Good morning, everyone.
Good morning.
Thank you so much for joining the Select Housing Levy Committee meeting of the Seattle City Council.
Today is Wednesday, June 7th, 2023. The time is 9.30 AM.
I am Teresa Mosqueda, Chair of the Housing Select Committee.
And I wanted to start with roll call.
I wanna announce at the beginning that our President, Council President Juarez is excused and Council Member Lewis will be about 30 minutes late.
We will announce his presence when he joins us.
Madam Clerk, could you go ahead and call the roll please?
Council Member Herbold.
Council Member Morales.
here.
Council member Nelson present.
Council member Peterson here.
Council members.
I want Council member Strauss present.
Madam Chair Mosqueda present.
Madam Chair.
That is a five present one excuse.
Um, perfect.
We will make sure to announce the rest of the colleagues when they join us and colleagues.
Sorry for being off camera for the moment.
I will soon be on camera here and in chambers wanted to get started right away, we are going to have an overview of the housing select.
Committees 2023 levy legislation we had discussed in our previous meeting the substitute bill.
And this is an opportunity for us to have a final summary of the substitute bill as introduced and a summary of two amendments that are in front of us as well.
Brought to us by our colleagues, council members in partnership with council member herbal and council member Nelson, who has worked with our office as well.
And she has a revised amendment for our consideration today.
Both of these amendments I consider good additions to the housing levy legislation and I'll be supporting those as well.
So we'll talk about those in just a few minutes.
Madam clerk, I understand that there was nobody signed up for public comment online.
Is there anybody in person?
No, no one in person.
Okay, well, that opens and closes our public comment.
We will go ahead and accept any written comments that people want to send to counsel at Seattle dot Gov, and those will be circulated to the full Seattle City Council.
At this point, we will open and close again for this for this housing levy public comment period.
The public comment period is now closed.
And we're going to go ahead and turn it right over to central staff who have a little presentation for us on the status of the housing levy.
Thanks again to Tracy and Jennifer for their summary of the housing levy legislation to date.
And then the 2 pieces of amendment legislation that we will consider as well.
Good morning.
Thanks so much.
Thank you, Chair Mosqueda.
Tracy Ratzliff, Council Central staff, joined by my colleague in the background today, Jen Labreck.
Just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you Council members, your staff, for your attention to the housing levy proposal that has been in front of you now, going on our third month of discussion and digging into this proposal.
Appreciate all of the questions that have come.
to us and to the executive, over 80 questions that have been asked about this proposal, trying to understand what is being proposed and understand to the extent to which the goals that are articulated for this proposal are going to be met by this proposal that is in front of you today and feeling good about the answers that we have gotten and the understanding that we have about this proposal that is in front of you.
Again, just thanking you and your staff for your participation in digging into that proposal and understanding it.
And also thanks to the executive staff, to Breonna Thomas, to Kelly Larson, to Michael Winkler-Shinn, and the staff at OH who have been very responsive and worked very collaboratively as we have tried to understand the proposal in front of us, and then as we have also considered changes to the proposed legislation that is in front of you today.
So moving to the very first proposal, which is- Actually, can I, Tracy, I'm so sorry, can I read item one and two into the record?
That would be great.
Actually, if you could read probably both in, because we will be going pretty quickly through both of them.
Okay, perfect.
Agenda item number one, Council Bill 120584, an ordinance relating to low-income housing, requesting that a special election be held concurrent with the November 7, 2023 general election.
and item agenda item number two resolution 32093 a resolution relating to low-income housing accompanying an ordinance requesting the 2023 housing levy renewal and providing further direction regarding reporting and implementation for a briefing discussion and possible vote.
Thank you Faraday.
So moving to cancel the 120584 so this is the, the ordinance that would, among other things, authorize the submittal to the electorates of seven year levy of $970 million over seven years.
In addition, it would establish the 13 member levy oversight committee.
and the roles and responsibilities of that committee.
It also describes in attachment A, the programs that would be funded with the levy proceeds as well as the expected outcomes.
There are no amendments proposed to this legislation today.
