Seattle City Council Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan 1/29/25

Oh, my apologies.

We're live.

Good afternoon, everyone.

The January 29, 2025 meeting of Select Committee of Comprehensive Plan will come to order.

It is 207. My name is Joy Hollingsworth, Chair of Select Committee.

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Councilmember Kettle?

Aye, here.

Council Member Moore.

Present.

Council Member Rink.

Present.

Council Member Rivera.

Present.

Council Member Sacca.

Here.

Council Member Solomon.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

And Chair Hollingsworth.

I am present.

Nine present.

Awesome.

Full team.

We will now consider the agenda and if there are no objections, the agenda will be adopted.

Seeing or hearing none, the agenda is adopted.

We are now going to open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should be related to items on today's agenda within the purview of the select committee.

And I wanna thank each and every one of you for coming out today for public comment.

I know how incredibly this is important to you and you have taken off to come down here.

So I just wanna thank you all personally from the rest of the council as well.

How many clerks do we have speaking today?

We have 31 in person and 20 remote.

31. So that's total of 51 speakers.

Okay.

We're going to give everyone 90 seconds to speak today.

Public 90 seconds.

And I know that we received emails regarding folks saying they wanted more time.

Public comment, we actually continue to extend it.

It's 20 minutes and we continue to extend it because we wanna hear from everyone, because we know how important it is.

I wanna remind everyone that we are doing a public hearing on February the 5th, February the 5th at 5 p.m.

where everyone would get two minutes and we will be here for as long as it takes.

So if we're here till midnight, we will be here.

If it's 1 AM, we will be here.

As long as you feed us, we will be here for the entire time.

And so that is February 5th at 5 PM.

We will be here for the whole night.

to listen to everyone's comment.

And so that will be our public hearing.

And we have a total of three public hearings throughout this entire process.

I know also too, people have scheduled meetings with their council members.

I know I'm meeting with a bunch of folks in our district and just continuing that engagement with your council member and the districts, which I think is incredibly important.

So please, if you want a meeting with us, reach out to our office.

We are more than welcome to have a meeting with you all and to talk about everything.

So thank you.

Speaker, will you please read the rules for today?

Thank you.

Public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

I will call on speakers by the name and order which they registered both on the council's website and from the signup sheets available here in council chambers.

We will start with in-person speakers first.

If you have not registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of the public comment period.

When speaking, please begin by stating your name and the item that you wish to address.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.

Speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time, provided the speaker's microphones will be muted to allow us to call on to the next person.

The first three speakers, if you could please line up to any one of these two sets of podiums.

We'll start with Bob Morgan, Eric, and then Blair.

And please, as she calls your name, please come to the microphone.

We have three microphones, and it would just be super helpful as we continue to move along this process.

Is it Blair?

It'll be, yeah, it'll be Bob, Eric, and Doug.

Awesome.

Hello.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'm here to address the One Seattle Plan comprehensive plan.

My name is Bob Morgan.

My home abuts the proposed West Green Lake Neighborhood Center.

I request that you hold a public hearing on the proposed One Seattle Plan in each city council district.

They should include the entire committee, should be held during the day on a Saturday, and should give priority to speakers who have not already commented at one of the other hearings.

This is because of the length of the hearing you're gonna have next Wednesday.

The plan is gonna have profound effect on thousands of homeowners in 30 neighborhood centers throughout the city.

A surprising number are completely unaware that they're gonna be rezoned to four and five story apartments, or that they will soon be adjacent to such zoning.

Many are elderly or disabled who own homes.

The current plan to hold a marathon hearing on the dark winter night in downtown is guaranteed to result in an unrepresentative hearing.

If you feel there's not sufficient time to schedule and hold these hearings prior to state mandated deadlines to implement HB 1110, I suggest acting initially on only those aspects of the plan that are mandated by state law and having more time to deal and have adequate public information.

I have 10 seconds.

If we could have a little more information, maybe online about the two subsequent hearings and what they're aimed at and what stage of the.

Great feedback.

Thank you.

You have Eric and then followed by Eric will be Doug and then Blair.

Yes, hello, I'm Eric.

I'm from District 3. Per state requirement, property taxes are assessed at 100% of the property value based on highest and best use.

This means property owners whose properties are rezoned to LR1 or LR3 could be taxed on the value of a three or five story building instead of a single home.

Not everyone in these areas will qualify for tax exemptions or deferrals.

This could have huge financial implications for homeowners.

From your discussions and planning, I would like to know what the council is proposing to cushion the tax impact.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Doug?

Hi, my name is...

Is the mic on?

My name is Doug Lind.

I'm from Madrona, and I've been a homeowner there for 35 years.

I and my neighbors never received any direct notification by mail from the city about its plans for this momentous rezoning in our neighborhoods.

Why was no general mailing about this sent to the affected residents at any time?

While I'm now aware of the OPCD outreach efforts since last October, I think they were woefully inadequate and only reached a small percentage of Seattle residents.

Because of the lack of general notice for a plan, that's intended to drastically restructure Seattle, the council should now proceed cautiously with the more concerning city-generated parts while complying with the urgent state deadline for HB 1110. I ask that you do this both out of democratic fairness and respect for the individual neighborhoods that have specific issues meriting further attention.

Thank you for your time.

We now have Blair and following Blair will be Maggie Lewis.

So my name is Blair, and I'm here from Madrona.

And I actually originally came to facilitate the presentation of two of my neighbors that have physical and other limitations that preclude their in-person or phone testimony.

I do have videos which I hope to share, but I do want to tell you a little bit about them and why this zoning change will adversely affect their family.

The one person's name, her name is Carla.

Her family has lived in Madrona for over five generations since 1965 when Madrona was integrated, as I discussed at the last council meeting.

They have been able to stay in their homes because they sell from family member to family member over generations at affordable prices.

But Carla is very concerned about her ability to remain in her home today because of the potential tax implications that we are hearing about and how that will affect her family's properties.

They currently own three homes in Madrona that are directly impacted by the zoning proposals.

And as she mentioned to me, she hopes to die in her home, but really feels this will be impossible for her if these changes go through.

So in her words, the tax increases, this is my primary concern.

Her grandson Tio also spoke with me.

He talked about how this would adversely affect the legacy of his family.

He was very concerned about them living anyplace else.

They currently live in three homes.

to be recreated in another place in Seattle.

So very concerned about how to .

Thank you, Blair.

Maggie followed, following Maggie would be Robert Reed and then Bob.

My name is Maggie Lewis.

I live in District 1. The devil is in the details when you implement a large, complicated plan, and I'm here to present one of those details that I think probably applies across the city, but I'm going to talk about one of them.

I would like the Morgan Junction Urban Center.

as it runs down Fauntleroy, as it runs west of Fauntleroy, to be deleted.

The boundary should stay where it is on Fauntleroy, and that is because the new boundary, proposed boundary, would cross a ravine, a ravine where there's currently no street, even though the map that the city gives us shows a street, there is no street there.

The Peli Place Ravine has been the source of slides in the past.

An entire garage slid down into the ravine.

And the west end of the Peli Place Ravine once experienced gushing waters coming down mills, crossing Fauntleroy, and taking out the territory and vegetation below, a house that is there.

This is not a good location for L2 and L3 housing.

The property is not safe.

In addition, the city just spent good money daylighting that creek at the newly renovated Lincoln, Loman Beach, pardon me, Loman Beach.

This holds true for the Eddy Street ravine that flows down to Loman Beach in that same area.

It has the same issues.

These two ravines should not go to an L3 construction at their headwaters or anywhere that flows into it.

The devil is in the details.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And please, we have two mics.

So if you just step up to either mic, you're more than welcome.

And then I know we have the next three speakers.

We have Robert Reed and then Bob Hupe, I believe, and then Mary Flanagan.

Is it working?

Yay.

First, I'd like to thank the council for your work on the comprehensive rezone and the opportunity to speak.

My name's Robert Reed, and I'm a retired general contractor.

I've got over 40 years of experience in multiple construction trades.

I'm positive that Seattle needs more homes, more people, and more opportunities for all kinds of people.

I'm also positive that the One Seattle Plan as written will ruin Seattle as a city.

I believe that a few simple changes can make the plan not only workable, but a driving force to make Seattle a magnet for talent and a veritable utopia for young families and children.

I believe that making our city a first choice for people starting families and people starting businesses is the best way to ensure a successful future for our city.

I've submitted a one-page summary of most of the changes that I believe can allow Seattle to make the most of this phenomenal opportunity for positive growth.

Council members, please change this plan.

Please put the needs of future generations above all else.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, my mouse is stuck.

Okay, I'll just start.

My name is Bob Huppie.

I live west of Fauntleroy in the expanded Morgan Junction boundary.

The little neighborhoods in that area, west of Fauntleroy, share a couple of common characteristics.

Small streets and young or inadequate sidewalks.

I have a picture of my street.

with the garbage truck coming down it.

The street is 16 feet wide from boundary to boundary.

The sidewalk is three feet wide and only on one side of the street.

So as it exists right now under the zoning plan, The side by the garbage truck would be L3 construction, and the side by the pickup truck would be L2 construction.

And I feel like this is an inadequate use of those zonings.

I think we need to think about keeping the area west of the Fauntleroy Street, leaving it as NR3.

or else considering some other way to modify the zoning so that it fits in with the kind of streets that are in that area.

I know that Rob Saka knows about this because he actually doorbelled our actual neighborhood.

You've probably been down this street.

Because when I went around talking to neighbors about this process and they knew nothing about it, they told me that you'd been doorbelling there.

So thank you for coming.

Come back.

All righty, thank you.

Mary Flanagan.

And then following Mary will be Derek Lump.

Yes, please leave your comments in that box and we will distribute after the meeting.

Thank you.

I'm Mary Ellen Flanagan, and I am from Maple Leaf.

Maple Leaf currently has a petition to have removed the designation of Maple Leaf as a neighborhood center.

As of today, we have 1,005 signatures.

We are also working on a tree survey right now, and we will report back to you on February 5 about the results of that survey.

But I'm one of the surveyors, and I just wanted to tell you that when I walk around and I do these surveys, the large trees are almost all on the perimeter of the property.

We can both save trees and increase density if we protect the trees on the perimeter.

Trees are really valuable.

The benefits of trees, as I'm sure you've heard from other people who've done testimony about the importance of the benefit of trees.

We also need to have increased density.

We realize that.

That's important.

There's no reason why we can't have both.

This is not an exclusive one or the other.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have Derek next, and then Rata, and then Josh Friedman.

Hello, members of the City Council.

My name is Derek, and I'm here commenting on the comprehensive plan with the CID Equal Development Coalition.

I work at the nonprofit organization Interim CDA.

The current comprehensive plan falls short of promoting equitable development.

and help fight displacement in communities like ours, the Chinatown International District.

One thing we'd like to see is more intentional, affordable housing planning policies coming out of this plan.

We need deep and wide investment that will assist community members who are not served by current available housing.

In our efforts to serve our community members, we see city policies and planning efforts as a barrier at times.

Our community members are diverse and some are extremely low income seniors, some are low to moderate income workers, some are families and so all need housing.

We also need to do a much better job at finding displacement.

This plan needs to do a more robust job at promoting community-based and led developments, and it also needs to do a more better job of promoting anti-displacement tools and policies.

We have the experience of meeting our community's needs using these anti-displacement tools, and we invite you to be a partner of us in improving this comprehensive plan for equitable development throughout our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have next Rata and then Josh.

Hello, my name's Rata.

There's a lot of fear going on.

Seattle's growing and with growth comes a lot of that fear.

We need to house 200,000 people in the next, what, 10 years.

The comp plan doesn't meet that.

We We're gonna put all that in a place that already has density.

You need to do the brave thing, open up more land on single family housing so we can put more multi-generational, more multi-family housing on there.

That's the only way to do this.

That's the only way we're gonna meet our needs because that 200,000, that's a low estimate.

As we see the climate crisis will bring more climate refugees up into the Pacific Northwest and we need to meet that need.

Thank you.

Thank you, Josh.

Council members, my name is Josh Friedman and I'm a land use attorney supporting the Complete Communities Coalition.

In today's meeting, the council will review several anti-displacement programs like foreclosure prevention, emergency rental assistance, and affordable housing preservation.

I hope the council will also keep their eyes on what may be the most critical anti-displacement measure of all.

allowing homeowners to actually build onto their homes and properties with reasonable additional residential density so that these homeowners can provide space for their children to start families, space for their parents to age in place, or even space to rent accessory or additional units to new neighbors as an additional source of income during expensive and unpredictable times.

I don't think anyone has argued that all new housing units unlocked by the comprehensive plan will be affordable to low-income people in all circumstances.

But helping new housing to actually get built on more sites and in more circumstances will help our neighbors, our families, and our city to alleviate and react to the pressures of supply and demand on housing affordability.

We can't ignore the economic laws and hope that they will go away.

If we do, we are accepting the displacement impacts that these economic forces have already had and will continue to have on our city.

I hope that the council will continue to be brave and proactive in its review and work on the comprehensive plan, zoning maps and development standards.

Thank you.

Thank you, Josh.

Next up, we have Don Siller, Nancy, and then Brittany Brost.

Don Siller, Nancy, and then Brittany Brost.

Hi, Dawn.

Thank you for hearing us.

I'm Dawn Seiler.

I live in North Queen Anne Hill.

That has been upzone LR3.

Over 500 neighbors disagree with upzoning, not because we oppose it, but because we were left out of the conversation.

And in addition to the fact that Queen Anne Boulevard has been designated as a historic parkway.

On Saturday, I received a mailer from Mayor Harrell regarding the upcoming levy, which is great to receive.

But why wasn't a notice like this sent to homeowners informing them of the massive upzoning?

This grand bargain is not between the city and developers.

It impacts everyone.

Every homeowner should be involved in their neighborhood upzoning.

To quote our new councilman, Mark Sullivan, Solomon, we are one Seattle.

But when the city fails to engage homeowners, when the city fails to bring us to the table, it creates division, not collaboration.

