in my records, I will provide that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

Council Member Morales is sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

I'm done.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Clerk, will you please call the roll on CBA Arts 10B1?

Councilmember Sacco?

No.

Councilmember Wu?

No.

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Councilmember Kettle?

No.

Councilmember Moore?

No.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

No.

Council Member Rivera?

No.

Chair Strauss?

No.

Chair Strauss?

No.

Two in favor, seven opposed.

Thank you.

The motion does not carry, and Arts 10B1 is not attached to Council Bill 120905. We're going to move on to the next item, Arts 11SA1.

Asha?

Arts 11 SA1 would request that arts create citywide and municipal arts plans.

It's sponsored by Council Member Rivera.

This statement of legislative intent would ask for arts to create two separate plans.

One, a citywide art plan in which arts would work with all city departments that use funding for arts and cultural purposes, in which arts would serve as a central repository of information of how arts funding across the city is being spent.

in addition to the data and outcomes of the programming supported by those investments.

The second would be the municipal arts plan that contains specific narrative descriptions, including how new projects for public arts funding are going to be supported.

It would compare the size and number of new projects to the size and number of new projects funded since 2015. EXPLAIN HOW ARTS CONDUCTS OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, PARTICULARLY TO COMMUNITIES OF COLOR UNDERREPRESENTED IN THE ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR, AND PROVIDE AN ANNUAL BALANCE OF UNPROGRAMMED FUNDS CARRIED OVER SINCE 2015. IT WOULD BE DUE BACK TO THE SUSTAINABILITY CITY LIGHT AND ARTS AND CULTURE COMMITTEE ON JUNE 30TH, 2025. THANK YOU.

COUNCILMEMBER RIVERA, AS SPONSOR OF THE AMENDMENT, YOU ARE RECOGNIZED.

THANK YOU, CHAIR.

COLLEAGUES, THIS IS JUST REQUESTING THAT ARTS As part of their actual, all departments have to submit annual work plans.

So as part of their work plan, they need to include those investments that are funneling actually through their department to other sister departments and reporting back on what the plan is. how those investments are being made and then outcomes and data from an accountability and good governance standpoint.

On the municipal arts plan, this is something that arts is responsible for as managers of the 1% for public art program.

As you may remember, the 1% for public art is The city has an ordinance by which departments, capital departments, 1% of their capital projects go to public arts.

Office of Arts and Culture manages that.

As part of that, they're supposed to be submitting an annual municipal art plan that includes the items that, thank you, Asha, you described in the CBA.

And arts has not done a robust of this type of plan since 2016. And so this is requesting that they do this plan.

They submit this plan.

They've submitted a spreadsheet annually that has some information, but we all know spreadsheets are not actual plans, so this is just requesting an actual plan from the department.

And again, this is a good governance piece, an accountability piece, and one that they are actually required to do So thank you.

Hope to have your support on this one.

There's no money attachment to this.

So really it's just good governance and accountability.

Thank you.

From the chair's perspective, as I stated yesterday, statements of legislative intent and reports are not free.

It requires work, time away from another duty serving Seattleites needs.

And I will not be opposing any of the slides today, even though we are way past the three slide per person deadline.

REQUEST THAT I HAD MADE.

COUNCILMEMBER RIVERA, WOULD YOU LIKE TO MOVE YOUR ITEM?

I WOULD LIKE TO MOVE, CHAIR.

PLEASE ART 011 SA.

IS THERE A SECOND?

SECOND.

THANK YOU.

IT'S BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED.

THE SPONSOR HAS SPOKEN TO IT.

COMMITTEE CHAIR HAS MADE THEIR RECOMMENDATION.

COUNCIL PRESIDENT, YOU ARE RECOGNIZED.

I agree with this.

Well, I am listed as a sponsor.

The arts landscape is changing significantly with the passage of open door, and that will not necessarily impact the region.

Here's also something that we need to keep in mind.

we will be voting on the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan.

And that does take into account things like open space and other features of our landscape that contribute to livability across the city.

And so I was interested in having a little snapshot of where some arts deficits may be going forward.

Thank you.

Council Member Wu, you are recognized.

Thank you.

So as chair of arts, I know strategic planning, including cultural planning, is at the core of the department and director Golgun's leadership.

I support the reference for regionalizing creating an arts plan that aligns all of departments without siloing arts subject matter expertise and efforts.

This includes external organizations and community groups as well.

It will be important to look at arts and the creative economy complementing to what OED and the DAP is doing.

And so I support this.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

Hearing no further discussion, will the clerk please call the roll on Arts 11 SA 1?

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

No.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member, thank you.

Chair Strauss?

Yes.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you, the motion carries, Arts 11 S.A.1 will be attached to Council Bill 10905. Council Member Moore, is it my understanding that Care 102 S.A.1 has been withdrawn?

That's correct, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

We'll move on to the next item, FG104 S.A.1. Council Member Morales, would you like to move the item?

I move FG104SA1.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded.

We have the item before us.

I see Tom.

You're here to tell us what's going on.

Good morning, members of the committee, Tom Mikesell, central staff.

Item number four is FG104SA, which is a statement of legislative intent.

that would request central staff to develop legislation that would impose a 1% excise tax on professional services, including but not limited to services provided by realtors, architects, accountants, and consultants.

The legislation that would be responsive to this request would be due to the Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee by June 30th of 25. That's a great committee.

Council Member Morales has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

So we've been talking a lot, colleagues, about our structural budget deficit, and this is an attempt to begin that conversation about what a couple of options might be to generate some additional revenue.

So Council President asked the question about professional services.

earlier in the week.

In Washington state, the retail sales tax originally applied only to the sale of tangible personal property, and thus, by definition, excluded services from the tax base.

And since 1935, some services were added to the tax base, including construction, repair, certain amusement and recreation.

But that still leaves many personal and professional services exempt.

For example, we pay sales tax when we hire a plumber, but not an architect.

or a realtor or an accountant.

And so this would impose a 1% excise tax on professional services, including but not limited to services provided by realtors, architects, accountants, and consultants.

And it's estimated that with a 1% tax, this could potentially generate about $70 million a year.

And just to the point that was made earlier, I do understand that I can just ask central staff to work on this next year, but I did want to have an opportunity in the budget conversation context this year to sort of call the question as Council Member Moore was able to do and discuss some potential revenue options.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Colleagues, from the Chair's perspective, just a reminder that even if this motion does not pass, central staff can and likely will look into this proposal because that is their job.

From the Chair's perspective, if this was an ordinance that we were enacting with the amount of time that we've had to dive into it, I would oppose it.

And I do also believe that it is...

Good for us to look into this.

I'm already aware of some challenges and still it is important to gather information.

So I will be supporting this motion.

Council Member Moore, you are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Yes, I just wanted, as a co-sponsor, to add my voice in support of this.

Again, I think it's important for us to begin these conversations, and this will do that, and it will also give us an opportunity to look at the full picture.

I know there might be some challenges, but it's important that we begin these discussions and look at how we can address them should they exist.

So I will be voting in favor of this.

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

Council Member Wu, you are recognized.

I think this has to go through the legislative process.

I have many questions on its legality and also questions about affordability.

How would this affect workers who currently cannot afford to live or build in Seattle?

I want to be able to incentivize professions to be able to live and build in Seattle.

So I have a lot of questions.

We'll love for it to go through the normal process that includes public comment.

So I will be voting no.

Thank you, Council Member Wu.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Council Member Wu beat me to the punch.

I was going to note that I really believe in the committee system, and these next two, this one and the next one, are clearly something that should be worked through committee, and that's my recommendation that it does it that way.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Council Member Rivera, I saw you had a hand.

It's back up.

You were recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

I just want to say that I think most people know that my spouse is a consultant in town, so I'm going to be abstaining from this vote.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

Council President Nelson.

Never mind.

Okay.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

I'm going to have last word and then I'll pass it over to Council Member Morales just to state that this motion before us is simply indicating that there will be committee work done next year.