It is ready for the council's consideration and vote should you desire to move forward today on a vote.
We can move on to resolution 32093 and this provides further direction to the office of housing as it relates to reporting as well as policy work that the council would like to have included in the levy administration and financial plan.
that will come to the council for consideration and adoption early in 2024. That administration and finance plan is the document that would guide the implementation of the levy.
There are several amendments as council members get indicated to the proposed resolution.
The first is- One second, Tracy.
Sorry about that.
I just wanted to announce our colleagues, Council Member Sawant and Vice Chair Herbold have joined the meeting a few minutes ago as well.
Thank you, colleagues.
Sure.
So moving to amendment number one, this is one that we discussed last week briefly.
It has been modified.
It now would request OH to explore the need for additional housing for people in recovery who need to live in a substance-free environment.
And you have in front of you, council members, version two of this amendment that was sent to you via email last night that made just some minor tweaks, technical corrections, really, to this amendment and the one that we will discuss after this one.
Council Member Nelson, did you want to?
Yes, I did.
I was waiting to be called on.
Sorry.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
So as I said last week or last meeting, we all know that the need to provide substance free environment for recovery for people in recovery is there, but we don't know how great that need is.
And so this is not intended to to replace or interrupt the low barrier housing first model.
It's simply to get a read on on how many people need this particular kind of housing.
And it does not take funds from any other policy priorities.
We just need to gather data.
Thank you.
And thanks, Tracy, for prompting Council Member Nelson.
Sorry about that.
We are moving relatively quickly this morning.
Council Member Nelson, I want to say thanks for all of the work that you've done and appreciate the scope of this amendment.
I also appreciate your comments here today and last week, really reiterating that this is not in conflict with the Housing First model.
This is intended to provide an additional option for folks as they seek recovery and housing.
So I'm pleased that we were able to work with central that you were able to work with central staff and I'll be pleased to support this today.
Tracy before we take a vote that would be helpful I think to do a summary of the second amendment and then I have a few questions as well.
Absolutely.
So moving to amendment number two from Councilmember Morales, Herbold and Councilmember Mosqueda.
So this language would modify, or this proposal would modify language regarding the housing investment set can support broader community development goals to include additional specific examples of such goals, such as commercial or non-profit groceries, home goods, cultural anchors.
And this would again be version two of the amendment that would be put forth for your consideration.
Great, and I'll call on Council Member Morales and then see if Council Member Herbold has anything to add.
Great.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate our work on this.
As I mentioned at our last levy committee meeting, this is a reflection of the proposed amendment I had submitted for the annual comp plan review in conversation with OPCD and with the Planning Commission.
There's a lot of support for this language, but they felt like it should wait for next year's broader comp plan conversation.
That said, I do think that throughout, between now and then, when we have the opportunity to make sure that there's consistent language in our other land use and policy decisions, I will be looking for opportunities to include this language.
And that's what this is.
So I appreciate Council Member Herbold and Chair Mosqueda working with me to include this and ask for support.
Thank you.
And Council Member Herbold, this builds on your original amendment.
Would you like to add anything?
I'm good.
Thank you so much.
And I appreciate Councilmember Morales lifting up these principles in that amendment and indeed consider it a friendly amendment.
Thank you.
Great.
What I'd like to ask, Tracy, since you went from the actual housing legislation the housing levy legislation to the resolution.
Could you spend a few minutes talking about what impact a resolution has?
I think some people from the outside might see it as not having a significant impact, but I'd love for you to spend just a few minutes talking about how we've used resolutions throughout the course of housing development policy to actually provide clear direction and sideboards on how policy should be developed and the importance of a resolution.
as it might have a different significance here than in other venues.
Generally, resolutions, in fact, can state the intent of the council and with the concurrence of the mayor.
To remind council members, the resolution does not always have to include the concurrence of the mayor.
Sometimes we have policy differences and the mayor will choose not to.
But in this case, we know that the mayor will be concurring with this resolution.