OPCD is creating this South Park, no trees from this.

And this is the issue that needs to be resolved together before we move forward.

Please engage us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Don.

Next we have Nancy and then Brittany.

Council members, my name is Nancy Gentow.

I'm part of a group of about now 500 residents who live on or near 10th Avenue West between West McGraw and Fulton Street on Queen Anne.

Almost every resident in this six block area and surrounding streets signed a letter to Councilmember Kettle in December of 2024 and copied OPCD leaders.

We support the need for more housing in Seattle.

We have ideas about how to add density to Queen Anne.

Of the 500 neighbors who signed this letter, I personally talked to over 150 of them.

Only two were aware of the status of the comprehensive plan.

Once the zoning plan was published in October of 2024, many were stunned by the magnitude of change being proposed in our neighborhood and throughout the city.

Some say the comprehensive plan has been underway for several years, and I accept my responsibility to keep abreast of public issues.

However, until October 2024, there were few specifics available and certainly no maps with zoning by lot.

Neighbors had until December 20 less than two months over a busy holiday season to offer feedback on a confusing electronic map and interface.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak now.

Please reach out to us for support and collaboration.

We know our neighborhoods and understand the need for more housing.

We'd appreciate a seat at the table.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Brittany.

And after Brittany, we have Donna Breski, Colleen Clayton, and Parker Dawson.

Good afternoon, council.

My name is Brittany.

I am a resident of D7.

I am going to give an unpopular opinion based on the people in this room.

We need more housing and you need to start helping us build it now.

A lot of these people in this room are homeowners.

I am never going to be able to own a home in this city.

That is a reality that I'm well aware of.

It's something that I know, but as a renter, I fear my notice every year, how much is rent going up?

How am I gonna look for a new place?

As someone who is legally blind, I can't just magically go on a website and go, ooh, good place to live.

I have to negotiate with my new landlord to make sure the place is accessible for my needs.

And it is tough.

I am lucky that I have a landlord right now that is willing to work with me and has been able to keep me in place for at least two years.

And they have assured me that I'll be able to stay there for the next couple of years, as long as they don't sell out.

But here's the thing, being a disabled person, whether you can physically see it or not, makes living in the city even tougher.

and aging in place for a lot of these people that are in this room that have spoken so far today, you're going to find it tougher to live where you are.

If you have stairs, hills, building close to transit, places that are accessible are absolutely necessary in this city.

And Ms. Moore, I'm going to call you out because at one of the meetings on the comprehensive plan, you said that a lot of renters don't engage.

on a regular basis and renters and people like us do engage in council.

And I found that comment very disturbing.

Thank you for your time.

Next up, we have Donna, Colleen Clayton, and Parker Dawson.

Hi, Donna.

Hello.

Hello, my name is Donna Breske.

I'm a civil engineer.

Hello, council.

Council member Hollingsworth and council member Moore.

At the last select committee meeting, each of you asked how Seattle can help developers to be successful building middle housing.

One recommendation relates to sidewalk and planter strip frontage improvements.

This is for fourplexes, duplexes, sixplexes, small housing developments.

I'm showing an eight-unit project outside of urban village that is exempt from sidewalk and planter strip requirements.

However, if a project's inside an urban village, this is a five-unit project.

It requires sidewalk, curb and gutter, and planter strips.

There's a two-tiered system in your Seattle Municipal Code section 2353.006 and section 2353.051.

My suggestion is to create a level playing field across the city and provide the sidewalk exemption for all small projects.

For example, King County allows developers to pay a fee in lieu of frontage improvements.

This allows these smaller projects the opportunity to install sidewalks or pay a fee in lieu of The fees collected can be combined and used to address areas with the highest and greatest need for sidewalks and safe walking paths.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, Colleen Clayton, Parker Dawson, and then Ryan Donahue.

Thank you council for the opportunity to provide public comment in support of new and expanded neighborhood and urban centers in Seattle's comprehensive plan.

I am here in the capacity of West Seattle homeowner, realtor, urban planning master student, but most of all passionate Seattleite and middle housing enthusiast.

The comprehensive plan offers an exciting opportunity for Seattle to take bold steps towards a more equitable future in light of our national housing crisis and in the midst of a federal government that is actively rolling back protections for marginalized communities.

Federally mandated exclusionary zoning practices have created today's housing inequity and scarcity.

And together we have the chance to revise these inherently racist structures to open up more of Seattle's neighborhoods of opportunity to more people of diverse backgrounds and income levels.

More housing equals more options.

People should be afforded the choice of moving to amenity-rich areas of opportunity or staying in communities they have ties to without being priced out.

Denser, strategically planned new development is desperately needed, and the burden of growth in urban and neighborhood centers should not continue to fall predominantly on historically redlined areas that are often not represented by public commenters.

but that is what will happen if we continue to allow neighborhood defenders to dominate the conversation in favor of preserving single-family zoning.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have Parker Dawson and then Ryan Donahue.

Good afternoon, Council, and welcome, Council Member Solomon.

My name is Parker Dawson.

I'm here with the Master Builders Association.

My builders, or the builders of my association, build middle housing, primarily, and market-rate housing.

I understand that today you're going to be hearing a lot about the fantastic and well-needed programs that Seattle offers to affordable housing, affordable home ownership, and affordable renting.

And I do hope that you will listen to experts like Ryan Donahue, who's going to be speaking after me, who do the work every day and represent the voices of the people who do the work every day to make sure that we get that housing built.

In terms of market rate middle housing, which is also severely needed and feels affordability every single day, I do hope that you'll keep in mind two things that can be of assistance here.

First is understanding that on the larger scale, MFTE works the multifamily tax exemption.

I know that we are looking at remodeling and rescaling that work, and I hope that you will make sure that we are making including two and three bedroom units easier through that process to make sure that we get the outcomes we were looking for.

Second is unit lot subdivision, lot splitting.

Unit lot subdivision is a fantastic tool for people who have owned their homes or are looking to find a parcel to live on and to stay on and to live in dignity for.

And please make sure that as we move forward with this, it is as simple as possible.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Before you start, Ryan, one second, let me call the next three folks if that's cool.

Susan Ward, Scott Berkley, and Jesse Simpson, you are up.

Thank you, Ryan.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much, council member.

As Parker mentioned, my name is Ryan Donahue and I am the Chief Advocacy Officer over at Habitat for Humanity, Seattle King and Kittitas counties.

Many of you have either seen me or Sahar Amini, our Advocacy and Policy Manager here, talking about the importance of density and the importance of this plan in particular.

And I really kind of want to take a second to center that, right?

We as a part of the Complete Communities Coalition, we've sent you a letter that has fuller comments as well as we as Habitat for Humanity.

But the thing I really want to take a second to emphasize is one of the things that this plan will allow is increased density for affordable homeownership.

If we want to be able to help battle anti-displacement, we want to be able to help give our communities and the people who live in it an opportunity to claim part of this amazing city as their own, We need to make more opportunities, not less, but more opportunities for affordable homeownership.

And that's what this plan represents.

There are ways to improve it, and we've included those recommendations in the letter.

But the thing that I want to really emphasize is the density that this plan offers up is what makes affordable homeownership a possibility.

It is what makes the affordable housing that we have in this city a possibility.

And I really want to emphasize that and hope you keep that in mind as you continue on through this process today and through the weeks and probably months ahead.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next, we have Susan Ward, Scott Berkley, and Jesse Simpson.

Hi, Susan.

Hello.

Second.

Good afternoon.

My name is Susan Ward.

I live in District 5. And I have a few questions about the plan.

Where is the planning for the infrastructure, all this infrastructure for this massive scale of development that it will need?

Shouldn't that be part of a comprehensive plan?

Where is the affordability built in?

Massive displacement could result with thousands of units only median and above income workers can afford.

What provisions are there for protecting our existing tree canopy, found mostly on private property?

The current tree code offers no protection for any tree deemed to be in the way of a developer's plan.

There is no requirement to design around them, even when the same number of units could be accommodated.

New setbacks in open space are reduced to a fraction in the plan.

It must increase the required minimum of green unpaved space and lots.

The comprehensive plan must make it possible for those with a variety of incomes to live here, and it must not result in a clear-cut city of boxes and concrete.

Most of us don't want to make Seattle an East Coast clone.

We want a livable city.

Protect existing trees.

It would take decades to replace the benefits they provide.

Summer cooling, cleaner air, and better mental health.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Scott and then Jesse Simpson.

Hi, my name is Scott Berkley and I'm speaking on behalf of Tech for Housing.

Today, the council will be reviewing vital anti-displacement programs such as emergency rental assistance, foreclosure prevention, and the right to counsel during evictions.

We must continue to support and fund these programs as well as adequately fund the Seattle social housing developer.

However, the single most effective anti-displacement measure is free.

allowing homeowners to voluntarily redevelop their land from one home to six, eight, 12 or more.

Council member Moore is correct that such new units may not themselves be immediately affordable, but their existence will alleviate pressure to tear down or remodel homes occupied by lower income residents, thus helping reduce displacement.

Please make sure that the disruptions of growth are shouldered by those of us who have the most options, not those who have the least.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jesse, before you go, can I read the next three?

Thank you.

Elena, John, or John, last name, C-H-A-N-G-Y.

John, thank you, my bad.

John Chaney and then Al Licata.

Go ahead, Jesse.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'm Jesse Simpson, director of government relations and policy for the Housing Development Consortium, a member-based association of the affordable housing developers and operators.

I'm also co-chair of the Communities Coalition.

I'm here today to speak about the critical importance of allowing more homes in low displacement risk areas to address Seattle's ongoing housing and displacement crisis.

People are displaced from Seattle every day because of how expensive homes in our city are.

For decades, our zoning has intentionally restricted housing across the city.

It's also concentrated the limited growth that is allowed into the existing multifamily and commercial areas, pushing displacement risks higher.

This has worsened inequities and has pushed low-income and families and people of color out of Seattle.

The mayor's proposed One Seattle Plan takes important steps to remedy the problems of the status quo by allowing for more homes in single-family zoned areas.

The council should work to strengthen this plan further, not water it down, by allowing for even more homes in low displacement risk areas and to expand the anti-displacement investments in affordable housing and equal development.

To that end, I urge you to retain all of the proposed neighborhood centers, create a new low-rise affordable housing density bonus, and add five new neighborhood centers in low displacement risk areas like North Broadway, Gasworks, Loyal Heights, Seward This comp plan is a huge opportunity to put housing first.

And I ask you to consider every decision in this process by asking how you can prioritize housing.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next we have Elena, John, and then Al.

Elena, John, Al.

Good afternoon, council members, and happy Lunar New Year.

My name is Elena Arakaki, and I'm here representing Friends of Little Saigon.

We are a local community-based nonprofit, and we're working to uplift the neighborhood and prevent displacement in Little Saigon.

I'm here today to ask you to strengthen anti-displacement policies in the comp plan, which currently do not do a good enough job of protecting our community members and small businesses, especially considering that the CID is in a high displacement-risk neighborhood.

Specifically, we urge you to substantially increase funding for the Equitable Development Initiative, which is a proven anti-displacement program.

It is no secret that Little Saigon has faced more than its fair share of hardships in recent years.

Many of Seattle's issues have concentrated in Little Saigon, placing additional pressure on a neighborhood with already limited resources.

yet this neighborhood continues to push forward.

We are so excited to break ground on the Landmark Project, which will feature affordable family housing, affordable commercial spaces, and a Vietnamese cultural and economic center.

The landmark project has received city funding through EDI, which has been instrumental in getting this project off the ground.

We asked the council to invest in this proven anti-displacement program and substantially increase EDI funding.

The current version of the anti-displacement framework mentions the success of EDI, but does not create plans to increase funding.

We envision a future where cultural communities are not displaced by market forces and greed.

Increasing funding for EDI will help stabilize high displacement risk communities like residents and businesses place.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have John and then Al Licata.

John will work on his penmanship.

Thank you.

My name is John Cheney.

I'm the Vice President of the Lake Union Liveaboard Association.

Don't be fooled by our name.

We have association members in almost every district.

They're on the Duwamish, they're on Lake Washington, they're on the Ship Canal.

And we're concerned because what we see in this plan is that we are totally unseen.

The maps themselves even cut out the water and don't include that within the planning.

How can you plan for our displacement when you don't even see or know us?

How many of us are low income?

How many of us need some kind of utility extension in order to keep our residences?

We were traditionally low-income housing units in the city, and now we're being displaced for many ways.

So if you read The Seattle Times on Sunday, nice article about liveaboards in the city and how it's so difficult these days.

So I guess my only statement is, please, please see us.

And then by seeing us, help us work with you to plan for us because otherwise we're just gonna continue to be displaced and lost as a part of the sort of history and culture of the city of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, John.

We have Al Licata and then the next three is gonna be Dennis, Gary and Marty.

Dennis, Gary, Marty, followed by Ron Chambers.

Hi, Al.

Hi.

Hello.

My name is Al Licata.

I live in Lake City, represented by Councilmember Moore.

Thank you for letting me speak today.

I want to encourage the City Council to stay the course of the comp plan and approve upzoning and the creation of neighborhood centers in our city.

This plan represents what could happen to make the city more vibrant and a more affordable place to live.

I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who lives in one of the limited areas of North Seattle that allows large apartment buildings, which is a long major transit arterials.

These are areas that are polluted and dangerous due to fast car traffic and silo those of us who cannot afford to buy our homes to live in these conditions where a mere block away where these buildings are not allowed, single family homes enjoy safe streets.

I urge the city council to remember the renters who have limited choices on the conditions where we live.

We need more dense housing in neighborhoods built for people, not for cars.

An upzoning plan is essential for alleviating the segregation of our neighborhoods and creating areas where we can share the riches of our city and build community with one another.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Dennis, Gary and Marty.

Dennis, did you go to Arizona?

My parents live down there.

Okay, nice.

Bear down.

Yeah, bear down.

My name is Dennis Sills.

I work for Plymouth Housing, and I'm here in support of the Complete Communities Letter and the Housing Development Consortium priorities.