Should any council member request central staff to work on such a proposal, that would go through committee and there's no question about that.

With that, Council Member Morales, Council President, you have a new hand.

I did call the end of discussion.

I found what I was looking for.

Is it okay if you can...

I was going to...

Council President, you are recognized, but moving forward, I'm going to be...

Once we're done with discussion, we're done.

So, Council President, you are recognized.

I appreciate the exploration.

I will be voting no.

I need to do more research because I thought that there were only certain services that Washington state allowed us to tax, and so I will be voting I'll be voting no.

Also.

I think that it's important that when we Establish an interest to have a new source of revenue that we also have to be clear about what we are trying to pay for Instead of just saying we need more money, so I will be voting no Thank You council member I also sponsor the amendment you are recognized I

Thank you.

I do want to just remind folks that this is a vote to do the research on this tax and what it might generate and will go through the legal process and be reviewed by law and go through all the other processes that we go through as we are deliberating.

So this is not a vote to pass a tax.

This is a vote to research so that we can better understand the tax.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Clerk, will you please call the roll on CBA FG104SA1?

Council Member Saka?

No.

Council Member Wu?

No.

Council Member Allingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

No.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

No.

Council Member Rivera.

Chair Strauss.

Yes.

Four in favor, four opposed, one abstention.

That motion fails when there are abstentions.

This has failed.

So CBA FG 104 SA1 does not pass and will not be attached to the bill.

Moving on to the next item, Council Member Morales' sponsor, would you like to move your next item?

I move FG105SA1.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded.

Tom, I see you're here with us again.

Take it away.

Thank you, Chair.

Item five is FG 105 SA, which is a statement of legislative intent that would request council central staff to develop legislation that would impose a 5% tax on digital advertising services or ads on the digital interface, including banner ads, search engine advertising, interstitial advertising, and other comparable advertising services.

The legislation that would be responsive to this lie would be delivered to the Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee no later than June 30th of 2025. Thank you.

Council Member Morales has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

Tom did a fantastic job.

Thank you, Tom, of describing what we're trying to do here.

I've already given the reason why I think it's important for us to start to analyze and research, look into assorted taxes.

And it is estimated that this kind of a tax could generate about $20 million a year for the city of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Committee chair recommendation is the same as the last one.

This is simply a vote to study the issues, not necessarily indicating my support of it.

It will have a committee process research and legal review.

With that, Council Member Moore, are you a co-sponsor of this?

I am.

Then I will call on you next, and then Council Member Wu.

Council Member Moore, you are recognized.

Thank you.

Again, Justice Cosponsor, I wanted to voice my support for this, to begin this process of studying additional revenue sources.

So thank you, Council Member Morales, for bringing this forward, and I will be supporting it.

Thank you.

Council Member Wu, you are recognized.

For all the reasons I stated earlier, affordability and making sure it goes through the legislative process, which sounds like it will.

So I don't see why we need to pass this if it's going to happen anyways.

Also, I'm concerned.

I have questions regarding its legality as well as how it affects our journalism industry.

I know a lot of local papers as well as media...

profit and are able to sustain using some of this form of advertising.

So I have a lot of questions regarding how this affects that industry as well.

Thank you, Council Member Wu.

Council President Nelson, you are recognized.

I'm going to vote.

My concerns about this comes more from a workflow perspective as the Council President.

We are going to be voting on the comp plan this year.

We also have several other bodies of work that will require extensive central staff time and effort.

And so I do not want to request that they, I'm not going to direct them to take on this body of work, so I will be voting no.

Thank you, Council President.

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

As I stated earlier, based on my spouse's work, I will be abstaining on this vote.

Thanks.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

Council President, I hear the note that you made about your role as council president and directing central staff's work.

I have never seen a council president in the past restrict a committee chair from the ability to have central staff study things within the jurisdiction of their committee.

I hope that that wasn't an indication that that's what will happen next year.

Colleagues, I have nothing further.

Council Member Morales?

No further comments.

Will the clerk please call the roll on CBA FG 105 SA1.

Council Member Saka?

No.

Council Member Wu?

No.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

I'm the same.

Council Member Kettle?

No.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

No.

Council Member Rivera?

Abstain.

Chair Strauss?

Yes.

Three yes, four nays, two abstentions.

Thank you.

The motion does not carry, and FG105SA1 will not be attached to the council bill.

We're going to move on to the next item.

Council Member Moore, sponsor of the item, would you like to move it?

Thank you, Chair.

Yes, I would like to move HSD 024A.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded.

I have Jennifer Lebrecht at the table.

Jennifer, over to you.

Jennifer Lebrecht, City Council Central staff.

This council budget action would impose a proviso of $350,000 on the Human Services Department for purposes of funding a seasonal winter shelter in District 5 that would be open continuously throughout the winter months.

Council's intent is that King County Regional Homelessness Authority would administer this funding and would utilize underspend from its 2024 master services agreement with the city for the purposes of implementing the CBA.

I did want to follow up.

There was a question at the meeting earlier this week around, are there other severe winter shelters?

As I had identified in the CBA, there are two in the core of Seattle, one at City Hall, And then one additionally at the Seattle Center.

And there was a question if there were some south in the city.

And there is at least one.

I have some information here.

There's at least one.

There might be a couple others.

The information is a little unclear and not time to further clarify it.

And my understanding is that there is a shelter, some shelter beds that are opened up at Lakefront as well during the winter.

But again, unclear if that's a past practice or a planned future practice and how many beds that would be.

Thank you.

Council Member Morris sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

All right.

Thank you.

And again, thank you to Jen for all your work on this and being a great resource.

So as I've said before, North Seattle has a large homeless population, particularly around Lake City and Aurora.

And the city's current response for extreme weather has unfortunately failed in reaching out to the people living homeless up in District 5. And I would say...

most of North Seattle actually, it isn't just limited to the boundaries of District 5, to provide emergency shelter during winter months.

So this is an attempt to have sort of a new model, to have a seasonal shelter in the center of D5 thinking about maybe around the Northgate area, which is easily accessible by transit, to be able to access this essential space and maintain the community that they have built.

That's one of the reasons people are reluctant to come to the Seattle Center.

The providers, God's Little Acre, who runs a day center, has talked a lot about this, as have the other homeless advocates and providers in District 5 about the need for this.

And they have been in conversation with the mayor's office, and they are also supportive.

and recognize the need for a seasonal shelter.

And so that's why, and the intent of this proviso is to create a shelter that's accessible to people experiencing homelessness in the North End through the cold months, November through March approximately, and those people who experience significant barriers to accessing winter shelter downtown.

And also, in having it open every day for those periods of time, it facilitates the building of necessary relationships that then helps people create that trust that's important to helping people transition into master leasing or other forms of permanent supportive housing.

So I recognize it's a stretch.

We are looking at utilizing the underspend in KCRHA.

So I would ask for my colleagues' support on this.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member Moore.

Colleagues, discussion?

From the chair's perspective, I will be abstaining.

I'll share why later.

Discussion?

Well, you're making my heart sing.

I'll just share with, Vice Chair.

Yes, thank you.

I very much appreciate my colleagues, my colleague bringing this forward, Council Member Moore.

And I very much appreciate that and agree there is a large percentage of homeless population in the D5, particularly along Lake City.

At the same time, I'm confused because KCREHA has this responsibility for extreme weather sheltering of folks.

I know we have resilience hubs out of the Office of Sustainability and Environment that are being considered, and I know we're looking at other city assets such as libraries who now have air conditioning.

I know libraries are not meant to be shelters, but I'm just trying to figure out where is the coordination point between all the pieces and also what's KCRA's plan for seasonal weather sheltering.

And I appreciate Jen, you bringing up that before COVID we had some kind of continuous seasonal program, but now we don't.

Jen, you are recognized.

Thank you.

All right.