And this resolution itself does set out some very specific policies and further work really that we want to do as it relates to getting ready to develop the administration and finance plan.
particularly with some of the new programs that are being funded, the Workforce Stabilization Program being one of those, the Resident Services Program being another example of a couple of new programs included in this levy for which we have given some specific direction to the Office of Housing to do further work in terms of exploring how those programs will be developed and implemented and specifically also reporting and outcomes related to those.
So In this case, this resolution does include some very substantive direction to the executive for which they will be agreeing to do the work that is in front of them.
It also includes some very specific reporting requirements as it relates to the levy and reiterating some of what is in the ordinance already in terms of requiring an annual report.
So it does include some very specific things that are important in terms of policy direction from the council being joined again with the mayor, with his concurrence on those policies.
and happy to answer questions that folks have any about the resolution.
Thanks, and I wanted to note Council Member Lewis has joined us.
Thank you, Council Member Lewis.
Any questions about the resolution versus the levy legislation?
Yeah, my hand is up.
Council Member Nelson.
Please go ahead.
So what Why was it mentioned that prefers that this work be conducted within the context of the comp plan update next year?
So we do annual amendments to the comp plan, but because this is a broader conversation about sort of neighborhood development, the purpose here is to encourage and support the idea of more vibrant neighborhood commercial districts, including things like childcare and grocery stores and adjusting our land use policy for allowing those things to occur.
in areas where they might not be encouraged to occur right now.
They just felt like this was more appropriate for that broader land use conversation that we'll be having next year.
Supportive of the idea, but felt like that broader conversation would be a better place to include the language and have the discussion.
Thank you.
Follow-up, Council Member Nelson?
No.
Give me one second, Collins.
Okay, sorry for the delay.
Are there any additional questions or comments?
I'm going to turn it over to councilmember Morales.
Councilmember Morales, would you like to move your amendment to the resolution and we'll deal with the resolution first and Is there a second?
Thank you, Councilmember.
It has been moved and seconded.
Is there any additional comments?
I will make one additional comment, and Councilmember Morales, I'll turn it to you if there's anything else you'd like to close with.
At Council briefing on Monday, I mentioned that I was going to be meeting with members of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to talk about housing, our housing efforts, and anti-displacement efforts.
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation convened a group through local progress to talk about ways to address displacement.
Interestingly, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was really trying to seek from city council members across the country what we are trying to do not only to prevent displacement in housing, but to create opportunities, cultural opportunities, economic hubs, especially for folks who've been at highest risk of displacement over the years.
It was a great opportunity for us to talk about efforts like this that we have tried to include in Jump Start and in some aspects in the mandatory housing affordability and now in the housing levy.
So thank you for your work to lift this up.
I think that we are on the cutting edge of helping to ensure that people not only have a unit to call home and hopefully a first-time home ownership opportunity, but that we're also creating truly affordable housing coupled with we're going to continue to do that.
We're going to continue to look at the economic and cultural opportunities, rooting people in communities so we're investing in not just a place but a place to call home and a sense of community.
And I look forward to having this conversation elevated again at the national level so that we can hopefully get additional federal assistance in addition to state assistance to this is a great opportunity for us to be able to work with you on the work that you're building on here with Councilmember Herbold, your amendment underlying this and your long-standing commitment to
Nope, I'm just looking forward to, as you said, moving this through today and really using this as an opportunity to talk about not building just housing units, but really building healthy neighborhoods and making sure that people have access to all the essential goods and services that they need within reach of their home.
So thank you for your support.
Thank you so much.
Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll on the adoption of the amendment?
Councilmember Herbold?
Yes.
Councilmember Lewis?
Yes.
Councilmember Morales?
Yes.
Councilmember Nelson?
Aye.
Councilmember Peterson?
Yes.
Councilmember Sawant?
Councilmember Nielsen?
Councilmember Sawant?
Councilmember Strauss?
Would you like to move your amendment?
I move amendment 1, requesting OH to explore the need for additional housing for people in recovery who need to live in a substance-free environment.
Thank you so much.
I will second it.
Council Member Nelson, would you like to add anything else to the comments about your amendment?
No, thank you.
Okay.
And again, thanks for working with central staff and taking some feedback on the scope of the amendment.