Much of the conversation has been about how creating new housing options through zoning can lead to displacement.

Today, I want to discuss homelessness as a type of displacement.

People displaced from their homes often for economic reasons and due to no fault of their own.

Plymouth and other affordable housing providers disrupt displacement by creating homes for people to remain in their communities.

I've met residents who were forced out of their homes and are now living in encampments throughout King County, but now they can return home to their own dignified housing unit downtown.

The best way to protect against displacement is to create more affordable housing.

Affordability allows people to remain in their homes and prevents homelessness.

More housing creates homes for people to move back if they were displaced before.

Please retain the neighborhood centers in the proposed One Seattle plan and add new community centers in key areas of our city to prevent that displacement.

Thank you.

I am Gary Lee, and I'm from the CID.

And I was before you a couple weeks ago, and I brought this little sign here.

And to remind you, when you get to your email, if you haven't already seen my email, this little thing is in there.

And Mr. Solomon, I sent this to you today.

This policy, DTHSP5, is a great policy.

It says, seek to avoid over concentration of human service uses in any area of downtown and encourage the location of needed facilities in areas lacking such facilities.

It is proposed to be deleted with the One Seattle Plan.

How is this policy great?

Because it tries to guide the overreaching vision of downtown, which is to create a group of safe, economically vibrant and livable downtown neighborhoods, which is still an overarching vision of the One Seattle Plan.

What happened?

Why is over concentration occurring anyways?

Well, OPCD, the planning commission and the city council of that time forgot to adopt zoning regulations and standards to implement the policy.

Why?

Because they did not do that with the adoption of that policy and they all forgot to follow up or intentionally decided not to do that.

Don't be that city council.

Thank you.

Thank you, Gary.

Next we have Marty and then Ron Chambers.

Hi, I'm from the West Green Lake area.

I have two requests.

I request the postponement of the adoption of the Mayor's One Seattle plan.

Instead, I propose fulfilling the state requirement to submit an updated land use plan by the end of June.

the state and deadline to implement HB 1110 and not go further at this time.

Two, I request that live public hearings be held within each district to give ample opportunity to interactively ask questions, receive answers and comment at a location that is convenient for residents and at a time that is possible for working people.

As you all know, the One Seattle Plan goes way beyond the state's HB 1110, which already mandates four to six units on every residential lot in the city, including, of course, Seattle.

The vastly more expansive One Seattle plan leaves many practical questions unanswered.

The actual realization of affordable housing, coordination with transportation, environmental sustainability, infrastructure, preservation of neighborhood character, and more.

Given the complexity of the plan, we need time to ensure that the purpose of the plan is implemented.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Following, I apologize, Ron Chambers, we have Ruth Williams.

Hello, my name's Ron Chambers.

I'm in the West Green Lake neighborhood center So last time I started, I complained about the lack of outreach.

Since then, we have pamphleted the neighborhood.

And so you're starting to get some feedback from them.

Good.

Some of the stuff is positive for the mayor's plan.

Those people have only seen our pamphlet.

They're not looking at the whole thing.

We're not happy with what's gonna be looking at.

And if you take a look at some of the maps, you'll see that you're trying to ring in the entire north end of Green Lake with six to seven story buildings.

Okay, five to six.

But if they get affordable housing, then they'll go to higher.

And that brings up an earthquake.

Do you really think there's gonna be affordable housing around Green Lake?

Think about that.

I don't think so.

Yes, we'll have higher density, but we do not have a commercial center.

We do not certainly have any east-west traffic.

We have a cliff.

It's called Finney Ridge to the west.

If anyone of you thinks that they can really just hike up that in inclement weather to get the groceries or other things that they need, uh-uh, not going to happen.

We're sort of isolated there.

We're on, we've got a great bus stop.

And you say this is a major transportation bus stop.

Take another look at it.

There aren't a lot of people using it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Ruth Williams.

Hello.

My name is Ruth Williams, and I am speaking to agenda item number two, public engagement on behalf of the Thornton Creek Alliance, an all-volunteer group of over 180 members dedicated to the restoration of the Thornton Creek watershed based in District 5. Thank you for this opportunity to speak today.

Ruth, can you speak in the microphone?

Oh, sorry, yeah.

You're good.

No worries.

Better.

Go ahead.

When I reviewed the slide deck for this agenda item, I was disappointed that there was no report of anyone expressing concern about the environment, despite the fact that many of our members have communicated through the prescribed processes.

And despite the fact that there are many environmental groups active throughout Seattle, I will notify those I'm in contact with and advise them of the situation.

Climate change advocates are mentioned in the deck, but that doesn't cover the environment that is crucial to rebuilding salmon habitat and the wildlife web that supports human welfare as well as life in Puget Sound.

I'm here to make these points for your record.

Thornton Creek Alliance strongly supports affordable housing for everyone, but at the same time, we see the need for forested and protected environmentally critical areas.

We like the proposed goals and policies we see under land use G17 ECAs, but does that mean we'll see changes in today's practices?

Today we see housing built in wetlands and liquefaction zones, where buyers are required to sign liability waivers for the city.

City policy is not to require developers to restore riparian zones in projects where these companies

Thank you, Ruth.

We'll now switch to online.

I know there might be some people more signed up, but we'll switch to online.

Colleagues, we've extended public comments twice now, so we're almost an hour in.

And will the clerk please read?

Well, I have the names in front of me, but I know there's instructions for online.

Um, please press star six when you hear the prompt of, um, and the speaker would like you to unmute.

Thank you.

And first up we have Deepa, please press star six and you are ready to go.

Hi, my name is Deepa Sivarajan.

I am the Washington local policy manager at climate solutions, which is a local nonprofit working to accelerate clean energy solutions for the climate crisis.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Displacement and gentrification are issues of climate justice.

Communities of color are both more vulnerable to climate impacts, and as they're displaced outside the city, they are more likely to be dependent on cars than public transit, which increases both their transportation costs and their greenhouse gas emissions.

We support the policy recommendations of the Complete Communities Coalition and strongly support increasing density, transit-oriented development, and affordable housing through rezoning and providing development bonuses.

as well as adding neighborhood centers in low displacement areas.

I also want to urge council to prioritize other anti-displacement measures, such as tenant protection.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Robin Briggs and then Jim Buchanan.

Please press star six.

We need more affordable housing, and we need ways to keep people from that housing, particularly renters who are on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Thank you.

That's my apologies.

I thought she was finished.

Next, we have Robin Briggs and then Jim Buchanan.

Robin, please pass star six.

We have about 14 online speakers.

Hello, council members.

My name is Robin Briggs.

I'm a homeowner on Capitol Hill, and I'd like to comment in support of neighborhood centers.

I'm very concerned about the climate, like the last speaker, and the comprehensive plan blueprint for reducing emissions and improving resilience.

By welcoming more neighbors, we will be decreasing emissions, and we will also be building a more diverse and resilient community that is more likely to accommodate the changes we already see coming.

The past 40 years have set us on a path of much higher cost of living and much less income diversity.

Seattle is becoming ever more exclusive, and this makes us fragile.

In the years to come, we have to expect that we will see our share of floods, wildfires, and heat events.

We will need a strong community that can pull together and help each other.

With neighborhood centers, small businesses will do better by being closer to where more people live.

If we allow taller buildings, we can have more open space for plants and trees.

We could have stacked flats with family sized apartments.

We can have quieter streets with better bus and bike and pedestrian connections.

A low pollution neighborhood as the mayor has called for could include more frequent transit, more pedestrian centered gathering spaces, more places for trees, with reduced housing costs and reduced energy costs.

But we won't get there by doing what got us here.

It's not a matter of whether we want change or not.

Change is coming.

Our job is to manage it and build a community that will benefit all.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Buchanan.

Please press star six.

Next we have Lois Martin and then Tom Donnelly.

Press star six, Mr. Buchanan.

And if not, we can move.

Good afternoon, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Hello, can you hear me?

We sure can.

Go right ahead.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Council Member Hollingsworth.

I'm Jim Buchanan, President of Washington State, the Senate of the Enslaved.

I would also like to congratulate Council Member Solomon to your new appointment.

I'm here today to demand that the proper anti displacement policies are put in the comprehensive plan to protect homeownership within Seattle black descendant of the enslaved community.

City of Seattle placed gentrification measures in the comprehensive plans for decades to weed and seed the black DOE homeowners.

Why do we as black descendant of the enslaved community have to show up on every issue to try to get equality?

Why aren't, why aren't our elected officials and the Seattle community members that love to flaunt the word black organically bringing equality to the predatory policy that the predecessors placed to destroy the black DOE community.

We asked the council to dig in and do the right thing to collectively develop the appropriate policies for the black descendant of the enslaved communities and to institute policies.

that allow placement back into the communities that DOE stakeholders built over decades.

It's one thing to talk about change.

It's another thing to do something about it.

Let's be doers, not just talkers.

Please do the right thing.

The time is now to make Seattle truly a one Seattle for all.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next we have Lois Martin followed by Tom Donnelly.

Please press star six.

Lois, you're unmuted on our end.

You might be muted on your phone.

Oh, my apologies.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Lois Martin, and I am a Legacy Central Area home and business owner.

My parents purchased their home in the 50s when living in a red line neighborhood with their only path to home ownership.

My siblings and I still reside our own property in the community.

We affectionately referred to as the CD.

When I reflect on the needs of this and other neighborhoods whose residents are at risk of being forced out, I envision support from the city that is based on a person's roots and not their income.

Support that allows community members to be able to afford to live in their neighborhoods and the type of housing they desire without fear of being priced out.

Support that prioritizes livability where residents are not impacted by the threat of heat islands caused by overdevelopment that destroys trees.

I have several suggestions that I will email, but here are my top three.

Support the elimination of highest-invest-use property taxation.

Allow legacy residents who are still residing in their homes the option to apply for up-zoning exemption, regardless of age or income level.

Use the core anti-displacement recommendations written by community members and shared by District 2 candidate, Chikundee Salisbury.

We desire a for us biased response to anti-displacement, and we don't need developer lobbyists, realtors, or others who stand at profit from our displacement speaking for us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lois.

Next we have Tom Donnelly and then Ruby Holland.

Tom, please press star six.

You're unmuted on our end.

Hi, Tom Donnelly here.

Thank you for the time to comment.

I'm a resident of the proposed West Green Lake Neighborhood Center and a member of a group studying the impact and feasibility of this and nearby proposed neighborhood centers.

As I said before, residents basically have no idea about HB 1110 and the COMP plan and how it will affect their homes and property.

The two nearest neighborhood centers, West Green Lake and Finney, do not meet some of the stated requirements for neighborhood center.

Things like access to affordable markets, doors within a short walk, or an access to transit to downtown within the stated distance are some issues.

Also included geographic issues such as steep hills that are impassable in snow and ice indicate the planners have not walked the areas.

We need some on-site vision from the planners.

The current EIS for infrastructure seems to be based on about 300% fewer housing units than stated in the city's plan, which brings to question the sufficiency of the infrastructure water sewer for the new density forecast.

at forecast population gains are also in question.

It is unfair to residents of Seattle, as well as their representatives in the city council, to make comp plan decisions based on outdated data before on-ground observation.

He suggests postponing the decisions and adopt a slow-growth plan to evaluate HD 1110 impacting areas before the comp plan

Thank you.

Next we have Ruby Holland and then Aiden Thornsberry.

Ms. Holland, please press star six.

The mayor's commitment to make Seattle a rich tech city to fulfill the late Paul Allen's vision, plus the absence of available land in which to build homes for these newly recruited millionaires and billionaires is what's driving huge homeowner displacement in the CD and urban villages.

The MHA and upzoning is the tool being used to displace these homeowners.

Allowing the master builders to build million-dollar ADUs in everyone's backyard will price us out of our own yard, yet that's what they are teaching at their ADU academy with a lot-splitting bill.

This comp plan lacks a strong anti-displacement plan that will keep people in their homes as mandated by Governor Inslee, therefore must be rejected.

In 2023, court papers forced Mary Durkin and Harold to admit that MHA could only provide housing for Seattle's luxury clients.

Thus, working-class renters can expect relief from extortionate rent and eventual displacement.

MHA was a bait and switch.

Increased upzoning and density with MHA leads to increased displacement, so we fully embrace the state-mandated HB110 to help it grow.

Increasing height density in the CD as the plan does will further displace homeowners who will be taxed for highest and best use to encourage turnover.

There is something else going on.

Thank you, Ms. Holland.

Next we have Aidan Thornsberry and then Susan Campbell.

Aidan, please press star six.

Hi, Council.

I'm commenting today in support of the One Seattle Plan.

I would like to emphasize that all new housing improves affordability.

Each person that moves into a new building means they're not bidding up housing elsewhere.

In a city where a majority of residents are renters, this means that all new housing directly improves affordability for a majority of Seattleites.

Many studies have found this.

For example, a study from this year found that a small 1% increase in new supply lowers average rents by 0.2%.

It also found that it effectively reduces the rents of existing lower rental units and disproportionately increases the number of second-hand units available for rent.

I've seen this firsthand at UW when new high-rises have opened up, and I've had friends just opted to leave their existing affordable unit and move into there, opening up their unit for someone else.

We've seen in cities that build more market-rate housing have a plummet in rent, like Austin, including for renters at the lower end of the income spectrum.

We must take this into consideration when talking about scaling back neighborhood centers.

Scaling back neighborhood centers means that instead of expanding housing options, we will see worsening affordability and therefore a worsened affordability crisis.

Please keep all neighborhood centers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aiden.

Next, we have Susan Campbell, followed by Tom Donnelly.

Oh, no, excuse me, not Tom.

That was duplicated.

My bad.

Susan Campbell, for a star six, then Deb Lester.

This is Susan.

Can you hear me?

Loud and clear.

Okay, perfect.

My name is Susan.

I'm from D7, and I'd like to speak about what's happening in the city.

There are many, many people who are unaware of the One Seattle Plan proposed zoning.

And due to this, neighborhoods have felt it necessary to form groups and try and share information.