That is my understanding that prior to COVID, and this came partly from Tracy Reich, who's been around a very long time, that there were seasonal weather shelters that were opened up continuously, that as a model that the city has moved away from.

I think there were some challenges with that particular model, one of them just being staffing.

But I don't have a lot of history or background on that.

Thank you, Jen.

May I continue, Chair?

Thank you.

And the other thing is this money is one-time, and I don't think this is going to be a one-time effort.

So, Councilmember Moore, while I highly respect you and I don't disagree for the need, I'll be voting no for this, but I would like to be a part of a conversation or any type of support that I can provide for us to look at this and make sure this is part of KCRHA's plan because it is very much needed in the D5 and across the city.

We need to do better.

We saw this last winter when we started.

We got a lot of emails from constituents about the fact that we don't have enough sheltering during extreme weather instances.

But I would like to see an investment that I just don't think this is going to cover it.

And I would like to see a more robust plan.

So thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Council President.

I really appreciate you being such a strong advocate.

I appreciate Council Member Moore being such a strong advocate for D5 and also the people that are suffering in that area.

I signed on as a sponsor because I was interested in having this information and I will be voting against it today, not because I don't think it's important to have this asset in the North End.

We both sit on the regional committee of KCRHA, and I believe I would like to work with you going forward, Council Member Moore, ensuring that there is a severe weather.

This does exist within the plan of KCRAJ going forward, but I'm sorry, I feel like I should not limit the funding of the agency before understanding where the other services and assets will be provided.

But thank you very much for sparking this conversation.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Council President.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

You know, this is an interesting one because there's a lot of great points for and against.

But, you know, one new dynamic is the fact that we do have a new KCRHA.

We do have a new executive in charge of the KCRHA.

And we have, at least my office, we've hit the ground running with Dr. Kinison and Dr. and like to engage not just on the non-congregate amendment from yesterday, but also issues like this.

So understanding the points made, I also see this as a way to proactively and positively engage with KCRHA on what is obviously a shortfall for all the reasons that council member Moore.

So for that reason, again, acknowledging all the points made, but with this new dynamic, I wanna really support it.

So I'll be voting yes on this one.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

I'm gonna call last call on further discussion because I'm gonna make my statement and then I'll pass it over to Council Member Moore.

So last call on discussion for this item.

Council Member Moore, I will be abstaining today.

I've got some additional policy conversations that I'd like to have with you, but we're in budget committee.

And so that doesn't make sense for me to go up on a bully pulpit to have that conversation with you right here and now.

And I also really, the way that you have described the need is so incredibly accurate.

And I just really appreciate the fact that nine months, 11 months after taking office, you have that on the ground understanding of what's going on in Lake City.

I really appreciate that.

Council Member Moore, you are recognized.

Thank you.

Yes.

So thank you, colleagues, for your comments, and I appreciate the support, and I appreciate the support for the idea.

I guess because I've been having these conversations with KCRHA and with the mayor's office and as chair of the committee, I think I'm a little farther along in my UNDERSTANDING, PERHAPS, OR COMFORT, REALLY, WITH MOVING FORWARD ON THIS, AND THAT'S WHY I BROUGHT THIS FORWARD.

I CAN SAY THAT I WAS IN DISCUSSION WITH THE MAYOR'S OFFICE BECAUSE MY INITIAL PROPOSAL WAS NOT TO USE THE UNDERSPEND, AND IT WAS THEIR SUGGESTION TO USE THE UNDERSPEND.

HAVE ALSO HAD DISCUSSIONS WITH KCRHA ABOUT THE NEED FOR THIS.

YOU KNOW, I, TOO, SUPPORT KCRHA co-written with the help of our central staff and our council president, the new ILA, and want it to succeed.

But sometimes old habits die hard.

And the habit of looking at this, and that can be noted by the fact that I started talking about the need for seasonal winter shelter in February of this year with KCRHA, admittedly under different leadership, and they still haven't changed the plan to look at seasonal weather shelter.

They need a push, and they are more than receptive to the push, and certainly the mayor's office is receptive, too.

So I view this as a way to, in a way, kind of do a pilot project.

to see how it works, to work out the kinks.

The providers, this would go out to RFP, but I can say that sort of the primary providers would be the Oaks and Shoreline, who have a long track record of working very successfully with running their own non-congregate shelter.

It's a converted nursing home, and getting people into permanent supportive housing.

So we would be—the contract would be only awarded to seasoned, experienced providers, which was important to me and also to the parties here.

So for those reasons, I am comfortable.

I appreciate my colleagues' concerns.

But again, I would hope that— If this doesn't pass today, that we really make this a reality by next year because we're going to have people dying and that's not okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

Colleagues, we are going to vote on HSD 24A1.

Clerk, will you please call the roll on HSD 24A1?

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Thank you.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Abstain.

Eight in favor, one abstention.

Thank you.

Eight in favor, one abstention?

Yes.

Thank you.

The motion passes.

HSD 24A1 will be attached to Council Bill 120905. It's my understanding, Council Member Hollingsworth, HSD 43A1 is withdrawn.

Is that correct?

That is correct, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

We'll move on to the next item.

Council Member Wu, would you like to move your item?

Yes, thank you.

I...

I move to substitute HSD 36B1 in place of HSD 36A1.

Is there a second?

Second.

I'm just gonna check in with the clerk.

I think we were just gonna move the original and then she would make that motion, is that correct?

So I'm gonna just help you out here, council member.

I move HSD 36A1, is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

HSD 36A1 has been moved.

Council Member Wu, would you like to make a motion to substitute HSD 36A1?

Yes, I would love to make a...

I move to approve HSD 36B.

Second.

Colleagues, I know that we're quick to second, but I'm just going to help.

On behalf of Council Member Wu, I move to substitute HSD 36A1 for HSD 36B1.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded.

To substitute the bill, Council Member Wu, I'm going to turn to central staff for presentation of the underlying amendment and the changes that are requested with the substitute.

And then Council Member Wu, I'll pass it over to you.

Good morning, committee.

Tommaso Johnson, council central staff.

HSD 36B1 is substantively largely identical to 36A.

The difference is that the amounts are reduced from $100,000 to $70,000.

This council budget action would increase the human services department budget.

by $70,000 general fund one time in 2025 for contracted public safety improvement services in the Little Saigon area of the Chinatown International District neighborhood.

Council has identified we deliver care for this funding and request that the HST director waive contracting requirements for this purpose.

The CBA would decrease city budget office budget by $70,000 general fund in 2025 reducing funding intended for an evaluation of the jumpstart payroll expense tax.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

Council Member Wu, in response to the amendment, you are recognized.

Thank you.

So this amendment substitution was sent out yesterday.

I've also included some copies for everyone today.

Thank you, Tomaso, for explaining the substitution.

As the primary sponsor of this funding, I want to express also my support for our council president's amendment for our mobile evergreen treatment center that will be brought up later today.

And I want you to contribute to that.

It'd be great to have additional layered services to benefit and help Little Saigon, the CID, Third Pike and Pine, and the areas around it.

I really believe that mobile treatment center is just one holistic solution that we can layer on top to help address the dire needs of Little Saigon and the CID, and exactly is the kind of investments the community wants to see more of.

And so this is why we've lowered that amount.

But the reason why we even made this ask in the first place to have this funding go to WDC for the Little Saigon area.

I spoke about it briefly on Wednesday, how there's been a long line of disinvestment in the Little Saigon area in the last five years.

We've really seen an uptick in fentanyl use and sales, as well as the eagle-eagle market that is happening there.

And with Third Pike and Pine being solely resolved in a way.

Most of that activity has moved over to Little Saigon and has really gotten really intense and aggressive in the last three weeks or month or so.

This weekend, there was a mass casualty event with stabbings.

And the businesses in that area, as well as the residents, are very concerned.

They have sensed this change and seen this change.

They also remember what it used to be like there five years ago when we didn't have that activity in that area.

And so I think with the Navigation Center being moved in early January, we had...