I think it's a good inclusion to the housing levy and obviously a conversation very topical for the needs of our community.
So thank you for your work on this.
Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll on the adoption of amendment number one?
Council Member Herbold.
Yes.
Council Member Lewis.
Councilmember Morales?
Yes.
Councilmember Nelson?
Aye.
Councilmember Peterson?
Yes.
Councilmember Sawant?
Yes.
Councilmember Strauss?
Yes, yes.
Madam Chair Mosqueda?
Aye.
Madam Chair that is eight in favor.
Thank you so much.
The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the bill pass with both amendments number one and amendment number two is now in front of us.
Sorry, let me rephrase that.
The motion carries and amendment number one is now included.
We have the resolution as adopted with amendments number one and two included in front of us.
Colleagues, now is the time for final comments on the housing levy legislation, we're going to go ahead and take your any additional comments that you'd like to make on the full package.
Given that this is really the policy piece that has many of your suggested amendments included, has the opportunity for us to I'm going to turn it over to councilmember Herbold.
Thank you.
Appreciate your direction, Madam Chair.
I'm going to comment once, if that's okay.
Appreciate the opportunity, of course.
I want to thank Mayor Harrell for proposing a housing levy package that is thoughtful and responsive to the size of our housing crisis.
Seattle residents have been struggling to afford their homes for many, many years.
and increasing the housing levy to provide a significant number of new affordable homes as well as preserving existing affordable homes is very, very crucial.
Really appreciate the focus on producing homes affordable to residents who are struggling on the very smallest incomes.
Our lack of homes for folks living on less than 30% area median income is a clear case of continued market failure.
The city doesn't build homes, no one else will, and more Seattle residents will be pushed out of the city or just outside onto the streets, focusing on homes for 0 to 30 percent I want to also just say how much I appreciate that the original proposal included focus on workforce stabilization and permanent supportive housing.
$24 million for resident services for non-state homes and emerging needs that we began addressing last year.
Affordable home ownership, which we know is one of the best tools that we have to address the racial wealth gap.
Thank you, council, central staff for leading us through this analysis and our deliberations.
And to my staff, Christina Kotsubos for all of her work on the housing levy and of course to Madam Chair Mosqueda for working collaboratively with myself and other council members to incorporate our ideas into this legislation.
Quick summary of what that looked like for me, really appreciate that the amendments I proposed were included, including targeting home ownership investments towards folks at the highest risk of displacement and most impacted by the city's previous discriminatory practices, helping residents stay in their communities by bringing affordable homes to more neighborhoods, robust reporting on the impacts of funding resident services, establishing a formal program to preserve affordability of homes on the Office of Housing's portfolio or in the portfolio whenever possible, and setting a clear goal for the number of affordable homes to acquire from the speculative housing market.
Again, many, many thanks.
And I'm really pleased by the scope and scale of the sketch and hope we can move it on to full council with great speed.
Thank you.
Thank you.
That was a great example of what I was hoping folks would include in their summary comments, given that you did so much work prior to the introduction of this legislation, partnering with the executive and the great work that the Office of Housing did, building on the work that the executive did with the Technical Advisory Committee.
This is really our chance to highlight, again, some of those amendments that you made pre-introduction and that are included here in the housing levy and the resolution.
that will then be in front of the voters for their consideration.
Are there any additional comments?
Would folks like to lift up any additional amendments that they got included?
Okay.
Well, thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.
Please go ahead.
Thank you, chair Mosqueda.
I appreciate all the hard work by the chair and her office, by our city council central staff, the office of housing and the mayor's office in crafting this package to create more low-income housing throughout Seattle.
Having served on the advisory committee several years ago for the current housing levy, I've been a big supporter of the work that's accomplished by this program.
And I agree, we need to do more to produce more low-income housing.
I know a top priority for all of us is to reduce homelessness.
I'm grateful for the incorporation and collaboration with the chair on the revision to allow for more frequent data collection on vacant residential units and the encouragement of stronger cooperation between our city's Office of Housing and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
more frequent data on residential units and the vacancies and ongoing cooperation with KCRHA will help to get more people into all types of housing faster.