And the backlash to this has been significant.

There's name-calling.

There's NIMBY, boomer, white-haired, elitist, racist, et cetera.

All of this is ageist.

It's inflammatory, it's uncalled for, and extremely negative.

Housing organizations have paid staff to come and represent them.

Builders and developers are sending lawyers to lobby you.

Urbanists have publications, all while neighborhood concerns are being shouted down.

Flyers have been posted that are being ripped down when people are trying to raise awareness.

Arguments and altercations are happening on the street.

There was an incident where a angry pro-growth advocate ripped down an informational flyer used threatening body language and called the person posting the flyer a nimby and trash this is not acceptable i'm here to ask city council members to engage with neighborhood groups and i mean that for everyone urbanists environmentalists Work on a neighborhood specific growth plan.

We will get further if we are collaborating.

Thank you.

Thank you, Susan.

Next we have Deb Lester and Colleen McAuler.

Deb, please press star six.

My name is Deb Lester and I live in the proposed Maple Leaf neighborhood center.

We realize that the city needs more housing, especially affordable and family-friendly housing, which we strongly support.

But we want a well-thought-out rezoning plan that supports a vibrant, multi-generational, and livable neighborhood that protects and enhances our tree canopy and greenway.

Simply designating Maple Leaf as a neighborhood center with no overall plan or input from residents will result in a haphazard approach to development, which we left with the developers to do what they want where they want it.

We want a well-thought-out road plan that includes neighborhood input and a thorough assessment of transit and infrastructure needs which we lack.

And this was thoroughly lacking from the DEIS.

We want a plan that has a chance of success in meeting the goals of affordability and family-friendly housing while maintaining our tree canopy and our green light.

There's absolutely no active outreach to engage Maple Leaf residents about the significant changes proposed for our neighborhood.

Had the city worked with us to develop this concept, I don't think I'd be here today for the petition signed by over 1,000 people who oppose it.

I and many of my neighbors track events and city announcements fairly closely.

However, I haven't talked to one neighbor who knew about this plan prior to the spring 2024 open house.

And most didn't hear about it until late this fall.

I attended those meetings and was very frustrated.

Staff couldn't answer my questions and would refer me to someone else and would then refer me to someone else.

This was a poor way to educate people about the plan.

I did not fulfill confidence that the mayor's proposal was well thought out and would be successful.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Deb.

Next we have Colleen and then Joanna Cullen.

Please press star six.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Colleen McAleer representing a Northeast Community Council of over 2,500 people who got some comments on displacement.

Number one, retain affordable units on site.

This plan should not allow the in-loop process as it did last time, and that displays vulnerable residents from their local communities where the safety net was located.

Mortgage prices are more predictable and allows seniors to age in place.

Number two, bar predator sales real estate solicitation to homeowners and require that all buildings be on-site must require that affordable housing units be retained there for 20 years.

The last comprehensive plan failed to produce these affordable housing units for a long-term policy, and it was never audited.

Number three, preserve naturally occurring affordable housing.

The one Seattle policies actually encourage teardowns of existing detached homes, but there's an economic benefit to preserving the multi-generational homes.

They can house starving college students in the attic over the garage, provide a home for elders off the first floor, provide an in-home office, or have an ADU property to defray taxes and expenses.

Number four, King County bus routes should not be used to surgically insert four to six-story multifamily buildings, and that was not the intent of HB 1110, which allows upzoning only within one-fourth of a mile of major transit with infrastructure fixed in rails and concrete, not along city streets.

We encourage you to stick to that program.

And lastly, encourage a tax lid for seniors to buffer the doubling of taxes.

Thank you.

Next we have Joanna Cullen, please press star six and then Alberto R Alvarez.

Star six.

Miss Cullen.

We can hear you.

I'm a resident of the central district, a formerly redlined area.

The current one Seattle zoning proposal would put the central district on a path to being environmentally and culturally clear-cut.

Clear-cutting both will erode the foundations of the environmental and social ecosystems of the neighborhood.

If you are sincerely interested in equity, fairness, public safety, and environmental justice, you will not heap more injustice onto this area.

Reject further up zoning or adding more height and density to the central district.

Reject expanding the urban village center boundaries into neighborhood residential areas.

Reject annexing the central area to Capitol Hill or First Hill.

To maintain a sense of place, these diverse neighborhoods must be kept intact.

Eliminate setback reductions that limit essential space for both streets and private property trees.

The central area and Capitol Hill are distinct and different neighborhoods.

each with their own design review guidelines and arts and cultural districts.

I also want to add that pinning renters against homeowners is not acceptable.

Thank you, Joanna.

Next we have Alberto Alvarez, please best star six, followed by Howard Greenwich.

Hello.

This is a citywide public council, not a private homeowners association.

The comp plan is designed to add density to a vibrant city in an ever-growing state.

Supply is the intent of the comp plan.

Supply to meet demand is the most basic principle of any market.

District 2 has suffered the most from redlining and divestment by the city.

D2 cannot bear the brunt of increasing housing for the entire city.

Queen Anne, Madrona, Green Lake, and yes, even Maple Leaf must provide a fair share combat the housing affordability crisis, shelter for the poor and those in substance recovery, rentals for the barista, grocer, and line cook, homes for the young family so they don't have to drive in one to two hours of return to office gridlock, keep density fair, and do not let the wealthy communities control the needs to house working people.

Thank you and have a good day.

Howard Greenwich, please pass star six, followed by Jamie Ayman.

Hi, I'm Howard Greenwich, Research Director for Fiji Soundstage.

Good afternoon, Chair Honsworth and council members.

I'm here in support of OPCD's existing anti-displacement strategies and to strengthen those kinds of policies in the upcoming comp plan update.

In particular, I want to focus on the need to preserve BIPOC cultural communities like Chinatown, International District, Central District, the Rainier Valley, Delridge, and other neighborhoods scattered across the city.

Displacement is not just about individuals being forced to relocate because the building is being renovated or the rent is risen too high.

We have to preserve whole communities that depend on culturally specific resources.

Having grown in particular neighborhoods, possibly because they were redlined, losing these neighborhood resources has a clear and measurable harm.

We estimate that to stabilize the cultural-based community, we need to get a third of the land permanently into public or community ownership through a wide variety of strategies, including city-funded affordable housing, social housing developer, our PDAs, community-led equitable development, land trust cooperatives, and preserving affordable apartment buildings that are on the market.

This is possible through strategic land use policies, starting with a comp plan as well as significant public and private investment.

We ask you to read the recommendation letters from SAGE and dozens of bi-populated organizations who have brilliant visions and ideas about the future of the community, and make they have this place on the top.

Thank you.

Next, we have Jamie Iman and then Marian Wilding.

Please press star six, Jamie.

All right, we'll skip to the next and we'll come back to you, Jamie.

Marion Wilding, we have you off mute.

Please press star six.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Marion Wilding.

The West Center portion of the One Seattle plan that I was just recently made aware of.

I support the need for more affordable housing in Seattle, but would like Claire, Can you hear me?

Yep, you're still on.

Oh, you can't hear me.

Yeah, continue, please.

Sorry, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Go ahead.

Yes, so I support the need for more affordable housing in Seattle, but would like clarification on why the One Seattle plan has no parking plan for the thousands of new residents in the same housing area and community centers for non-residents to commute to.

Additionally, I'd also like to understand how you plan to address the reduction in property value for current property owners caused by the traffic congestion, noise, and shadow lines that will be imposed on neighbors by five to six-story apartment buildings, replacing the one and two-story buildings.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And just time check.

We have three online speakers left and two in person.

That's three 20. Um, we've extended public comment four times and this is gonna be our fifth time extending it.

Zach Jeff.

I apologize for your last name.

Please press star six.

Hi council.

Can you hear me?

Loud and clear.

Uh, thank you.

Um, My name is Zach Jaffe.

I'm a renter in the West Green Lake neighborhood.

I live just outside the proposed neighborhood center.

I'm here today to speak in support of OPCD's comp plan and Mayor Harrell's comp plan, One Seattle plan.

I'm super excited to see these changes come to my neighborhood.

I think we need more walkable neighborhoods.

I think we need more affordability.

As a renter in North Seattle, It's incredibly expensive.

And as my lease is coming up, I'm looking for a new place to live and it's a terrifying proposition looking for what's out there.

And I would love to be able to stay in this neighborhood.

And I think also we're here today to talk about displacement and one of the best methods to prevent displacement in the areas where it happens most in Seattle is to allow for density and therefore affordability in areas where it happens less, which is North Seattle.

So I think we should listen to, um, OPCD recommendations.

They're the experts on planning in the city.

And I think they came up with a great plan that we should, um, maintain intact as it is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh, David Haynes star six and then June blue spruce.

Please press star six, David.

Leave no doubt there's a revolutionary bout to give true democracy a shout for a 21st century, first world quality, great American housing build out.

Without a bunch of sellouts sabotaging their efforts who think that they're entitled to say no, you're not allowed to move into my neighborhood.

The same people conspire to cheat the future and oppress a multitude of younger generations who have been sold out by the greedy hypocrites who need to check their privilege.

We need a great American housing built out without restrictions of low-level, low-quality, nonprofit-built housing that pisses off everybody, squandering tax dollars, creating warehouse echo slums.

We need real developers to get incentivized to truly embrace the offset of the supply and demand squeeze that all of these greedy sellouts enjoy taking advantage of, causing a desperate housing market where you've got yours and you don't want younger generations to have theirs unless they want to buy your home at triple mortgage rates.

as you enjoy open border cheap labor that inflate your perception of property values that devalue the working class values of younger generations.

Homeowners can take their red line and wrap it around their property, not the whole neighborhood.

Spare us your shameless weaponizing of a tree ordinance to red line other people for moving into the neighborhood.

God bless the revolution of housing to end the unnecessary suffering.

Thank you.

Uh, next we have June, please press star six followed by Jamie.

We see you're now present.

Our last two online speakers, June blue spruce star six followed by Jamie.

I'm in.

Hi, my name is June blue spruce.

I live in district two and I want to reiterate what I said a couple of weeks ago that the city council needs to revise its tree ordinance so trees are actually protected during development, and create a robust, effective anti-displacement plan, as many speakers have spoken to eloquently.

I want to speak up to the neighborhood of Hillman City, which has been designated a neighborhood center.

It was not designated as neighborhood center in the first iteration of the plan, but now it is, and it's gone from neighborhood residential all the way up to LR3 in most of the neighborhood.

It is close to transit and it's close to what will be the Graham Street light rail station.

It's also a robust neighborhood with lots of housing and a really vibrant business district.

And I really fear that if it's up zone to LR3, it will turn into a whole mass of apartment buildings and the people that have been there for years will be displaced.

These proposed drastic upzones would also, as many people have said, the burden of upzoning to date has fallen disproportionately on the central area of southeast Seattle, areas that were already harmed by past discriminatory housing practices and that house a higher percentage of

Thank you.

And then our two in-person speakers before we go to our last online speaker, Kyle Barrell and Esmeralda, please make your way to the front and Jamie, I'm in, please press star six.

Hi, am I coming through?

Yep.

We can hear you go right ahead.

Hi, my name is Jamie.

I'm in.

I am a transgender student and renter in Capitol Hill neighborhood in D3.

I am speaking in to address the currently proposed comprehensive growth plan.

In its current state, it does not meet the moment of our current housing crisis.

Initially, its drafters proposed over 50 locations for neighborhood centers, but by the time the plan made it to open common, that number was reduced to less than 30 with no input by the public, mostly cutting out those affecting the wealthiest Seattleites.

This is the exact opposite direction of where this document should be headed.

If we are going to use the neighborhood center framework, we need far more of them, not fewer.

If the city were to stay on its current population trajectory, the plan as opposed would fall short of Seattle's future housing needs by over 200,000 residents, making the housing crisis a permanent fixture of our city.

My friends and service industries will continue to be displaced by rent costs and give up on ownership.

Many already have.

And every year, families will be forced to continue burying their unhoused loved ones who died of exposure.

And that's if the population trajectory remains stable, which we all know is not the case.

If the tragic Los Angeles fires have proven one thing, it's that our housing crisis will only worsen as disasters become more common and as refugees are forced to flee to P&W for its fairer climate.

And if we're not prepared for that, those fortunate enough to move here with remaining savings will have a pricing out displacement effect on current residents and multi-generational families.

And those not as fortunate will face an impossible road of breaking out of housing security.

The choice before you is clear.

make the right choice.

And there's still time to change course on this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jamie.

And we'll move to our in-person speakers, Kyle Barrow and then Esmeralda.

Hi, Kyle.

Good afternoon, council members.

Thank you for allowing me to be here.

My name is Kyle Barrow.

I'm actually a pastor in northern part of Seattle near District 5. I just started over there at Refuge Church, and I'm actually here just to see what I can do as a pastor and us as a church can do to help our community and the city of Seattle.

I was trying to think of some unique ways to help out the city, so I was like, why not sit on a a council meeting and see how we can help.

So I have my number and email there, but I just wanted to see any way that we can help the community as much as possible.

We have a lot of different members at our church that can help with different areas and different things.

So I just thought I'd come and introduce myself and anything I can do to help you and help make our city better.

I'm here to do that.

So thank you.

Thank you, Kyle.

You can start by praying.

We need a lot of prayer.

No jokes.

All right.

Esmeralda.

Hi, I'm Ms. Maralda.

I'm an intern with FutureWise and I live in District 7. The city is growing and there's serious changes that need to happen across Seattle and in every neighborhood.

Rather change, displacement will accelerate even further as our community is pushed out.

I live in West Seattle and my daughter's in the Highline School District.

According to her district, enrollment has dropped 22%.

This is why we need more affordable housing available in the city to keep this from occurring.

The cost of housing and the cost of living is a huge issue, especially for people with families that want to settle down.

This is the moment to do something bold as our neighbors continue to get priced out and our kids lose classmates.

We need to open the doors to a housing supply that can keep pace with the growth we will be seeing over the next 20 years.

And while supply doesn't stop displacement on its own, we will need to fight displacement without changing our restrictive zoning.