We had a proposal for WDC and LEAD to have a presence in that area to help with that transition, as well as help the businesses and the residents.

The original proposal was for $2.4 million to get us to, throughout the year, but we were not able to obtain that much money.

So we're hoping that this 70,000 will get us closer to that goal.

The area has gotten funding from Adam Smith for about $1.4 million in October, 2025. So we're hoping that this funding will help that area be able to have WDC presence during the Navigation Center move in early January to that Anna Smith funding in October.

And so I ask for your support.

Thank you, Council Member Wu.

From the budget chair's perspective, I support everything you said.

I'll speak to that later, but the funding source is not one that the budget chair can support, so I will be voting no based on the funding source, but I'll speak to the merits of your request at the end of discussion.

Council President Nelson, I see you have your hand.

That was an old hand, I'm sorry.

Council Member Kettle, I see you have a hand.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

I just wanted to speak to this in the sense that an overlook is that we've done a great amount of work on the public safety side this year.

We've got lots of bills going on that have been passed.

They're being put into place now.

They're being stood up now.

And we're in this kind of a bridging motion before we get to a better place once all those bills and those efforts are really truly up and running.

And efforts in working with groups like We Deliver Care are important, particularly in these troublesome areas of like the CID.

And now what I call Third Downtown Belltown.

For the last time, I will say the term Third Pike and Pine.

I will not say that anymore.

It is Third Downtown Belltown.

And we have to have these funds up.

We have to have the flexibility.

the operational flexibility with all hands on deck from whether it's SPD, CARE, these nonprofits and the like, and then the ability to flex because, as we all know, the challenge flexes.

And so with that and noticing like this mass casualty event in the CID that we need to have this kind of flexibility and have all tools in the toolbox, particularly as we're in this kind of bridging function from all the work that we've been doing this year in terms of getting to a better public safety posture in the future.

So thank you, Council Member Wu and Council President.

And if the viewing public couldn't see, there was a mic drop.

Council Member Rivera and then Council President Nelson.

Thank you, Chair.

I am supportive of this amendment.

We've seen in the last couple days alone news articles about the situation on 12th and Jackson.

And for a long time now, I've been feeling that the CID just doesn't get the attention that it needs to get.

And we need to do better.

And so this is, as Councilmember Wu said, a step.

toward that in that direction.

I will say that I have some concerns about the coordination pieces between all these efforts that we're doing.

So I'd like to see how we are going to coordinate these responses that we're doing in the various neighborhoods because I know we also have expansion of our care program and some other efforts of this nature.

We deliver care and then some other service organizations as well.

And so definitely we need some type of coordination point.

I have had conversations with the mayor's office that I very much appreciate about this important coordination piece.

all throughout downtown, including in the CID.

And I believe that part of the restoration director will be coordinating some of that work.

And so I look forward to getting that information because it is important from an accountability standpoint and to make sure that we are meeting all the needs and how much we're putting into all of these efforts.

So I'm reporting this and I also wanted to say about the importance of the coordination efforts moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Council President Nelson and then Council Member Morales.

I must say that I too paused about the funding source.

So I did ask the Mayor's office a little bit of information about the evaluation, and I was assured that this work will get done, and I think that, and I also trust that Councilmember Wu knows what the community needs, and so I will be supporting this.

Thank you.

The chair's gone.

Oh, sorry.

Thank you, Council President Nelson.

Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

I want to say that I really appreciate this CBA.

I do think it's important that we continue working with We Deliver Care and that we particularly move some of that focus.

But I have to agree with the chair that...

The funding source is really problematic for me, especially because this is the oversight committee has not been seated in four years.

And so we are late to the game in being able to understand best how the jumpstart payroll expense tax is performing.

So I can't support this, but really only because of the particular funding source that it's taken from.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Any other comments, colleagues?

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Thank you.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Morales.

No.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Chair Strauss.

No.

7 in favor?

Opposed?

Thank you.

The motion passes and HSD 36A1 will be attached to Council Bill 12090. Oh, sorry.

That was the substitute.

So HSD 36A1 has been replaced by HSD 36B1.

So we still have the motion in front of us.

Vice Chair, thanks for helping me out while I was being a human.

And I will make, is there any other discussion?

It seems like everyone has finished discussing the amendment.

I'll share my perspective and then I'll pass it over to Council Member Wu for final comments.

I've already shared the funding sources is the issue for me here.

I'm gonna talk about the amount of change that this council, or I guess the amount of investment that this council has made in Chinatown International District.

Council Member Morales, as district representative, I know that you've made investments over the years.

The SPU Sanitation Services is one of those examples.

And Council Member Wu, when you came to the appointment process this year, it was very clear that you are the daughter of Seattle.

And through this process of being a council member, an appointed council member, we have invested more money into the CID since I think Uncle Bob Santos was around.

And while I see you more as a sister and not as an auntie, Uncle Bob brought an incredible amount of organization and resources to CID.

ACRS is one of those examples.

And so through this year, you have brought over a million dollars of investment to the CID, and it's really incredible.

I support this work, I support your efforts to get the mobile clinic down there as well.

I'll speak to my problems with that situation later, but I just wanna raise up that I think you have, it might be hard to reach Gang of Four, Uncle Bob Santos status in just 11 months, but you sure have done a really good job, and I think, I know I, as a council member, am appreciative of the attention that you've brought into the issues there and your work reflects that investment.

So thank you, Council Member Wu.

Any final comments?

Yes, thank you.

So this is trying to get funding for WDC presence and lead presence in the Little Saigon area has been a project of mine and many community members.

We've been working on this for about two-plus years, and so it's exciting to see that getting that recognition on the federal level with...

Adam Smith's office for that funding, possibly in October 2025, was hoping that, as the City of Seattle, we'll be able to match that investment ahead of that funding with the Navigation Center transition in early January.

And this is, you know, while we recognize and we're thankful for the recognition and the resources that are being in place and looks like on currently with emphasis patrols and the activation from the mayor's office in the last couple of weeks.

It's not a constant presence, which is something we're hoping for.

We've heard testimony that, you know, kids are afraid getting onto school buses.

Summit Sarah High School is right next to little Saigon area.

We also are hearing from our seniors and elders that people are knocking, sneaking into their senior housing areas and knocking on their doors and trying to break into their rooms at night.

Seniors don't come out after 4 o'clock.

We have 2,000 seniors living in that area.

Also, businesses have told me that they, you know, people in crisis situations come into their stores and they don't know what to do and they don't have anyone to call.

And so it would be great to have presence to help businesses, as well as our kids who live there, families, and our seniors with what's happening on Little Saigon, as well as getting people who are there the resources they need to come inside or to be able to fight addiction.

And, you know, we see a lot of illegal market there as well as drug sales, which has unfortunately flourished in the last couple of years.

And so I think the neighborhood needs additional presence as well as a constant presence.

And I ask for your support and thank the council as well as the city for everything that they have done for the district.

Thank you, Council Member Wu.

That was the final discussion.

Will the clerk please call the roll on substituted HSD 36B1?

Council Member Sacco?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

No.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Strauss?

No.

No.

Seven in favor, two oppose.

Thank you.

The motion passes and HSD 36B1 is attached to Council Bill 120905. Let's move on to the next item.

Council Member Moore, I believe you are the sponsor.

Thank you, Chair.

I'd like to move HSD 039A.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to...

Approve HSD 39A1.

Ketel, thank you for being here.

Good to see you today.

I love the jacket.

Thank you.

Ketel Freeman, Council Central Staff.

HSD 39A would increase funding in HSD by $527,000 in Jumpstart Fund in 2025 and 2026 and reduce a similar appropriation of $527,000 of Jumpstart Fund in 2025 and 2026 from SDCI.

This would essentially be a transfer of Jumpstart funds from SDCI to HSD for use with rental assistance.

Thank you.

This is sponsored by Council Members Moore, Rivera, and Nelson.

Thank you.

Council Member Moore, you are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

So this would move all the money or contracts for rental assistance, including rent arrears, into HSD.