And while the costs of the, the costs needed to provide this program have increased.
Many of my constituents continue to raise concerns over how the city will pay for this proposal.
I hear them.
This is another reason why I agree, Seattle is overdue for tax reform to increase fairness and our regressive system.
So I realize this will be a big decision for people to make in November, but it's their decision to make.
The votes we take over the next week are not enacting the larger program for low-income housing in Seattle, but on whether to place the mayor's proposal as we've amended it onto the November ballot for voters to decide.
And to respect our committee chair's timeframe for final decision by council next Tuesday, I'll go ahead and vote to advance these items out of committee today and reserve final remarks and decision next Tuesday.
But I'm feeling more optimistic with this amended version.
And again, I want to thank the chair for collaboration.
Thank you.
I'm going to go ahead and close the meeting.
Thank you.
I'm going to go ahead and close the meeting.
Okay.
As Councilmember Peterson noted, there will be another chance to make final comments on the housing levy legislation as it gets considered in full Council next Tuesday given that this is hopefully knock on wood getting voted out today.
You will see this on our docket for consideration at full I'll go ahead since I don't see anyone else raising their hands.
I think we're seeing a lot of I'd like to start with a huge thank you.
Thank you to the months of collaboration and discussion that we've had at the legislative branch in partnership with the executive and the mayor's entire team that was led by community members who participated in the technical advisory board.
A huge thank you to our office of housing partners led by Director Michael Winkler-Chin and her team.
and all of the community who have been providing feedback over the last year as part of that technical advisory committee and also members here that have presented in council and called in, sent letters, made calls.
This legislation affirms the mayor's I'm so excited to be here.
I'm so excited to be here.
our permanent supportive housing workforce who we've seen on the front lines during the pandemic, but also on the front lines of the housing and homelessness crises to try to make sure that more people are stably housed to prevent homelessness and to allow for more people to move off of the streets and into affordable housing.
the proposal in front of us includes councilmember priorities that enhance this package and strengthen our focus on serving communities at most risk and most impacted by our housing, homelessness, and displacement crisis.
Last Wednesday afternoon, we were joined by I would say 100 people who provided public comment and also were part of the press conference outside of the city hall steps, who joined in an effort to really bring attention to how important this package is for the health and stability of residents, the health and stability of our local economy, and the health and opportunity for us to address the compounding public health crises that we see playing out every day.
Patience Malaba, who is the Executive Director of the Housing Development Consortium, said, this is truly a generational investment in affordable homes in our community and in the workers who turn buildings into homes.
Katie Garrow, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, said, This levy legislation includes important improvements in wages and working conditions for the people who work in permanent supportive housing and who build affordable housing units, which we applaud.
Our colleague who is with the DESC, which is the Downtown Emergency Services Center, and a nurse, Naomi Morris, said that it is the DESC coworkers who are on the front line helping to house people and keep people housed who are chronically homeless and to work in community to provide what they need.
She said, we don't do this work to get rich.
This is our calling, and the housing levy legislation is our chance to treat it like that.
We do belong here.
This is a housing levy that finally supports our workforce and the folks on the front line.
Derek Belgrade, the executive director of Chief Seattle Club said, this housing levy legislation is more than just a commitment to much needed brick and mortar developments.
It's a commitment to housing our people with the kind of love, compassion, and dedication that will transform lives and begin repairing the traumas of previous generations.
Ryan Donohue, the Chief Advocacy Officer from Habitat for Humanity said, Habitat believes that everybody deserves a safe and decent affordable place to call home, and that is why we are strongly supporting this housing levy legislation.
And finally, Monty Anderson, the Executive Secretary of the Seattle We are committed to increasing equity and economic opportunity for workers through apprenticeship and priority hire as we build the housing needed and include community workforce agreements.
We can address the city's serious housing affordability challenges while also supporting working people and fostering access to construction careers.
Those are just some of the comments that were shared at last Wednesday's press conference and our public hearing where we heard from additional members from Africatown, Community Land Trust, and so many more community partners like El Centro de la Raza, the Filipino community of Seattle and other labor partners across our region.