We look forward for you to take action and appreciate your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you all for coming out today in public comment.

It is now closed and we will now proceed to our items of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record.

Agenda item one reported the city of Seattle's anti-displacement programs for briefing and discussion.

Awesome, and our presenters will make their way to the table.

I wanted to just make a couple quick comments so we can jump into our presentation, is that when I'm listening to people, I'm receiving emails and I'm talking to folks, and I know tensions arise that this is not about renters versus homeowners, young versus old, us versus them, car owner versus non-car owners, land owners versus tenants, business versus labor, density versus non, density this is about all of us and compromise and for us to have conversations and outreach and planning and talking about things and i know tensions are going to be high on folks and people want us versus them but that's just not the seattle that i know and grew up with and so Looking forward to hearing about our anti-displacement plan.

I know a lot of the council members have asked about this as we can continue to grow and invite more people to join us as Seattleites or they're trying to grow their family, young families.

We have to also ensure that our anti-displacement plan is on point and most importantly, it's impactful.

So I wanna thank our mayor's office and our innovative and performance and OPC team We're really excited, and please introduce yourself for the record, and let's just jump into it.

Thank you.

Hi, Chris DeVias, Deputy Director of Policy in the Mayor's Office.

Hi, Nicole Stafford, Senior Strategy and Innovation Advisor in the Innovation and Performance Office.

Hi, I'm Leah Tivoli.

I'm the Director of Innovation and Performance.

Rico Kidding Dongo, Director, Office of Planning and Community Development.

And I invite you to please move your microphone.

So they're just more easily towards you and colleagues, please raise your hand throughout the presentation and we can ask questions throughout.

Thank you.

Okay.

So I'm going to kick it off today.

I have key staff from our innovation and performance team, as you mentioned, to talk about the work that we've been doing to develop a displacement plan.

So we've heard a lot of concerns about displacement in the context of the major update to the comprehensive plan.

With increases in zoning density comes...

Next slide, please.

With increases in zoning density comes more opportunity for more types of housing to be built across the city.

There is broad consensus among researchers and economists that right sizing supply with demand is one of the most effective strategies to prevent displacement.

But we also know that market rate housing alone can address our housing crisis.

And Seattle voters recognize this as well, as they have generously voted to tax themselves in support of a dedicated affordable housing fund.

Most recently, they approved a nearly billion dollar housing levy, and together with other revenues, OH has almost 350 million in local dollars in this year alone to help support affordable housing projects.

So production is definitely part of the picture when it comes to displacement strategy, both on the market and subsidized housing side.

But we also know that greater density and development is not without its own challenges and can, in the short term, potentially exacerbate displacement pressures.

So this brings us to our discussion today.

In thinking about how we wanted to approach this work, we first wanted to acknowledge what the city is already doing to mitigate displacement and honor the work of city staff who are already working in this space.

So we're not starting from scratch here.

The city actually has a lot of displacement policies in place.

We wanted to avoid recreating the wheel or coming up with something new and shiny just for the sake of doing so.

So we first wanted to get a handle on what are all those policies and programs that the city is doing.

And equally important is to understand whether these policies and programs are effective.

So we asked IP to also look at what does the research say about what we are doing with regards to displacement and is it effective.

And then we wanted to know, assuming that our interventions are evidence-based and worthwhile, what could we be doing to improve them?

And finally, we asked them to identify what gaps did they see as they were doing their work.

So with that, I want to turn it over to IP to talk about what they found.

I also want to note that IP really went above and beyond in this work.

They not only did the research and tracked down all the programs and interviewed city staff, but they got their hands dirty and ended up providing direct assistance on a dashboard that we are going to talk about a little bit later in this conversation.

So mid-project, they actually, their whiz, I think, out there in the audience, Steve, really helped bootstrap a dashboard that had been kind of sitting fallow and not being used, and we're really pleased to introduce that to you today and talk about that.

And so what you will see in terms of next steps from us is a desire to continue to iterate in this space on our programming and make sure that we're getting it right, that it's comprehensive, that it's effective, and that it is actually going to help us move the needle on preventing displacement.

So take it away, Nicole.

Great.

Thank you, Krista.

Now, before we go any further, I want to define exactly what we mean by displacement.

You can read the definition up on the screen, but I want to highlight that displacement, which is involuntary in nature, is distinct from regular residential mobility, which includes voluntary household movement.

And when we talk about mitigating displacement, which you'll hear that term a lot in this presentation, I'm talking about preventing current residents from being displaced and protecting and supporting those who may be actively going through a displacement.

And I also wanna highlight that there are four types of displacement that is recognized in the literature.

While most of our programs and policies at the city fall into that physical and economic displacement categories, one of our largest investments in this space is the Equitable Development Initiative, or EDI, which also addresses cultural displacement.

And we actually have Director Rico here from OPCD to talk more about EDI later in this presentation.

So to answer all of those questions that Krista just teed up and to understand the depth and breadth of Seattle's anti-displacement approach thus far, we conducted a literature review, like she mentioned, cataloged all existing programs at the city based on their potential to mitigate displacement, collected data on these programs, and interviewed program managers.

Based on all of this research, we found that Seattle has a pretty strong foundation, I would call it, of anti-displacement interventions, but did find four areas of opportunity.

The first one is around improving our use of data to monitor displacement and increase coordination across departments to do this work.

The second one is around increasing access to already existing programs through targeted outreach and community engagement.

The third one is also related to improving access, but through better service design.

And the fourth one is around creating a more robust strategy for preserving what's called naturally occurring affordable housing, which is housing that is affordable to low-income households, but without a public subsidy.

And now I'm going to talk about some of the insights we cataloged in cataloging all of these anti-displacement efforts at the city.

So we identified 20 existing programs or policies with potential to mitigate displacement.

Now, this is a mix of longstanding programs that were maybe not necessarily created to address displacement but may have the potential to do so, new programs specifically designed to address displacement, some pilot programs, and some new policies that are currently under development.

We collected budget data where we could and found that the city had budgeted approximately $44.7 million for anti-displacement programs in 2024. However, this number does not include the utility discount programs as 2024 estimates for those services are still being calculated.

But we do know estimates from 2023, and those totaled approximately $54 million.

You'll see some of the largest programs by that 2024 budget on the lower left-hand side of the slide.

You'll see EDI, or the Equitable Development Initiative, is the largest program, of course, excluding the Utility Discount Program and other bill assistance I just mentioned.

TREO, which is our Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance, at $0.5 million of budget in 2024. But I want to note that this is partially funded by the city and by property owners.

And then EDRA is at $0.2 million for 2024 and is our economic displacement relocation assistance.

And I want to note that that is largely funded by property owners.

This might also be a good time to call out that in the appendix of the slide, there is a brief explanation on all of these programs if you are curious about learning more about an individual one.

And all of these numbers are from 2024, because at the time of our review, the new budget had not yet been adopted.

But I want to highlight that 2025 budgets have increased in several of these programs.

EDI is increasing by almost 1.9 million, home weatherization by 3.3, and rental assistance by 4.4 million.

Of these 20, and now I want to shift your attention to that pie chart on the other side of the slide, of these 20 interventions, we found 60% had what we call a high to moderate evidence base.

Now, we did not create this classification on our own or in a silo.

We relied on two recently published reviews, one by a UC Berkeley and UCLA partnership and another one by a research firm called Root Policy Research.

They took all of the latest research in this space and created a classification of anti-displacement interventions based on two dimensions.

The first dimension asks, how likely will this program or policy reduce displacement directly or indirectly?

And the second dimension determined how much evidence is there to support the answer to that question.

They classified interventions as high, medium or moderate, or low.

And where these reviews classified an intervention as high, so did we.

Where it was classified as moderate, we also called it moderate.

But sometimes a program was not mentioned in either of these two larger reviews, but we kept coming across them in our broader research.

We would see them in city-specific anti-displacement case studies, strategies, or toolkits.

And so we included them as moderate if they were in at least five of these different sources.

35% of the 20 interventions are considered too new or novel to have a substantial body of evidence, but showed some promise by being included in at least one source, like a case study strategy or toolkit.

And finally, we classified 5% of the interventions as low.

Now, low does not mean that these programs are ineffective, just less effective at specifically mitigating displacement than the other ones according to these larger reviews.

Now that was a lot of information to digest, but now I'm going to show you a few different slices of these 20 programs and policies I keep talking about.

So the first one, the first slice is by evidence base.

So you'll see exactly which programs or policies are classified as high, moderate, low, and novel.

And you'll notice in that high category are programs that are a little bit more direct and get to the immediate need of somebody who might be actively being displaced from their home.

So those are things like rental assistance or foreclosure prevention.

And then the things in the moderate category I would consider a little bit more indirect and really point to making housing costs a bit more affordable.

So you'll see things like tax exemption or utility assistance.

And again, we only had one program that was categorized as low.

Again, that does not mean that this program is ineffective.

It's important for a lot of other reasons at the city, just less so than the others in the high and moderate category.

And then finally, you'll see that 35% of that sit in the novel category.

The next slice I wanna show you, this is the same exact 20 programs, but wanted to show you how we were thinking about the categorization.

We used a popular anti-displacement framework we found in the literature called the four Ps to build categories and to identify where the city might have gaps.

Plan captures interventions that help the city plan ahead by anticipating displacement pressures and responding with appropriate programs and policies.

Protect includes interventions that protect residents from displacement pressures by giving them more freedom and time to make their choice to stay or move.

And then preserve captures interventions that preserve existing affordable housing and reduce the likelihood that that housing leaves the affordable housing stock.

Now you can see we have the least number of interventions in that plan category, but our very first recommendation or recommended action helps address this gap.

I've also noted on the slide where departments that own each of these programs and policies, and you'll note this does stretch across about six departments.

Now, you may notice that one P is missing from the slide.

That fourth P is called production or produce, and Krista touched that right at the beginning.

It's about increasing the production of housing across all income levels, and it is a very important part of a holistic anti-displacement strategy.

But it was not the focus necessarily of my team's analysis, given that you are all in plan and with historic investments in subsidized affordable housing.

And finally, the third slice, as I promised, is by household tenor, which really means whether or not a program targets renters or homeowners.

You'll see we have a lot in the renters category.

We have some in the homeowners category and some that actually crosses both.

And now, my next slide, I'm gonna dive a little bit more into the Equitable Development Initiative, or EDI.

My team did not do an independent review of this program, since an evaluation was just completed by an external party just this last fall.

But because this is one of the city's largest investments in this space, we felt like it was important to highlight here.

And with that, I'll pass it off to my colleague, Director Rico.

to talk about some of the insights from this evaluation and planned improvements to the EDI program.

Here we go.

Thank you, Nicole.

So all of you are aware of the report that we have published on our Equal Development Initiative website from September, which is the technical evaluation and analysis.

And then in addition to that, in January, we just added a and a supplemental, which provides additional information about what is the narrative work and cultural work that's being done by our EDI partners out in community, and so you can see the progress of those programs and initiatives.

What you see here is highlighted four areas that we wanted to pull out of the report things that needed to be improved, things that we needed to work on.

So one of the things identified contract requirements for data reporting and collection as inconsistent, an acknowledgement that the funding model could be enhanced by incorporating data and forecasting from other departments.

The third was around project management activities and that currently we have silos, uh, instead of having a centralized system.

Uh, and then the last, uh, an acknowledgement that many of the organization, many of the organizations that we're working with don't have the capacity to meet the requirements for reporting in the program and, uh, to be frank, We have a lot of organizations that are out there.

They are experts in what they do, i.e. providing social services.

They are not experts as it relates to development.

And so one of the things that we're trying to do is lean into the issue of how do we provide them the resources that they need to get across the finish line related to these development projects.

Next slide.

So looking at those items that were identified in the report as things we needed to work on and things that we had already built into our work program, In 2025, what you see on the screen here is things that we're looking at related to improvements in 2025 and 2026. So we will be beginning a comprehensive strategic planning process, both with staff and our advisory board, and look forward to sharing with you what that process will look like.

um we will be expanding our equitable transit oriented development uh work so we have an existing work group at opcd that's looking at uh as we bring online transit oriented development opportunities with st3 sound transit uh three uh how do we ensure that the community is not only served but is a part of those developments We have an FTA grant that is helping to fund some of that research and community engagement, as well as the collaboration with Sound Transit and SDOT.

The third one, annual data and project update reporting.

It is our intent to, as you have received an in-depth technical report last September, We wanna make sure that on an annual basis that we can report back to what's the progress that we're making year over year and have that reporting be consistent.

And at the same time, ensure that we set up a clear set of parameters for our EDI partners to do that reporting to us.

If you look on the right side of the circle, technical assistance program for EDI partners, we're just putting together or just completing a draft for an RFP now to bring on a consultant to help us to build a more formalized technical assistance program for our partners to help them expedite their work.

Grander interdepartmental cross-coordination is just something that we know that we need to do.

Part of that, we are already in conversation.

So, for example, I sit on the NOFA with Office of Housing and we talk about what are the projects that EDI is funding, what are the prospective projects that OH is funding.

where are there opportunities like Africatown on 23rd, where we're funding the ground floor and Office of Housing is funding units upstairs.

But we know we just need to do more of that.

We collaborate with OED, we collaborate with the other capital departments.

Development of a centralized database.

We're working with Seattle IT right now on the beginnings of building a large database that can be shared by CBO, by our finance department, by our project managers, and by our EDI partners.

So we're all looking at the same data set and the same set of information.

And then finally, continued focus on community spaces, affordable housing, and reducing displacement core values of the program.

Nicole, back to you.

Thanks, Rico.

I'm now gonna talk through some of the research insights that led to our recommended actions.

So as I've mentioned, or we have five total insights.

First, as I mentioned, Seattle has a pretty strong foundation of anti-displacement interventions based on the literature review we conducted.

However, the lack of proactive planning, monitoring, and evaluation has led to fragmented program delivery and limited strategic foresight.