This is to allow for, hopefully, for additional clarity in what rental assistance is available and centralize the administrative work in connecting this funding to the organizations that are getting it to the people who are served.

As Ketel mentioned, this action transfers the rent arrears appropriation to HSD.

The appropriation will be dispersed by HSD to cover rent arrears upon notification of settlement of eviction actions and would also make that dispersal contingent upon the household remaining house, which isn't always happening.

So this is a way to efficiently allocate rental assistance.

So efficient allocation of rental assistance is one of my top priorities for this budget cycle, and I believe that HSD, since they hold most of the rental assistance monies, is the correct place to do so, and I would encourage a yes vote.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Morales, I see you have a hand.

I will take it away.

Okay.

Thank you.

I do have a couple of questions about this.

Just to make sure I'm understanding, this is, so Homeless Prevention Services for Legal Eviction Defense.

So I just want to clarify, the funding, this funding goes to landlords on behalf of tenants.

Petal?

I think it remains to be seen how the funding will be allocated.

There's a following slide that I request to report from HSD on efficient allocation of rental assistance funds.

As it is now, appropriations to the Seattle Department of Construction inspections for rental assistance is dispersed by the Housing Justice Project and via communitaria in conjunction with the Catholic Community Services Tenants Law Center in conjunction with eviction legal defense.

So the disbursement is made to the tenant and not necessarily to the landlord, but it may depend on the outcome of an eviction proceeding.

So, but the funding is intended to go to landlords to pay for arrears, right?

Ultimately, yes.

Or to make sure that eviction is prevented?

Ultimately, yes.

Yeah, okay.

So, it also goes to collection agencies for arrears?

Is that?

I'm not sure.

I do not know if it is.

Okay.

My understanding is that it goes for past rental debt as well.

I think one of the questions I have, the way I'm reading this is, so it says that funds won't be dispersed until some verification that the household remains housed.

I don't know if that's a question for the sponsor or for a central staff, but what I'm trying to understand is what that means.

How long must someone be housed before the contract gets dispersed?

And I will call on first Ketel and then Council Member Moore to respond.

I'll defer to Council Member Moore to answer that.

Council Member Moore.

Okay.

So, thank you, Council Member Morales.

My understanding is that, you are correct, the current rent, the HJP, Catholic Community Services, part of their contract is they get money that they utilize in resolving eviction cases by entering to a payment plan, making payments.

Sometimes, though, the tenant has moved out for a variety of reasons and the landlord still gets paid.

Sometimes the moving out has not necessarily been a willing decision.

So...

The way this would work is we're just simply giving the money, instead of HJP and those groups having the money in their coffers, we're putting it in HSD.

When the settlement is reached, then HJP or Catholic Community Services would notify HSD to release the money.

And in that notification, they would say the agreement had been reached that the tenant is remaining housed, that they have not left.

Right, so it's an empty unit and the landlord is still getting the back pay.

So it's a it's just an extra safeguard Which HGP in those groups This issue was brought to my attention that this is something that we wanted to make sure that that box was checked.

I Don't know if that answers your question.

Thank you council member Morales.

Yeah, I guess I'm struggling to understand how the delay of disbursement helps with getting the arrears paid.

So I guess what I will say is, you know, that we have something, a subsequent amendment that would increase funding for this rental assistance in HSD.

And so I think it's important that we keep funds in SDCI for tenant services to help administer, particularly if we're going to be increasing funding shortly here.

So all that to say, I think I will be voting no on this CBA.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

I kind of paused for a minute there because the chair didn't, I didn't have my notes in front of me about this one.

This seems more like a policy, from the chair's perspective, I will be making recommendations based on funding levels or, you know, Council Member Rivera, yesterday you had an amendment that you then changed to make sure that we were distributing money well in an efficient manner, right?

That is the chair's, that's where the chair's recommendations come from.

This is a policy matter.

I don't have a chair's recommendation about a policy matter.

I'm going to abstain because I have more questions than answers at this time.

But that's not from the chair of the budget committee's perspective.

Colleagues, other questions?

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you.

So as co-sponsor of this legislation, I will say that...

I know my colleague as chair of the housing committee has done her due diligence on the rental assistance, rental services, and everything that encompasses that.

I will say that I'm in favor of efficiency and making sure that we are running similar programs under one department rather than across different departments.

I know that HSD is the main department in my mind here, as opposed to SDCI, because SDCI is not...

I get that they're the compliance department for some of this stuff, but they're not the ones that are really working with the constituents that are intended for this investment.

see this as council member Moore addressing the how do we put all the funding sources that are for one, intended for one constituency and to address a similar issue under one umbrella.

And I see that as a good governance accountability piece.

Sometimes when it's different in different departments, we start to lose track and it is not coordinated.

And so this is why I lent my name to co-sponsorship of this legislation and why I will be voting for it.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Last call on further discussion.

Last call on further discussion.

Last call on further discussion.

Council Member Moore, you are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

I have nothing further to add.

Thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on HSD 39A1?

Council Member Tlacao?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

No.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Strauss?

Abstain.

Seven in favor, one opposed, one abstention.

Thank you.

The motion carries and HSD 39A1 will be attached to Council Bill 120905. We're going to move on to the next item.

Council Member Moore, you are sponsor of this next item.

Would you like to move your item?

Thank you, Chair.

I'd like to move HSD 040SA.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to approve HSD 40SA1.

Mr. Freeman, back to you.

All right.

HSD 040SA is a statement of legislative intent that requests that HSD report on how best to distribute rental assistance to ensure maximum distribution to households at risk of homelessness or eviction.

or currently homeless or in eviction proceedings.

The report would be due to the council no later than June 30th, 2025 and prior to issuance of the next RFP for Homelessness Prevention Services.

Among other things, the report would include a description of research on best practices, an explanation of how the approach and the RFP would incorporate those identified best practices, the results of a racial equity toolkit, a description of outcome data that would be collected by successful respondents to the RFP, and a timeline for releasing the RFP.

This is sponsored by Council Members Moore, Morales, and Kettle.

Thank you, Mr. Freeman.

Council Member Moore is sponsored by the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Again, to the issue of good governance, right now we're trying to house all rental assistance in one place.

OH has a memorandum of understanding with HSD, so the OH money is held by HSD.

HSD has rental assistance money as well.

And that money goes out, I think there are 11 community-based organizations that they contract with to distribute the rental assistance.

And this is really trying to get back to figuring out what is the best way?

Should we consolidate to have sort of one major a contract like with United Way?

Or should we continue to utilize the smaller groups?

And also, how do we proactively identify households before they get into trouble?

And I know this is kind of a cutting-edge issue in homelessness work about what are the red flags.

And so this is a way for us to further explore that, see what other jurisdictions are doing, and then get back to us with a report.

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

From the Budget Committee perspective, this is a statement of legislative intent requesting a report on ways to make government more efficient, which falls under good governance, and we will be supporting it.

Colleagues, further to Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

Well, I wanted to make a comment first, and then I do have, I guess, an oral amendment, if I might.

As long as, sorry, I will point of order.

The same rules as yesterday applied to verbal amendments, which essentially, colleagues, you have to have told central staff.

Otherwise, they won't be ready, and we have to have it up on the board.

Looks like we do.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Back to you.

So the first thing I want to say is that, as Council Member Moore mentioned, there are several different organizations that help right now, that help identify, particularly in communities of color, who sort of needy families are or families who are at risk.

And so I do think that is one of the benefits of of contracting with lots of different organizations.

So, you know, Via Comunitaria finds people who speak Spanish, and they are able to provide that kind of tenant service to them, or, you know, Somali Family Services or Refugee Women's Alliance.

So I do think it's important for us to remember that some of these—they may be very small organizations, but they are contracted because they have access to communities that, you know, HSD might not— typically contract with or have access to.

That said, I do think that it is important that we understand how we might do all of this work better.