I'm especially excited, colleagues, that we were able to work together in an increasingly divided country where we see politics pit people on opposite sides when there is common ground, where there is an opportunity for us to actually try to serve our residents by focusing on where our community needs unite and where we can find an opportunity to focus on what unites us.
What unites us here is our commitment to continue to invest and invest at scale in the most pressing issue that our city and our region faces, and that is the crisis of housing and lack of access to affordable housing across the region.
I want to lift up some of the investments that you all made in this proposal, and maybe you were feeling shy today, so I will do that for you, given the important amendments that you made.
This enhanced package increases opportunities for thousands of residents to have access to deeply affordable and permanent supportive housing across our city, placing neighbors at most risk of displacement at the front of the line to get access to building affordable housing by making sure that we are investing in what is community-led development through the eyes of those who are seeking to find sanctuary and stability.
It prevents and reduces homelessness through increased investments in rental assistance and homelessness and prevents individuals from falling into homelessness by allowing those to stay more stably housed in their communities.
It increases permanently affordable home ownership opportunities, especially opportunities for three and four bedroom units to create more opportunities for families and families of any size to be able to live in this city.
It also makes sure that we are striving to diversify the opportunity for folks to have access to first-time homeownership to address generational wealth and to right historic wrongs.
invest in providing opportunities for smaller nonprofit community-based developers to build affordable housing to reflect the needs of the communities that they're rooted in, and as Councilmember Morales and Herbold spoke to, paired with child care, community and cultural space, and small business support and more.
It stabilizes our affordable housing workforce and provides needed resident service dollars so that the homeless, or excuse me, so that the human service providers who are on the front line, who are often struggling to find housing and live in the city themselves, have greater access to economic stability as they serve our most vulnerable residents in the city.
This levy legislation combined with funding from jump start progressive payroll tax will help stabilize wages for people doing this critical work and it also importantly enhances the ability for us to create more three and four bedroom units.
Something our community and council members have been clamoring for across the board.
This housing levy renewal package is an investment in the health and resilience of our entire communities and an investment in the workers who build the homes and the frontline service providers who work with inside those housing units.
This is truly a win for families, for seniors, for individuals who are vulnerable across our community.
It is a win for the economic stability and resilience of our Seattle local economy.
and we have an important opportunity to offer to the voters a chance to continue to address the most pressing crisis that we see playing out every day across our city and our region.
I'm so thankful for the work of central staff and my office, Aaron House, who is chief of staff and lead on Everything Housing, who worked with all of you, colleagues, and our community members to bring forward the amendments, the enhanced language that we saw in this substitute bill, and to have worked in partnership with the mayor's office over the last few months prior to this legislation being transmitted.
I want to thank central staff, Tracy Ratcliffe and Jen Labreck for their incredible work, not just in the three months that we've had this legislation in front of us, but for the months prior as they worked with the executive team, as Tracy noted, in deep collaboration to bring forward this legislation for our consideration.
So thank you once again for all of your work, colleagues, and to the 36 organizations who participated in the focus groups over the last year, focused on equity, home ownership, rental housing, and who helped fine-tune this proposal.
Thank you to the Office of Housing for hosting three public open house events, who helped inform the legislation before it was transmitted.
and thank you to those who have continued to engage with our office and the mayor's office.
The mayor did submit for us and created a foundation for this bold proposal, a bold investment to meet the needs of this moment.
The mayor's office deserves a round of applause for helping to send down a comprehensive proposal that we were then able to strengthen with the amendments prior to introduction.
It was a collaborative effort and I greatly appreciate the mayor's leadership and their team.
So thank you, everyone, for all of your partnership in this.
I know the Council President is watching this and sad that she missed all of these thank yous, but this is a really historic moment and didn't want to go past this without really underscoring the hard work and the workers who put their time into making sure that this was a smooth process and a really informed process that has the fingerprints of all Council members and the community at large.
I look forward to celebrating this with you and the mayor as we consider final passage on to sign this into legislation, sign this legislation into law immediately after passage next Tuesday.