Programs with the potential to mitigate displacement are spread across six different departments, and the only tool tracking displacement across the city was last updated five years ago, and there was no concerted cross-department effort to monitor displacement actively and respond accordingly.

While there are many programs in place to help mitigate displacement, several what we call undersubscribed programs could benefit from greater outreach, as some program managers identified a lack of awareness as a key barrier to increasing enrollment.

Another barrier for residents accessing these already existing programs is a cumbersome application process.

Research indicates that the efficacy of some of these programs could be compromised by a lengthy process to confirm eligibility, and especially with things like income verification.

And finally, why the city does have Notice of intent to sell policy.

This helps notify the city and its partners of the sale of affordable housing in Seattle.

It has not and is not driving preservation activity to date.

Program manager interviews indicate some reasons, maybe the lack of fast money or a network of organizations equipped to quickly move on these notices.

With that, I'm now going to dig into each of our recommended actions that help address some of these insights.

Our first recommended action is to create a monitoring tool to track displacement data and to create a work group to act on insights from that data.

The work group will include department staff responsible for managing the 20 anti-displacement programs.

And in partnership with OPCD, the IP team has already created a new displacement risk dashboard that is currently in beta mode, we'd call it.

In contrast with what the city previously had, the idea is to update this tool in as real time as possible.

It includes granular neighborhood level metrics and organizes data in a way that helps make decisions.

The goal is to make this dashboard a living tool that continues to be iterated on and helps us invest in data infrastructure in the long term.

So the idea, according to this little chart I created on the side, is to have the data updated regularly.

The work group convenes to discuss insights from that data.

And then the group makes program adjustments as needed.

An adjustment could be coordination across programs to target outreach in a specific neighborhood.

The work group would also align on a standard evaluation approach to measuring how these programs are actually impacting displacement and provide a report or some sort of readout of these insights and adjustments to the mayor's office.

Now, to give you a sense of what kind of data is exactly being tracked in this new displacement risk dashboard, you can see it covers a number of different factors.

One category is something we call displacement pressures.

So that's things like increasing home sale prices, rent prices, increased permit activity, The next bucket is around displacement vulnerability.

So this is really about those in Seattle that have the least resources to push back against displacement pressures.

And then we have a third category that we're calling anti-displacement program metrics.

And where we could collect geospatial data on our programs, we're starting to pull that into the dashboard to see where there is uptake of these programs.

Now, I'm gonna give you a few screenshots from the beta version of this dashboard.

This is just one screenshot, and I'm not gonna go into a ton of detail here, but I think it's a helpful view for you all to see.

You can see the data available on one single map by neighborhood, and within a single neighborhood, you can look across multiple variables side by side, And our hope is this gives us some sort of early warning system to potential displacement activity.

And this is another view from the beta version of the dashboard, but highlights that for each of the data inputs I just listed through previously, there is a deep dive slide or view here.

And this one is specifically on the tenant relocation assistance ordinance that tracks households that were physically displaced through things like tear downs, substantial renovations, or changes in the use of the building.

You can also see trends over time, and you can see hotspots outlined on a map where that activity is heating up.

Again, this is the beta version of the tool and still needs to be fully tested by our work group.

And now I'm going to give you an overview of recommended action number two, three, and four.

Action number two is around increasing awareness and participation in already existing anti-displacement programs.

For example, the city has, as what I referred to earlier, the Economic Displacement Relocation Assistance, or EDRA for short.

According to a small recent survey, only 20% of residents that had their rent increased by 10% or more over 12 months, making them eligible for an EDRA notice, reported receiving an EDRA notice from their landlord, indicating that the city could do more to build awareness of this program.

And this outreach and communication should be coordinated across all anti-displacement programs, which the workgroup should help facilitate.

Action number three is around making it easier for residents to navigate the system and to create a consistent experience from one program to the next.

The city's affordable Seattle portal is already doing this for several affordability programs, but there are a handful of anti-displacement programs that could benefit from this approach.

For example, rental assistance is a good one.

Finding and applying for emergency rental assistance at the city is confusing and frustrating.

In 2024, three different departments funded some sort of emergency rental assistance fund.

In 2025, funds have been largely consolidated in the Human Services Department, but there's still around a dozen community-based organizations that ultimately manage applications and distribute these funds.

Now, our team did not have time to do a full evaluation of emergency rental assistance, but having multiple implementing partners does help ensure limited funds are distributed equitably to different communities in need, but the city should ensure a more consistent and accessible application process and experience.

And finally, recommended action number four is around building a holistic strategy for preserving naturally occurring affordable housing, which again refers to housing that is affordable to low income households without any sort of public subsidy.

Most low-income households in the US and in Seattle rely on this type of housing.

According to the literature, a holistic strategy would include or could include a dedicated acquisition fund, which would address that fast money, a centralized database of at-risk properties, and a network of preservation partners.

One example that highlights this need is, again, that notice of intent to sell policy.

Since the adoption of this policy, zero properties have been evaluated or acquired.

And for context, the city received about 25 notices last year.

This recommended action aims to remove some of the barriers to making this policy meaningful.

And now I'm going to cover a few important next steps regarding this work.

So the work really starts with the creation of the anti-displacement work group.

Kickoff would occur this quarter, where the group would start testing the displacement risk dashboard and develop an implementation plan, which would be due to the mayor's office at the end of the year.

After that, the group would shift to a more monitoring phase with regular touch points to analyze new data as it comes into the tool and glean insights from that.

That's the workgroup timeline.

While the workgroup does consist of staff from departments that manage these anti-displacement programs, some milestones are program-specific, like FAS drafting legislation on predatory home buying, EDI creating an end-of-year report, OH creating a plan for preserving naturally occurring affordable housing, and OPCD submitting an annual housing report to the mayor's office, but that one won't happen until the year after the comprehensive plan is approved.

And that was a ton of information, but this is the last slide that we have for you today.

So I do want to open it up to any questions you might have or closing comments from my colleagues.

And I'd just like to mention that there are a lot of moving pieces with this.

The mayor's office really appreciates the work that the innovation and performance team conducted and to make sure all of these things happen and departments follow through.

The mayor intends to issue an executive order to require departments to follow up on these recommendations.

So I just wanted to share that with you.

Well, thank you for the presentation.

I really appreciate a lot of the work that went into this, especially identifying some of the programs that we currently have as a city, some improvements, what they're doing and the impact that they're having.

I'm a data freak and a data nerd, and I don't think data lies.

And so just having that, information is incredibly important.

Um, I know that there are some council members that have some questions.

So I'm going to go ahead.

Uh, council member Kettle, you were first and then council member Saka and council member Rivera.

So council member Kettle.

Uh, thank you, chair.

Um, thank you so much for coming and thank you for everyone who gave public comment.

Um, I just want to speak to the public comment piece.

And I've said this in chair of my committee that we do listen and, um, So I take in, you know, the point regarding zoning changes and tax liability, which goes to later on economic displacement, for example.

And, you know, is there anything along those lines that could be of interest?

Not in my district, but somebody was talking about ravines.

I know very well the impact of slopes on maps in terms of not really being understood as you look on a chart or a map.

But when you're on the ground, slopes, ravines, and all those make a big big difference and I'm well aware too of houseboats and we should not leave houseboats behind.

It's very important in D7, Lake Union for example.

We need to be incorporating that and I really appreciate Our D7 commentators here, both with the need to increase the density per one, but also be mindful of local specific kind of considerations.

And D7, we have three regional centers, two urban centers.

If I can take a bit of Eastlake, because Eastlake is partly in my district, so I'll count it.

And then one neighborhood center, and as I told Mr. Packer back there, that D7 neighborhood center doesn't really have any strong, you know, which may be happening in another district's opposition, and this council member is in favor of it.

So D7 neighborhood center, I think we're going to be good to go.

So thank you again for the public commentators.

I think it's really important.

Regarding the briefing and the comments, Ms. Vallis, thank you for being here.

You know, one of the things I was listening to your comments is just really highlights, because you mentioned the different pieces, and the pieces are there, you know, and so forth.

And it just reinforces, and I'm going to look over at Council Member Moore, my colleague, because this is the reason why we were pushing and put it into the budget, and it's in the legislation, related to having a Seattle Housing Investment Plan.

basically buttoned OOH to the same paces that SDOT has to do with the transportation plan, where they were bringing all these pieces together.

And I think by doing that, the transparency of that, and people could see the trade-offs, and they could say, okay, that makes sense.

And I think that would help us so much on the housing front, that work SDOT has done on transportation.

And I know I brought this up, but I can't, you know, avoid the opportunity to highlight that again, because I think it is important.

And I also know, in terms of the one graphic, the idea of like, a lot of OH stuff, you know, or HSD maybe, is an SDCI, which is construction inspection codes of apartment buildings, but a lot of that renter's piece is, This time next year the graphic probably should show some of that shifting over to the different department as per the process as we went through budget.

I just want to say thank you for the four different displacement pieces and this is something that I've been seeing in my outreach left, right and center.

And it's not just some of these things, some of the obvious things, but if you have a home and you're trying to get a new roof or you need to house paint it, It's incredibly expensive.

So the economic displacement is huge.

So it's not some of the, like, things that we're seeing here, but it's these other pieces that are really impactful in terms of somebody's ability to be there.

And so this is where, you know, in terms of anti-displacement, I do believe in the ad-do-dad-do process, particularly with a owner in one of the three elements.

And I just want...

and they're concerned because they may be in an older building and some want to buy a building to have that kind of long-term stability with their business, but they're concerned that with the, you know, the up zone, that if a new building comes in, they will never be able to buy that, you know, buy a building which they can have their business in.

That will be something long gone.

And I bring this up too because one thing that I've learned is that it's the local mom and pop small businesses that support the little league team, you know, the soccer team.

Any business that says, well, I have to go to corporate, never supports the local efforts like that.

It's always the small businesses that do it that we have.

And in terms of what we don't want to do is displace them, and particularly because you go to the cultural displacement, it's like a one-two punch.

And so we need to be mindful as we step through these things.

So these are just some of the...

some of the observations that I've had and regarding the anti-displacement strategy outreach, the portals and this.

I'm hearing portals and online this and that, whatever, and I'm thinking about all the conversations I've had with people that don't really reside online.

And they're going to be like, what?

Or they don't necessarily think about that.

And this kind of goes to some of the comments and public comment, like, I also got that flyer regarding Initiative 137. I also get my King County tax assessor little card.

The outreach can't be my newsletter just.

It needs to be something broader than that.

And so I just, we need to build on that, and I think it's really important.

But these are just some of the observations related to the brief, and so I just want to thank you for being here.

AS USUAL WITH COUNCILMEMBERS, NOT USUALLY A LOT OF QUESTIONS, BUT SOME COMMENTS, AND SO I JUST WANTED TO MAINTAIN THAT TRADITION OF THE CITY COUNCIL.

SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL OF YOU, AND DIRECTOR CORNANDONGO, AND THE MEMBERS FROM YOUR OFFICE AS WELL.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER KETTLE.

COUNCILMEMBER SACA.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you all for being here today and sharing these insights on a very important impactful program that no doubt will guide our work, certainly will guide my work, I'll speak for myself, and really, really important work.

urgent opportunity ahead of us to adopt and incorporate some elements of things we learned today.

Before we get there to my question, just curious.

Director, how do you pronounce, what is the proper pronunciation of your last name?

Kidding Dongo, like I'm only kidding.

Kidding Dongo.

All right, beautiful name.

We've been working together well over for a year now, and my anglicized English doesn't do it justice.

I almost want to call you Director Rico, but if I ever forget how to properly pronounce your name, I'll just revert to director.

That's always proper.

I'm fine with any of the above.

Awesome, awesome.

Well, let me ask...

I'd love to learn more about some specific examples of anti-displacement programs to better ensure people can age in place.

So there's any number of at least 20 that we have here in the city of Seattle, depending on the population group, the policy goal and objectives you're trying to create, there's specific things.

I see you have them categorized here amongst other classifications as protects, so maybe some of those might fall in that category.

But just would love to hear some specific examples of anti-displacement strategies and programs that better enable people to age in place.

Yeah, I can at least start off with that one.

So the two that immediately come to mind is the King County Property Tax Exemption Program, and it is specifically geared towards seniors, those with disabilities, and veterans with disabilities.

And we did find that that, specifically for our Seattle residents, we estimated about 20,000 people were eligible just from that senior population, and only about 6,000 were currently using and registered with that program.

That speaks to us.

A big awareness issue, some issue with getting them applied, and maybe it's the requirements.

There's something there that we're really pushing to increase that enrollment and to increase the data that we're using to track so that we can bubble up some of these insights on a more regular basis.

And then the second one I want to call out is the home repair assistance.

I know for those that are aging in place, one of the big restrictions might be they live with a staircase in their home where they might need some adaptations to the physical aspect of their building in order for them to age in place.

And so that home repair program I think is helpful, especially if they have an older building or may need some assistance in that form.

So those are the two off the top of my head, but I'll also see if my colleagues have anything else to say.

So it's a super important question.

And I think that, you know, when I look at, so it's slide 10 in your packet, under preserve, where we reference the home repair assistance and home authorization assistance, like those are obviously programs where we're trying to ensure that families that might otherwise not be able to maintain the homes that they have a mortgage on, that we can provide them that assistance to stay in their home, which, making the obvious statement, is a part of this conversation about being able to age in place.

Under pilot programs, you'll also see a reference to legacy homeowner assistance.

So we at OPCD have been having a number of conversations in community around what What is the definition of a legacy homeowner?

What does that mean?

There's a couple of groups that have come together around an interest in growing generational wealth, aging in place, having multiple generations on the same plot.

So Black Home Initiative, Black Homeowners Initiative is one of the groups that we're working with right now.

We also have a pro-housing grant that we're working on in partnership with Office of Housing, looking at how we can address homeownership opportunity issues, home retention, and then aging in place.

So there's some things we're working on.

Awesome, no, all that makes sense, really appreciate the additional clarity there.

You actually mentioned the King County Property Tax Relief Program, and in so doing actually preempted a comment that I was going to make specifically about that, because I think there's a nexus to an opportunity, potential gap, at least on a going forward basis in the city of Seattle.