And so that is sort of the spirit behind this amendment.

which Council Member Moore and I discussed, and I do believe it is considered a friendly amendment, especially now if we are going to be moving money out of SDCI, that this report include SDCI so that we can gather information from both agencies, both departments, and their experiences and come back.

across the board to understand what's happening.

Do I need to move my amendment?

Yes.

Could you please?

Okay, I move amendment...

I don't know what the number is.

I'll help you out.

I'm going to move amendment version two of HSD401SA1.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll on it?

Oh, now is discussion.

Thank you.

I'm losing my mind.

Day three, voting, group D.

Colleagues, Council Member Morales, as sponsor of the amendment, you have addressed it.

Council Member Moore, as sponsor of the underlying amendment, the floor is yours.

Thank you.

Yes, I have spoken to Council Member Morales about this addition, and I do consider it a friendly addition and a good idea.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, discussion on the amendment to the amendment.

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on amending HSD40SA1 for version two.

Council Member Sacco.

Aye.

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Strauss?

Yes.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

Amendment CBAHSD40SA1 has been replaced by version two.

Colleagues, is there further, we have discussed the, we're in discussion.

Anyone have additional discussion?

Great.

I've already said that this is good governance.

Council Member Moore, any further discussion on your underlying amendment?

No, thank you, Chair.

Thank you, friends.

Will the clerk please call the roll on HSD 04-SA1 version two.

Council Member Saga.

Aye.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Chair Strauss.

Yes.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion passes and HSD40SA1 version 2 will be attached to Council Bill 120905. We're going to move on to the next item.

Council Member Moore, the next item is yours as well.

Would you like to move your item?

Yes, thank you, Chair.

This time I would like to move HSD 041A.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt HSD 441A1.

Council Central staff, Mr. Freeman, we've got the famous Tracy Ratzliff at the table as well.

HSD041A1 would increase appropriations to HSD by $3.3 million in Jumpstart Fund in 2025 for rental assistance.

This appropriation together with what's in the Mayor's proposed budget and HSD001A1, which appropriated $1.9 million in 2025, would bring total appropriations for rental assistance in 2025 to approximately $10 million.

This is sponsored by Council Members Moore, Saka, and Morales.

Thank you.

Council Member Moore has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

So as I've been sort of a broken record lately, we do know that rental assistance is far and away the most cost-effective way at keeping people in housing rather than trying to get people back into housing once they are on the street or you know, living in their cars or even RVs.

And as has been stated here, we have done a lot of sort of back-end work in the public safety, but we are also really looking at trying to be proactive in the public safety arena, and I think we need to be looking at being proactive in the housing arena as well, in the homelessness arena.

And this is really the impetus for this.

As I mentioned, there are United Way, which provides, they're one of the major providers of rental assistance during COVID.

They have 5,600 people in Seattle who are on a wait list for rental assistance.

They are talking about needing $10 million to resolve their backlog.

This is not obviously $10 million, it's 3.3 coming from Jumpstart.

And I think in the long run that it will save us money if we are able to give grants of $500, $1,000, sometimes several thousand dollars to keep people housed.

And I do want to just reiterate the statistics that we have in terms of Looking at people who are already receiving subsidies for their housing under the multifamily tax exemption credit program, which is 60% AMI, 25% of those individuals are severely cost burdened.

So they're paying 50% of their income in rent and utilities.

And then across the city, we have 19% of households are severely cost burdened.

And rent, I think we hear this from everybody, rent remains a significant challenge in our city.

And so this is a way to begin to chip away at that and to provide, again, a proactive safety net.

And I would ask my colleagues for your support.

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

From a budget chair's perspective, I support the funding allocation, but I do not support the funding source.

Colleagues, we were forced to use more money from the Jumpstart Reserve Fund than...

DECISION THAT WAS ORIGINALLY DESIRED BECAUSE OF THE DOWNTURN FORECAST MIDBUDGET CYCLE.

THROUGH CORRECTING OF ERRORS AND THE WORK THAT IT DOES TO CHECK THE DETAILS BETWEEN THE CHAIR'S PACKAGE AND THIS WEEK, WE WERE ABLE TO FIND A LITTLE BIT MORE MONEY TO TO BUFFER THAT.

THAT IS THE FUNDING SOURCE THAT COUNCILMEMBER MOORE IS IDENTIFYING AND FOR THOSE REASONS I WON'T BE ABLE TO SUPPORT THE AMENDMENT EVEN THOUGH I SUPPORT INCREASING RENTAL ASSISTANCE.

COLLEAGUES DISCUSSION.

COUNCILMEMBER KETTLE.

THANK YOU CHAIR STRAUSS AND I'D LIKE TO PUT ON MY FINANCE COMMITTEE HAT ON AND SECOND WHAT YOU JUST SAID.

OBVIOUSLY RENTAL ASSISTANCE IS A VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC.

I UNDERSTAND.

through the mayor's proposed budget, both with HSD and as we've been talking about, SDCI, and which will soon be all HSD, is very important, but as you noted, This is budgeting 101, and we have to ensure that that reserve is there, particularly given the fact that the main reserve was just depleted, as you noted, because of the forecast points.

And because of that, that's going to be guiding my vote.

So thank you, Chair Strauss.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Sacco, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And so I'll just say that I...

I agree with many of the points that have been made on this issue in various forums, including just now by the sponsor, Councilmember Moore, and Councilmember Kettle's comments as well.

I'll just admit that this one has been particularly a perplexing decision for me, or challenging decision for me to make, probably the most, the singular biggest decision that I've had to grapple with during these budget deliberations over the last couple months now, although this only came up in the last couple weeks.

So there's definitely merit on either way, wherever you land on this issue.

I am going to support it.

I don't love the source, to your point, Mr. Chair.

but it's for not only a good cause, but an essential cause to supporting those desperately in need of stable and affordable housing.

I think this is a critical, critically needed upstream investment that we can make now in this moment to prevent some of the, what we know to be downstream impacts.

Increasing amount of people experiencing homelessness And so I think next year and on a going forward basis, I will personally be a little more cautious.

But this year, I think we need to take this big shot in large part because it's an important preventative mechanism.

And I thank Council Member Moore and her leadership for bringing it forward and in her capacity as chair of the committee.

for leading and continuing to lead and drive on these issues.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

I am going to be supporting this.

The paper today indicated that Seattle is in part dealing with the kind of inflation we're dealing with because of our housing costs.

We know that 50% of our Seattleites are neighbors.

We know that housing is going up and that people are at risk of homelessness if they are not able to stay in their homes.

So I do believe that the case management that's provided by HSD is an important part of the ecosystem.

I do also believe that these funds should be connected with education of renters on what their rights are and what kind of responsibilities they have.

So I think there should be some connection there, but I am going to be supporting this in a year when we are spending tens of millions of dollars on other things that don't prevent homelessness.

I think it's important that we do this one-time swap to make sure that we're keeping people in their homes.

Thank you.

Well said.

Colleagues?

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

I too have, this is a difficult decision.

I very much support rental assistance, and yet I am concerned about taking the last of the Jump Start reserves for this purpose.

And because of that, I will vote no on this, but that does not indicate my appreciation for the chair and I fully agree with, sorry, the committee chair.

And I fully agree with council member Moore.

And I agree with many of you on this issue.

I think we all support rental assistance and then also grappling with not having any jumpstart reserves to manage any unforeseeable things that may come up in the next year.

So that's where that's coming from.

But thank you, council member Moore.

again, for always bringing these issues forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

Last call for further discussion, Council President Nelson.

During my first budget, I remember arguing for when the topic of assistance for renters came up, I was arguing very, very strongly for direct- Council President, point of order, microphone.

Can't hear you.

Okay.

Your voice is sounding a little hoarse.

I hope you're feeling all right, but I think that's part of what's contributing.

So make sure to just be close.

Thank you.

I was just saying that in my first budget year, I remember when assistance for renters came up, I was arguing very, very strongly for direct assistance to actual renters instead of through organizations, attorneys, et cetera, because that was an efficient way of keeping people housed.