If there's no additional comments, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the adoption of Resolution 32093 as amended?
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Nelson.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Council Member Sawant.
Yes.
Council Member Strauss.
Yes.
Madam Chair Mosqueda.
Aye.
Eight in favor.
Thank you very much.
It is unanimous.
The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the resolution pass as amended will be sent to the June 13th Seattle City Council meeting for a final vote.
Okay, we have one more piece of legislation in front of us and that is the legislation that will be in front of voters this November should the council pass it next Tuesday.
This is the housing levy legislation that will appear on the ballot.
Central staff, do you have any additional comments on this before we consider a final vote on this legislation?
No, legislation is ready to go, Councilmember.
That's a great summary.
The legislation is ready to go.
Actually, it reminds me of what KY King Garrett said, which was, let's do this.
Last Wednesday, he was just like, let's do this.
And it followed some really important and eloquent comments from him, which I just want to read as we consider the final housing levy legislation that is teed up in front of us.
Kate Wake and Garrett, as folks know, is the director of Africatown Community Land Trust, and he said, the Central District has been a thriving black community since 1882. A community that reached up to 80 African-Americans has been systematically dismantled by policies and practices from urban renewal, redlining, and many more harmful policies.
This levy, the housing levy in front of us, is about affordable housing.
It provides an opportunity not only for people to stay in community, to come back to the community, but also to be included in the economics that are developing throughout Seattle.
I'm so thankful for his words and for his support and partnership on the housing levy legislation in front of us that will be in front of voters in November.
And I think that's a wonderful way to send us into a final vote if there's no additional comments.
Thank you very much.
Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll on the adoption of Council Bill 12058 for our housing levy legislation?
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales?
Yes.
Council Member Nelson?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Yes.
Council Member Sawant.
Yes.
Council Member Strauss.
Yes.
Madam Chair Mosqueda.
Aye.
Eight in favor.
All right, wonderful.
Well, it is also unanimous.
The housing levy legislation carries and the committee recommendation that the bill pass will be sent to the June 13th Seattle City Council meeting for a final vote.
And colleagues, please do pull up your notes about what you got included in the housing levy legislation so that members of our community can celebrate those important additions as we also celebrate the hard work and the great foundation that was set the housing levy legislation that was transmitted by the mayor's office, a very robust process.
And really, again, thankful for their leadership and partnership with us as we consider for the voters a piece of legislation that is aimed to address part of our housing crisis that is here in Seattle.
Very exciting day for us and another historic opportunity for us to be national leaders on housing solutions in Seattle.
Colleagues, that does get us to the end of our agenda.
I want to ask if there's anything else for the good of the order.
Seeing none, we will reconvene outside of the Select Housing Committee.
We will reconvene our Finance and Housing Committee meeting.
That will start on June 5th, the day after my birthday, by the way.
And that will be at 9.30 a.m.
We are going to continue our conversations around housing with an update on the land disposition policy.
We also have for your consideration two pieces of legislation from Finance and Administrative Services Department.
This includes a for-hire ordinance, which builds on House Bill 2076, and a piece of legislation that is about land disposition as well from Seattle Public Utilities for the Rainier Beach High School.
The ordinance as well is underway.
Finally, I'm sure all of our budget I'm very excited that our central staff has been working very hard on an update to our fiscal note process and policy and our fiscal budget process that we usually do in partnership with the city budgets office.
Many of our practices are actually just that, practices.
They're not codified in policy.
the city budget office and our we have a list of recommendations for our consideration and colleagues I'll be working with you and the city budget office to move those policy recommendations into actual statute so we can continue to codify our commitment to transparency and accountability for crafting budget that we're going to be able to and our overall budgeting process, and we'll have that on our agenda for July 5th.
Please tune in.
If you're not members of the Finance and Housing Committee and you have feedback or would like to join us, just let us know.
It's been great to have all of you at the Select Committee.
Thanks so much to the committee as a whole for your hard work on the housing levy, and with that, we'll give you the time back.
It is 1015 a.m., and our Select Housing Levy Committee is come to a close for 2023. Thanks, everyone.
See you on Tuesday.