So colleagues, you'll recall that I had the privilege of kind of helping us shepherd that the levy, $1.55 billion transportation levy that voters generously approved this past November.

During that time, We considered a number of things and that was the largest levy in Seattle history at the time.

And then Seattle Public Schools said, hold my drink.

And there's another, other stuff on the ballot coming up.

But that is a huge investment that we, and voters made clear for that particular levy that we really do need, it's an urgent need.

But we are going to continue to have billion-plus levies in the city of Seattle and other jurisdictions and municipalities, no doubt, as well, because of a state law Almost 20 years ago now, the state enshrined into law a prohibition against municipalities, including the city of Seattle, that restricted our ability to raise property taxes above 1% a year, more than 1% a year.

So 1% cap per year.

With the cost of living, inflation, that doesn't keep up.

And so what we're seeing now, municipalities, including Seattle, are increasingly reliant on voter approved levies to meet the need and demand that used to be covered.

And yes, there's an opportunity for every government, Seattle included, to be more efficient with its spending and drive better efficiencies and align to current priorities, et cetera, but we're gonna continue to see those very high, billion-dollar-plus property tax, unless and until there's a change in state law, because again, today under our current system, municipalities, including Seattle, are precluded, prohibited from raising rates more than 1% property tax, more than 1% a year, which clearly doesn't keep up with the cost of living, inflation, And so that obviously imposes, those billion-dollar-plus levies continue to impose non-trivial impacts on some of our most vulnerable, especially and including seniors.

disabled vets, injured people, all the people that are subject to the current King County program, which is administered pursuant to a state law, locally administered pursuant to state program.

So we need ultimately more local property tax relief, because unless and until there's a change and a modification in localities ability to at least keep pace with inflation, We're gonna have these large, large levies, gonna continue to impose burdens and strains on some of our most vulnerable.

One thing I did specifically consider and look into, the leality of and the policy feasibility of, from a city perspective is adopting a, during the levy conversations last summer was standing up and launching a Seattle specific version of property tax relief in education or property tax relief.

So the idea is stand up city of Seattle, set up its own unique program, property tax relief program that runs in parallel to other programs, including the King County property tax program.

Where I landed last year was that it is very operationally burdensome, administratively difficult, and under a cost-benefit analysis, it costs way more to stand up such a program than any potential benefits that could be realized and achieved as a result.

So what we did as a compromise, I'm not sure if this was included in your 20-plus programs, if we had a little notice, not at all reported line item in category in our levy legislation called the Good Governance and Equitable Implementation Initiative.

Good Governance and Equitable Implementation Initiative.

What did that do?

Well, it appeased certain of my colleagues who really love good governance, but it also included funding, important funding, because at the time, we determined a Seattle program doesn't currently make sense.

But why not allow us to amplify the existing programs that are out there, namely the King County programs, provide a certain pot of money for more targeted outreach?

Because these are non-trivial impacts on people's lives.

And sadly, again, unless there's a change, you know, it's only likely to get worse.

But in any event, over time, it's only likely to get worse.

So all that has to say is thank you for sharing out these important programs and strategies.

There's clearly more work for all of us to do ahead.

So thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Sokka.

Next, we have Council Member Rivera and then Council President Nelson, followed by Council Member Solomon, then Council Member Moore.

Did you have your hand up, Council Member Moore?

Or I lied.

You took it down.

Okay.

And then followed by Council Member Rank.

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth.

Sorry, I was having trouble unmuting there.

I wanna thank the mayor's office and the Office of Innovation and Performance and the Office of Planning and Community Development for being here and giving this presentation.

There's a lot of information here and I've already reached out to my team to request a follow-up meeting because I have some more questions that I want to review with you all.

One question I had is under the program and policy insights, the investments for anti-displacement, I noticed you don't have the Office of Housing investment here.

I know the Office of Housing funds nonprofits that build low-income housing.

I see all throughout the city, in fact.

And so I see that as a form of anti-displacement on the housing side.

I'm wondering why that was not included here.

That is in addition to the rental assistance and other things that I know that the city invests in.

But the creation of the low-income housing, I think, is also meant to be an anti-displacement tool.

So wondering why that was not here, especially since you included other programs like the EDI, which are not specifically housing anti-displacement.

It's more of a cultural anti-displacement.

So I'm wondering, can you say why you didn't include those OH programs here?

So, Councilmember, I mentioned the OH investments at the beginning of the presentation because those fall on the production side of displacement strategies, and we very much agree that investments in low-income housing is an effective displacement strategy and wanted to note that.

But here we were highlighting programs and policies intended to help people already housed in the city stay housed.

So yes, it's definitely part of the strategy production, both market-based and subsidized is very important for preventing displacement.

And thank you, Krista.

I just think even if you weren't going to talk about it, it's skewed this investment piece because it doesn't show the totality of what we fund.

And I get that you're saying this is to keep people housed, the other is to house people, but I think it is important because I think it's another place, you know, if we think about people getting displaced, I know that one area we can look at is to the housing units that we're building in the low income housing places where we can put people.

So I know we do it, you know, we do rapid rehousing and things of that nature.

And so I think I get why you, you know we're not talking about it in terms of the these uh plan protect preserve um although i would argue it's on the plan side but i still think it skews the amount of money that we're spending on all these strategies not to include the office of housing investments in the actual production side your point is well taken thank you yeah um Thank you.

And like I said, I have some follow-up questions, but rather than take up the time here, I've requested a meeting.

So looking forward to touching base then.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

As vice chair of the committee, I'm just facilitating.

Council President, you're next, followed by Councilmember Solomon and then Councilmember Rank.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have questions about two buckets of your presentation.

The first one is following Councilmember Rivera.

I'm looking at the the review of the of our EVI expenses in our program.

And you mentioned that there was a review done or report an analysis that was available in September.

And so I read a bit of that analysis.

And one of the things that it says is that Over 50% of the survey respondents have expressed the need, the three most common barriers to getting the projects done.

All right, access to consultants and resources, lack of technical knowledge, and internal organizational staffing capacity.

Some obstacles including those related to the permitting process and construction costs affect fewer grantees but can stop a project if not addressed.

I mention this because one of the things in our conversation about the midterm supplemental EDI item in it was a desire to make sure that the people that are applying for and receive these awards have the capacity to really finish the project in connection with the staffing of, of OPCD.

So has there been any thought on, or have you increased capacity for helping, helping awardees?

I have, you know, or they can either be additional internal staff or extra, like maybe a funding a consultant that could help awardees at various steps in their project?

So the short answer would be yes.

We specifically have designed a $75,000 award, which can be an annual award to EDI partners, which is to help them build capacity, particularly on the front end of their projects.

that money can be used for staffing capacity or consultant capacity.

The technical assistance program that I mentioned when we were, I think that was slide 13, we are looking to try to develop some other tools to help support capacity for partners.

Gosh, there was something else I wanted to add there.

I don't think, I'm not sure if I answered all of your question.

You can, well, just kidding.

You did answer my question, and I would just, just how you are offline, we can, you can provide information about how we're helping those projects get out of, get out the door, how we're helping the partners, excuse me.

You don't have to mention it all right now.

I don't mean to catch you on the spot.

No, no, not a problem.

That did remind me of the other thing I wanted to say.

From the 42 awards from this year, they were all, or that we just awarded in January, those were all focused on just existing projects, getting those existing ones done, and so we are trying to focus on that piece.

because every step of the way is different, has different challenges, et cetera.

My second question was prompted by page, I think it is 20, where you're talking about supporting naturally occurring develop a holistic strategy to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing.

We're talking about rentals, right?

But rentals that have been on the market for a while.

And of your, and you have a checklist here.

I am wondering, did any of the sources of your literature review focus on Seattle's naturally, well, focus on Seattle's rental market or housing market and the stock in all the different categories like rentals, condos, houses, private, publicly owned, et cetera.

Yeah, I didn't look specifically at the different types of rental in Seattle, but was looking more at like what programs do we have in place to even decide how to use staff time or budgets to prioritize that type of activity.

And the only thing I could find was that notice of intent to sell policy, which did bring partners together and provided some sort of mechanism for people to be aware.

I believe it was just, I could look in the appendix, but it's, units that are specifically affordable for 80% AMI, I believe.

I'll have to double check that.

But if any unit in the city becomes available for sale, a notice is sent out to the city and its partners.

It's just having an infrastructure in place to actually do something about it was something that I felt in my research that was missing, but also that other cities are experimenting with building a little bit more of that holistic strategy to make sure all the pieces are in place so that when that opportunity arises, we can take advantage of it.

Okay.

Thank you for answering that.

I'd love to see the bibliography.

I don't think I asked my question very well, but you answered, I liked your answer.

I'm just wondering if you used data sources that showed, for example, a good one that I can think of would be the Rio registration data, which tells you per this slide, number four, how many registrations are going, how many registrations are uh, what is the decrease rate of registrations?

From 2020 to 2021, it's, um, I think that it, the, uh, the data showed, I, that might be the last time there was a, a report.

21%, I believe, of the registrants, uh, there was a 21% decrease that can correlate to owners selling their property.

It doesn't necessarily mean those properties went off the market.

It could mean that they didn't.

My point is that that would be a good place to look at what's happening with our naturally affordable housing.

Same thing with the small landlord study that was done in 2022, I believe that was a response to the slide.

There's some good information there.

So we really do need, I totally agree that we need to PRESERVE NATURALLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND THAT WOULD BE A GOOD SOURCE OF INFORMATION.

ONE LAST POINT.

I LOVE THAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT NONTRADITIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES A BIT BECAUSE I HAVE You know, only $50 million of our $937 million housing levy goes to workforce, home ownership at workforce level.

And the person who is largely responsible for making those projects is not here anymore, but my point is that we need to put a lot more in home ownership and foreclosure prevention.

I don't know how much is in that, but it's not even at the size of a project to be on that slide.

So plugging non-traditional home street or home site has a U-lo, I think it's pronounced.

I think it is a cooperative.

I learned about that when I was talking to Chikundee Salisbury over the weekend.

But my point is that more, and I'm glad you're focusing it on homeowner assistance, first home buyer assistance and foreclosure prevention.

And I can provide a little bit more clarity on the foreclosure prevention.

I do know that there was a pilot program that the city had started back in 2016. But then when the pandemic hit, the federal funds were released for prevention and that largely took over, I think it had a little bit better terms.

And so that's what the city was using, but that program is sunsetting this year.

So the city is restarting its foreclosure prevention program, which is why you wouldn't see it on the 2024 numbers.

but it is planned to, I believe, start this year.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

And thank you, Council Member Strauss for stepping in for me.

Next we have Council Member Solomon followed by Council Member Rink.

Thank you very much.

And thank you for being here today and giving this information.

I also want to thank the commenters in the audience because I had not thought about the livable community.

So give me a wake-up call.

Couple things that were mentioned regarding the, you know, pushing information out.

It seems to me that you have these programs available for folks, but a lot of people may not know about them or know how to access them.

And one of the things I'm looking at is, you know, as we're doing community education about the comp plan overall, how can we do community education to educate people about what resources are available to them so that they can stay in their homes?

SO I'M ALREADY THINKING ABOUT DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS I WANT TO WORK WITH TO HAVE PUBLIC MEETING, TO HAVE INTERPRETATION AVAILABLE SO THAT EVERYONE IN THE COMMUNITY CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT IS AVAILABLE FOR THEM, WHAT TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE.

YOU ALSO MENTIONED ON ONE SLIDE, OH, TO THAT END, I WOULD HOPE THAT I COULD, YOU KNOW, CALL UPON YOU AND SAY...

WE'D BE HAPPY TO WORK WITH YOU ON THAT.

YEAH, GIVE ME AN SME THAT CAN TALK TO THIS STUFF BECAUSE THAT AIN'T ME.

The other part I heard you mentioned was community partnerships and you mentioned the black legacy homeowners.

Are you also partnering with the Nehemiah initiative as well?

Yeah, so we do a lot of work with the Nehemiah initiative.

And as you know, we, uh, designed the piece of legislation in response to the state, but also in response to community that now ensures that any faith-based organization can do affordable housing on their sites outright.

We continue to work with Donald King and the Nehemiah Initiative on projects as they try to move from concept into permitting and actual development.

Okay, good, thank you.

That's all I had.

Awesome, thank you, Council Member Solomon.

Next we have Council Member Rank and followed by Council Member Moore.

Thank you so much for today's presentation.

And just at the top, I wanna state how lucky we are to live in a city where so many people wanna come and live here too.

We are so lucky that folks wanna come live in this vibrant green city that strives to be welcoming for all.

And between 2010 and 2020, our population grew by 21%.

We've added 189 residents and, pardon me, 189,000 residents.

And we've added 105,000 units of housing, but that's 84,000 people who are competing for the same middle housing.

Rents have risen, housing prices have skyrocketed, and those with the least ability to pay are those who end up without a place to live.

And we continue to see racial disproportionality in our local data related to homelessness, and when we look at those who are most rent burdened.

So addressing our supply challenge will be a huge part of alleviating all of this.

And this plan represents an amazing opportunity to do just that.

We want to make sure that we are building more housing so folks are able to live nearby where they work and where their kids go to school.

And making sure that we are doing that is a way that we can do our part to address the climate crisis and support working folks across this city.

And to that end, we also need a meaningful anti-displacement strategy, which is why I'm so grateful for today's presentation and want to express my gratitude for the work, especially on the data related to this anti-displacement map.

This is really fantastic work and want to voice also the need for increasing our affordable housing investments Doing all of these in tandem together will help us in addressing the disparities we continue to see across the city and past injustices.

So this brings me to my questions for today.

Thank you for the update related to just the EDI improvements as well.

I know they mapped with my experiences when dialoguing with EDI recipients and talking to them about how their experience has been with the program.

Just by way of curiosity, With the RFP process for EDI programs, do you have information on the total amount of requests that we've gotten in maybe the past funding cycle compared to how much we were able to award?