And I still do believe that.

I also am mindful of the fact that I remember that, remember Enron?

Right now, our payroll excise tax is performing very well.

We never know what will happen.

And I do have some concern about using the very last bit of our reserves on this item.

I do strongly believe, though, that we do need to help people who are at risk of eviction and losing their homes right now.

Just for people's information, the mayor's proposed budget had 4.8 million in HSD and 527,000 in SDCI.

I believe that HSD 001A, I think that was more, that included 1.9 million This one includes 3.3.

There was another budget item that contributed that basically switched funding.

But should all of these pass, we would have 10 million.

And that probably still is not enough.

And so what I am saying is that this has been the top budget conversation.

And this is signaling the need to really focus on this as a body of work going forward.

I will not be voting for this because of the diminishment of our reserves.

I do believe that we should have a cushion there.

But just throwing my thoughts in the ring that it's clear that we all agree that this is an issue that we need to focus on going forward.

Thank you.

Last call.

Last call on comments.

Last call on comments.

I WILL MAKE MY FINAL COMMENTS AND I WILL PASS IT OVER TO COUNCIL MEMBER MOORE AS SPONSOR OF THE AMENDMENT.

THIS IS THE RARE TIME THAT I WILL CHANGE MY MIND ON THE DIAS BASED UPON THE ARGUMENTS MADE BY COLLEAGUES.

COUNCIL MEMBER SACA WELL SAID.

COUNCIL MEMBER MORALES WELL SAID.

AND TO MY TEAM WATCHING, SORRY, THIS IS A SURPRISE ON THE DIAS.

THEY DON'T KNOW THAT I HAVE CHANGED MY POSITION ON THIS ITEM.

IT IS A YEAR TO GO BIG.

IT IS A YEAR THAT WE HAVE TO KEEP PEOPLE HOUSED.

I HAVE A LOT OF CONCERNS ABOUT THE LEVEL OF FUNDING IN THE RESERVE ACCOUNT, ESPECIALLY NOW THAT IF THIS PASSES, THERE WON'T BE ANY.

SO THAT'S AN ORANGE TO RED FLAG FOR OUR BUDGET ISSUES IF THIS PASSES.

BUT I'LL BE VOTING YES.

COUNCILMEMBER MOORE, YOU ARE RECOGNIZED.

Thank you very much, Chair, and thank you for changing your mind on the dice.

Again, I just, so yes, 4.6 million has been anticipated for the total rental assistance contracts with the addition that we provided for the interest on the levy.

We're looking at perhaps 1.9.

So, but to get us to 10, we need this additional 3.3.

It is a one-time add.

I would note that, you know, I too am concerned about reserves, and we need to be looking at that going forward.

I certainly will be supporting of that going forward.

But this is, I think, ultimately going to save us money, which is, and do good work at the same time.

So, again, I would ask for my colleagues' support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on HSD 41A1?

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Council Member Kettle?

No.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Abstain.

Council Member Rivera?

Abstain.

Chair Strauss.

Yes.

Six in favor, one opposed, two abstentions.

As a member of the voting majority, I'm going to double check.

Does anyone, do we want to recall that vote?

Does anyone want to change their vote?

Moving on to the next item.

IT IS ADOPTED TO COUNCIL BILL 120905. MOVING ON TO THE NEXT ITEM, COUNCIL MEMBER MOORE, AGAIN, YOU ARE THE SPONSOR, PLEASE, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MOVE YOUR AMENDMENT.

I'll help you out there.

I'm sorry.

No, no.

Thank you, Chair.

I am actually, sorry, let me get to my notes.

So thank you.

I recently received confirmation from the Mayor's Office that this will be funded within existing funding balances, so I am withdrawing this amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For the record, please note that HSD 42A1 has been removed from the agenda.

We are gonna move on.

It's my understanding, Council Member Moore, HSD 43A1 is also removed.

Is that correct?

That's correct, Chair.

Thank you.

We're gonna move on to HSD 08. We are changing departments here.

Here we go.

We have 13 items left in D, not including the items that have been walked on that were not distributed for public awareness ahead of deadlines.

So we will now move on to Office of Housing 5SA1.

Council Member Moore, you are the sponsor of this amendment.

Would you like to move it?

Thank you, Chair.

Yes, I'd like to move OH005SA.

Thank you.

It's been moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt OH5SA1.

The famous Tracy Ratzliff here at committee table.

Council Members, Tracy Rassel, Council Central Staff, OH005S, this statement of legislative intent would request the Office of Housing to provide the City Council with quarterly vacancy data reports on city-funded rental housing projects.

This reporting would begin as of April 1, 2025. OH currently collects vacancy information for the over 350 city-funded rental housing buildings, which contain over 18,000 units, as part of its annual reporting requirement for such buildings.

This review is done as part of OH's asset management functions.

The vacancy information is collected from providers on an annual basis from the statewide online system that's operated by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission that is used by all public funders.

Thank you, Tracy.

Council Member Moore, you are a sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

So I just wanted to say I do appreciate the work that OH is doing and that they have been providing this information on a yearly basis.

But I think all of us who sit on the committee, Housing Human Services Committee, have been frustrated by the fact that the data is really squishy and we don't really know what the current vacancy rates are and yearly is really not, we need to have sort of a real time snapshot of vacancies and how programs are performing, particularly when we're seeking to evaluate them, make changes to them.

and when we continue to have funding requests.

So I recognize that OH is feeling somewhat under the gun in being able to meet this requirement.

I'm confident that they will be able to and that they've actually begun working on making the changes that they need with some of the databases to be able to provide this information going forward more regularly.

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

Budget committee recommendation.

Again, this is a good governance slide, and we will be supporting this.

I see Council Member Rivera, Council Member Kettle, then Council Member Morales.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to Council Member Moore for bringing this forward as Chair of the Housing Committee.

I don't sit on that committee, but I very much care.

about these issues and so I often do attend those committees despite the fact that I don't sit on that committee.

I'll say this is a good governance piece and also not also and it is important to receive information more often than yearly as we are making decisions particularly because there's always a mid-year supplemental that we need to consider and having the information um quarterly will be more helpful than waiting till the end of the year for instance to see because this is a very it moves it's not a static number um and so it would be really helpful to see as council member moore said and um we can't see it in real time that would be daily right but quarterly would be very helpful.

And I consider that, as Council Member Moore said, more in real time than once a year.

So I'll be supporting this, obviously.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

I will say this is in keeping with the Good Governance 101, and it's also in keeping with the Seattle Housing Investment Plan, keeping things ship shape as it relates to housing.

And this is very much needed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And for the record, Reflex Seattle Housing Implementation Plan spells ship.

Council Member Morales.

I don't disagree that more frequent reporting would be helpful.

But Tracy, the CBA describes a little bit this statewide web-based annual reporting system.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

I don't know how that works.

And you said there's 18,000 units in the city.

And so I'm just wondering a little bit about if there is capacity in this system to be reporting on that many units that frequently.

Tracy Rattler?

My understanding is that that system collects information on an annual basis.

The providers provide it on an annual basis, and it does not currently have the capabilities to provide information on a quarterly basis.

So what you are asking for would be, in fact, something that has OH having to work to create a new system by which they would collect this information, and providers would then be required to provide it to them.

Okay.

Well, I do recognize that our housing providers are dealing with a lot of issues right now.

We know that there are units that are being damaged and there's a lot of costs associated with trying to deal with repair so that they can re-let those units.

So can you talk a little bit about what the city is doing now?

I mean, the CBA indicates that OH is working to try to improve their vacancy reporting, but what's happening in this space?

So as the members of the Housing Committee remember, we've had a number of conversations in committee about the challenges that the affordable housing providers are facing right now.

Vacancies are only one of those challenges.

Operating costs that are skyrocketing, nonpayment of rent, staffing issues continue to plague them, as well as just the inflationary costs of insurance and other costs that they face, just like everybody else does.

The mayor and with the Office of Housing working collaboratively with them have begun to convene both the providers as well as the public funders to, in fact, begin to have conversations about all of these issues that are presenting really historic challenges for our providers.

They have begun those conversations.

They are going to continue to meet and are anticipated to provide recommendations to the council, I believe, in early 2025 to identify what are the key issues and then what are the recommendations for how we address those issues, not only at the city level, but all the way from the federal level on down to the state and then even the county level as well.

Okay, so the other thing that I'm curious about, this has a due date of April 1st.

If there is not yet a system in place and these are supposed to be done quarterly, that means quarter ends March 31st and the next day this is due.

So is OH equipped to submit a report like that right now?

And what might it take to get them there?

As I indicated, there is not a system that is in a reporting process that has been established to collect that information, so it would be a question to the Office of Housing about could they stand up such a way to collect that information, and then could the providers provide it through that new system.

I would suggest to you that you will, in fact, adopt a SLI as part of the budget package.

We then readopt these SLIs in February.

I would suggest that there might be some time to have conversation about what might be realistically possible to get the information on what kind of basis that would meet everybody's needs and interests.

I think there is interest in vacancy information and trying to collect it more frequently and, frankly, more accurately and more detailed.

to get at some of these issues about why do vacancies happen, and they're looking at making some of those changes.

But that's a work in progress between the Office of Housing, and again, with the people who own the system, the data system, which is the Housing Finance Commission, as well as the other public funders who are in fact engaged in those conversations.

Okay.

Well, I know OH is working hard to understand.

They're working with the mayor, working with the state.

I'm not sure asking for another reporting system or something that they just don't have capacity to provide is good governance right now.

It feels like we're setting them up to fail, to request something that we know they can't deliver.

So while I support the notion behind this, it does sound to me like that work is already in place and they are trying to troubleshoot how they get to that spot.

So I won't be supporting this, but I appreciate getting more information from you, Tracy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Rivera, is that a new hand?

That is a new hand.

Okay, I'm going to call to check to see if anyone who has not yet spoken would like to speak on this item.

Council Member Rivera, you are recognized, and then we'll continue moving forward.

Thank you.

Tracy, I appreciate the information and your comments.

And I do know that it is a request for information.

I think it really solidifies our intent to really get to this information more often.

Because as we are rehousing people, it is important to know where there are units to rehouse them to.

And I think having this information just yearly is very difficult.

And I would think it's also difficult for folks that the providers that are trying to rehouse folks, the service providers, I mean.

So I think this is the intent behind this.

I think that there's been a lot of conversation since we've gotten here in January about getting this information and how to better do this.

This is not a gotcha to the department.

This is more, this is critical.

We're elevating how critical.

We're willing to work with the department.

You know, we often require information from departments.

We often hear they don't have capacity.

But in my mind, this is part of the work that they should be doing anyway at this level.

So if they're not able to do it, I would like to engage in conversation as to why.

and how we help get them there.

But I do think it's not an excuse for us not requesting the information and elevating this.

And to me, it is part of their work.

So how do we figure out how to help them get this work accomplished.

But now more than ever, it is really critical because there are vacancies.

We don't know how many exactly at any given point.

And we have people that we're trying to rehouse.

So I think it's appropriate.

Again, it's not a gotcha to the department.

We're willing to work with them.

And I know from having worked at a department that a SLI is a request and that if they can't meet it, we will continue to work with them to see when they can meet it or if it needs to be tweaked or what do we need to get there.

But it does elevate the importance of this and it does indicate that we want to work with them to ensure that we get this information.

And I appreciate the work of the department, you know, as part of this.

So it's this, again, want to work with the department, want to work with the mayor's office.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Tracy?

Just to reiterate, OH has said we, and they've been saying this for about six months now, we know the interest in the vacancy information as well as other data about performance.

They are willing to work with us.

I just think the question about frequency is the question here.

Thank you, Tracy.

A point well taken, and that's why you are famous here in Central Staff.

We can't have one person more famous than the other, but we can say that you are, in fact, famous for these reasons in the analysis.

that you've been able to provide here during the budget, my immense gratitude.

Chair of the committee, Council Member Moore, I'll retain my support for this and request that over the next few months before the February readoption of statements of legislative intent that we work out some of the details that have been addressed here on the record.

With that, Council Member Moore, in response to the amendment, you have final word.

Okay, thank you.

And yes, you have my commitment to that.

Again, this is not meant to be a gotcha to OH.

And also, certainly, it's a sly, not a proviso.

And there's a reason why it's a sly.

Because we do want to be able to cooperate and be flexible and change dates.

And we really just want to be kept apprised of the work that's being done and how we can best support that.

So, thank you.

Thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on OH5S81?

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

No.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Strauss?

Yes.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

OH5SA1 is attached.

It passes and is attached to Council Bill 120905. Moving on to the next item.

Council Member Morales, you are the sponsor of this amendment.

If you could move the amendment.

Oh, because it is my understanding that Council Member Moore, OH7A1 has been withdrawn.

Is that correct?

That's correct, Chair.

Thank you.

We're going to move on to the next item.

Council Member Morales, would you like to move your item?

I move OPCD 4A1.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded.

We have one Mr. Lish Richard Whitson here at the table.

Lish, would you take it away?

Lish Whitson, Council Central staff.

This is OPCD 4A1 would impose a proviso on the budget for the Office of Planning and Community Development.

for $350,000 that is intended to be used for a supplemental environmental impact statement to analyze zoning changes in the city's, what are proposed to be called regional centers and urban centers, so denser parts of the city.

Sponsors are councilmember Morales Moore and Hollingsworth the proviso would require that any such environmental impact statement look at a number of issues related to housing including a definition of legacy homeowners and how legacy homeowners relate to the areas that are being studied for reasons an alternative that includes strategies to support legacy homeowners interested in staying in their homes and strategies to support homeowners in redeveloping their property if they desire, and strategies to incorporate tools to increase homeownership in multifamily zones and development.

Thank you, Lish.

Council Member Morales, as sponsor, you are recognized.

Thank you.

Well, I think Lish laid it out pretty well.

But colleagues, as we've been hearing a lot this year, we know that there is a lot of interest in increasing homeownership and particularly in finding ways to support legacy homeowners, black homeowners in the city.

So this is an opportunity for us to include specific request to OPCD to help identify strategies that help us get there and really the intent is to have some tools available to us next year particularly as we're Looking at the comp plan and looking at other ways to support neighbors This is a proviso.

We're not adding anything and just to clarify I'll ask you to confirm that we this This proviso won't cause any delay in the work that needs to happen for the SEIS.

Yeah, it should not cause any delay.

The request for proposals has not been issued for this work.

The scope for the supplemental EIS has not been developed and will most likely flow out of your decisions that you make over the next six months on the comprehensive plan.

Okay, thank you very much Yep, so I asked for colleagues support so we can start to understand how to better support redevelopment and Legacy homeowners, thank you and homeownership.

Thank you.

Thank you as chair of the committee if this was to have an implementation impact the Recommendation would be no from what it sounds like it does not so we will be I will be supporting this colleagues discussion Discussion.

Discussion.

Last call on discussion, Council Member Wu.

I have some questions.

In terms of timeline, if this were to pass, how long would that take?

And its relationship on the timeline of the comprehensive plan that's currently being up for discussion on council?

Wish.

Wish.

Very briefly, there are sort of three phases of zoning changes that OPCD is considering.

The first will be considered sort of alongside the comprehensive plan implementing state laws that need to be adopted by June of 2025. The second will come right on the tails of that.

Other changes that were studied in the EIS that have been proposed.

This is the third phase of work that would study other changes that weren't in the EIS that OPCD is set to issue in the next month or so.

And so it would build on the decisions that the council makes for the comprehensive plan by this summer.

This is my understanding of the EIS.

How long does that take to get accomplished?