So I can give you anecdotal numbers now, and we can dive into greater detail offline.

But typically, any time we put out an RFP, we end up getting requests in total for around $550 million per cycle.

And generally, so it changes from year to year.

Sometimes we do two RFPs in a year, one that's focused on acquisition and then a second one that's focused on production.

But regardless of the size of the RFP, so sometimes they're $10 million, this most recent one was $22 million, but the ask tends to be consistent around 550. And we have the year-over-year list of applicants and all of that stuff, so I can make that available.

Thank you.

Certainly trying to get a sense of, of course, need when we're looking at these programs that are out there, especially when there are ones we just don't have the funding to be able to fully address and bring to fruition.

Curious also related to just some of the programmatic changes.

I know there's a ton of different measures that we discussed in the presentation and I'm thinking about things like community preference if you all are taking a look at like ways to improve community preference.

I know I've heard directly from Black Homeowners Initiative on some of the measures and ways that we can improve on that but would certainly like to hear more around things for community preference.

Yeah, I can share a little bit more context around community preference.

It is on our list of cataloged programs.

I'll just pull up the slide here, around displacement remediation policies.

Community preference and affirmative marketing are both OH programs.

And I believe, again, I'll have to double check this number, but there were about four community preference applications that were accepted by OH.

So we did note in our 70-page plan that accompanies this presentation, a recommendation for OH to look into ways to improve both affirmative marketing and community preference based on just because four applications seems quite low, but we don't fully understand at this point why that's the case.

So that is included in our report to dig into a little bit more.

And my last question kind of relates to, to just renters.

And I know a number of these programs are specific for, and I know in one of the, the slides kind of discusses, um, you know, which ones are specific to address the needs of renters and, you know, You had talked a little bit about just some of the underutilization of these programs.

And I suppose I'm just curious about some of the immediate ways you're thinking about getting the word out about these programs.

I know that, and I say this as a renter, and I know every time I've gone into a new rental agreement, my landlord has been has given and provided a renter's handbook, which I know is legally required of landlords.

And EDRA is one of the programs that is mentioned in that.

I know it's in the middle of the packet, but I'm wondering if there are ways or if there's discussion about ways we can just bolster that information within the existing handbook that is required to be given out.

And additionally, how are we engaging with the renters commission on perhaps their ideas on how to better reach renters about these programs?

Yeah, thank you for those suggestions.

I think those are great suggestions.

Where we kind of ended in the report was there was a need to bring all of these anti-displacement program managers together because I heard across all these different ways, we're sending out a mailer, we're sending this out, we're engaging this group.

15 community engagement events, but just did not see the coordination, especially across departments.

Maybe within a department, there's pretty strong coordination, like home repair and home weatherization are pretty closely locked in.

But as soon as it crosses a department line, that's where they're like, oh, I don't know, maybe somebody's doing something over there.

So what we want out of the work group is to be able to, at a regular touch points, coordinate on these campaigns or these community engagement calendars to understand where there's overlap, because a lot of these populations are eligible for similar programs.

So that's kind of at a high level where we're thinking, but thank you for the additional ideas.

certainly thank you would love to continue the dialogue on this and i think what is clear in this especially related to some of the impact that these measures can have these will require investment and would love to continue the conversation about investing more in these critical programs that have had meaningful impact across our community thank you

Thank you, Council Member Rank.

I skipped over Vice Chair Strauss was next.

Vice Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

In the interest of time, I will ask for a more in-depth conversation offline.

I just want to note a couple different things.

OH and EDI had far less funding in 2019 than it does today.

And the reason that I bring that up is because when MHA was imposed a fair amount, there was not enough anti-displacement strategies included in MHA.

I'm just going to...

That's an opinion.

I don't know if it's a fact, but that's a strong opinion from Dan.

And there wasn't the correct EDI funding or anti-displacement strategies.

I'm gonna go back, I wanna take another step back to say thank you for all of the work you've done.

This is a very hard topic to create solutions that will work for many different populations in our city to keep people in place and not force them out.

One thing that I will dig into a little bit with you is the categorization of voluntary or involuntary displacement and the use of data.

Colleagues, you might have seen me awkwardly stretching in the back or standing during public comment and that's because today I'm dealing with some chronic pain that stems from being hit by a car nearly 20 years ago.

On SDOT's Vision Zero maps, they would not have included my dot even if it was in the last 10 years.

They would not, and none of that is recorded because it was nearly 20 years ago.

Sorry, that's a real life example, but just to say, I have friends whose parents, after MHA, before today, my friends are adults, but their parents got divorced, and when they sold their house, so this would be a voluntary displacement technically in the data set, and I can tell you both parents did not want to leave the neighborhood, and both parents could not stay in the neighborhood by splitting the cost of the sale of the house, right?

And so that's where I'm going to dig in with you a little bit more deeply to understand definitions and data.

And I understand that you're doing the best you can with the information that you've got.

And so this is not a critique of you.

It's an expansion of the understanding of what we're faced with.

For instance, I lived in an apartment that was built in 1962. The two bedroom apartment in 2009 was $950.

The one bedroom in 2017 was $1750.

And nothing was, it was not new construction, right?

I was working here as staff in City Hall and I was spending over half my paycheck on rent.

I guess there's not a question, that's a statement that it's a problem.

And I think it really exemplifies what we're faced with here because the neighborhood that I grew up in got torn down.

It is a vibrant place today in a way that I didn't expect it to and I appreciate that, but I can't ever go home to the neighborhood I grew up in.

And a lot of people who wanted to stay in the neighborhood, financially couldn't, I just gave you the qualitative example of friends, parents.

And just to say both with utility discount program and senior property tax exemption, there's a real problem here with the cliff.

If somebody makes a dollar more, they can't enroll.

And so I heard the number 6,000 enrolled, 10,000 eligible.

There are some auto enroll issues, especially for seniors.

With that cliff, it makes it inaccessible for many people who would otherwise access that program.

And so much like Council Member Kettle said, no questions over here, just a lot of statements because I'm a council member.

I'll save more questions for a time when we're not over time in committee.

Thank you for all of your work.

Thank you, Vice Chair Strauss.

Council Member Moore, and then we have Council Member Rivera as well.

So Council Member Moore.

thank you very much chair thank you very much for this presentation and for this work it's really helpful to see this all laid out um i'm not actually going to ask a lot of questions i just wanted to note that in looking at the programs and the ones that show to be highly effective and important, we have emergency rental assistance.

And I just want to toot the Council's horn here and my horn, frankly, don't do it enough really, that we were able to get an additional $5 million in rental assistance in 2025, and we now have $10 million in rental assistance.

And one of the things that we also did was to put a slide to say we're going to put all the money in HSD and then we're going to bring HSD and SDCI and OH together to figure out how do we rationalize rental assistance so that we can get it out there quickly.

And how are we utilizing rental assistance, not just for somebody who's in an eviction proceeding, but how can we be more proactive?

So one of the things we're looking at with that is utilizing Looking at the housing connector as a really effective model and how do we use our own rental registration inventory to connect landlords with rental assistance opportunity and also creating sort of a proactive duty landlords before they engage in eviction to provide information about rental assistance and making it easy and hopefully we might be able to even get into this portal at some time where you can go to the portal and talk about the need for rental assistance.

So I'm glad to see that the mayor's office is putting all of this together.

I feel that we are working very much in partnership and having identified rental assistance as being an issue where it's been too disparate and too many silos.

So I'm excited actually about what we're going to be able to accomplish here.

I also just want to point out though that while we have EDRA and while we have TREO, and those are both really important, they are shortstop measures.

Because basically what EDRA does is it gives you the money to move, but where do you move to?

So again, we get back to the issue of supply.

Same with TREO.

TREO, you're being moved out so somebody can build an ADU in their backyard or add some sort of structure.

or re-renovate their particular structure.

So again, we wind up back to the supply issue.

And the thing that I'm gonna keep harping on here is that I think that we need to be looking more effectively, and I would split, I think it's splitting hairs to say this is about production and this is about keeping people housed.

I mean, when you define displacement as being unable to move prevented from moving into a neighborhood because of high rents or home prices, to me, that's a supply issue.

And that's all about what people keep telling us, we need more supply.

And absolutely, we do need more supply, but we need more affordable supply.

And some of the .

One thing I would say is we don't know enough about our MFTE vacancies.

So I would really strongly encourage the mayor's office as part of this data gathering is to make sure that we are getting the information from our providers because we know that there are a lot of vacancies in our subsidized units.

We also know that many of the people in those subsidized units are not able to afford even the subsidized rent and so that's something we have to look at.

And for MHA, I note that in the One Seattle proposal that there was no, a decision was made not to look at applying MHA in neighborhood residential.

And I think that that's a missed opportunity.

When you look at HB 1110, it talks about which mandates that we zone so you have at least four units and six if two are affordable.

But 1110 says that the local jurisdictions are able to utilize their own affordable housing tools and laws to make that happen.

And I would really like to explore the idea of if we're going to have four units on every lot, why can't we make two of those affordable?

Why can't we make two of those either 60% AMI or even 80 to 120% AMI?

We hear a lot of people who are, I mean, we clearly need workforce housing.

There's no doubt about that.

But we also have a lot of young and not so young professionals who are struggling to get into their starter home.

And they are at a higher AMI.

That's part of why we're looking at the social housing developer who also goes up to 120% AMI.

So I think that there is a great opportunity here to utilize the power of MHA and to utilize the power of MHA as an on-site performance tool rather than an in-lieu tool.

And so I would just really encourage the mayor's office to look at that as a powerful displacement tool.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member Moore.

And I just wanna note that we have been in discussion with our OPCD mayor's office and to talk about utilizing these meetings for an MHA presentation.

And that, did I say that right?

Chris, I don't wanna throw y'all under the bus.

Okay, nevermind.

So we will- It's fine if people want one.

I think we presented our proposal to council members at the last committee and I think if there's changes that council members want to make to that proposal, of course, that's your prerogative.

If you want to have more discussion or explanation as to why we made the decision that we did, we are happy to come back.

Awesome, thank you.

I didn't mean to say throw you under the bus.

I'm driving the bus, so I can't throw you under, I can drive over you.

So I just want, Council Member Rivera, I see your time, I see your hand, so I don't want to not recognize you, but I just want to do a time check.

We have just finished this presentation.

We have another presentation to do.

We're almost three hours in.

I wanna check with council members.

Council Member Rivera, if you could hold your question to the next, if that's okay.

Thank you, I really appreciate that.

I wanna check to see if you all need a five minute recess.

And I will open the floor for people's comments.

Council Member Hollingsworth, I might suggest that we move this next presentation to the next committee meeting.

Just seeing as we're eight minutes out from 5 p.m.

We've been here for three and a half hours.

If you want to take a five-minute recess to figure out where we are.

Fair enough.

I only say that because, no shade, but I don't know that the FAIS has been published yet.

Tomorrow, right?

And so I see fingers crossed.

If it had been published at the beginning of the month and the clock was ticking, I would have a different perspective.

Understood.

I appreciate that, Councilmember Strauss.

Do we have a consensus on a five-minute recess?

Yes.

Okay, awesome.

And do I just say five-minute recess?

If there's no objection, we will move to a five-minute recess while we discuss our next steps.

And we are in recess, so we will be back.

I can't add.

4.57 will be back.

Thank you.

you Music Thank you.

Okay, we have quorum.

Thank you all.

We have returned from recess.

So this is what we're going to do because we are over three hours into the meeting.

So if there's no further questions about this agenda item, we are going to move on and we're gonna punt agenda item number two for another meeting.

I want to thank the mayor's office.

I know y'all are ready to get out of here, so thank you for coming.

Innovation and performance.

Director Kinidongo, thank you, my friend.

We really appreciate the presentation today.

A couple house cleaning items before we leave that I want us to all be aware of.

Our next meeting will be February 5th at 11 a.m.

At what time?

at 11 a.m., and February 5th, and you're on here next.

I wanna thank my colleagues for being flexible, and I wanna thank Council Member Strauss for allowing us some of your meeting time that morning, and for you being flexible, Vice Chair.

Absolutely, I just wanna make sure everyone realizes it's 11 a.m., not 2 p.m., because hopefully we will be off the dice by 2.

Absolutely, so it's 11 a.m.

February 5th.

I also wanna thank Council President for your flexibility and schedule, but this is what's the most important piece.

Because our meeting is loaded, we will only be accepting written public comment at 11 a.m.

on February 5th.

And that is because we have a public hearing that same day on the 5th at 5 p.m., where we will be here for the entire time.

So I'm looking forward to seeing all your beautiful faces.

at both meetings if you wanna come, write your public comment in, written public comment, but on February 5th, okay, at 5 p.m., we will be here, everyone will get two minutes, and we will be here for as long as it takes.

Also wanna say that our in-person public comment that day and we have sent out an advisory.

We're gonna send out a news advisory and we have putting it on our website as well, is from 5 to 7.30 in person.

That is because we're having childcare and it can only be for a certain time.

And then if you are doing online, you can start signing up at 7 p.m.

and we will start recognizing our online callers at 7.30 and we'll go back and forth, but we're gonna move for our in-person speakers as much as possible that day so we can get through folks so people aren't here until midnight and 1 a.m.

and the buses and all that good stuff for transportation.

So I just wanted to throw that out there.

So 5 to 7.30, in-person commenters only, and then we'll be taking, we'll turn it into a hybrid meeting at 7.30.

Remember, we're only accepting written public comment at 11 a.m., for our meeting on February 5th.

I also wanna thank our colleagues for your time and all the work that you've done.

I want you all to read agenda item number two, that is a full presentation about the comments, the feedback and how OPCD did their plan and integrated those into the comprehensive plan.

So we can all have a place setting for when we return and we can be able to ask different questions about that.

So I'm not telling you to do your homework.

I'm not your teacher, but do your homework.

Okay.

Thank you.

Does anyone else have anything for the good of the order?

Okay.

Seeing none, this concludes our January 29th meeting.

Select committee.

It is a cool 5.05 PM.

Thank you.