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- Who can afford to live here?
Back in July, I reported on a group of low-income residents in the Central District who were demanding that Mayor Ed Murray intervene and stop their building—Squire Park Plaza—from being sold off to a private developer. The developer eventually dropped out of the deal on its own.
But in the midst of that issue, Murray called and said he intended to assemble another big committee—this time to address housing. As I wrote at the time:
The mayor plans to convene another of those grand-bargain-style stakeholder committees—forcing property developers, affordable-housing advocates, low-income tenants, and “people who work here but can’t afford to live here” all into one room—to hash out a major plan to “keep this city affordable.” Murray has had success with this method on the minimum wage and the fight between rideshare companies and taxi drivers. In both cases, the committees (after delays and much hemming and hawing) produced compromise proposals. Then the city council approved them as law. Murray expects the council to officially empanel this new committee before the end of the summer.
On the issue of housing, however, “It’ll be far more difficult than the last two processes,” Murray warns.
On Tuesday, before he flew off for an official trip to Ireland, Murray offered more details. The committee will begin meeting this fall and is supposed to issue recommendations by next May (though it’s worth recalling that previous committees in the minimum wage and rideshare previously did not meet their mayor-imposed deadlines).
And this committee is even larger, by four people, than the 24-member minimum wage committee. But here’s the thing: There doesn’t appear to be a single person on the list who works here but can’t afford to live in Seattle. Mayoral spokesperson Jason Kelly says the mayor’s office didn’t ask anyone where they live.
“Why has the Mayor excluded representatives from the minority communities most affected by the housing crisis?” asks Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant in an e-mailed statement. “I have very serious concerns about the overall makeup and balance of this committee. People of color, renters, and labor are all dramatically underrepresented, while developer and business interests dominate in the current proposal.”
The full list of members (two haven’t been named yet) is below the jump. By my count, broadly, there are currently 11 members who represent developers, property managers, investors, architects, or construction interests. And there are 10 members who might be considered advocates for affordability to low-income people.
I spoke to one of the renters on the committee, Mitchell Brown, a UW senior who’s part of the student government. “I definitely have felt the rent increases,” he says.” The rent at his North Seattle place, which he shares with housemates, shot up $400 last year. (But he hasn’t had the experience of being forced out of Seattle because of his rent increase.) He says he will push for affordable housing priced for someone making 30 percent of median family income ($15,614 a year), given that students are already struggling with rising tuition and debt.
Keep in mind that rentals account for 54 percent of Seattle’s housing stock, according to 2012 data.
Council member Sawant also decries the inclusion of Seattle Housing Authority Director Andrew (SHA) Lofton—who is actively seeking approval for an unpopular rent hike plan on public housing tenants—on the advisory committee’s steering committee.
The mayor’s office insists, however, that SHA must be part of the committee because it is a major provider of affordable housing. “There is a strong balance between community interests and technical expertise,” says Kelly, the mayor’s spokesperson. “The mayor is seeking a collaborative discussion and broadly supported recommendations. Just as with the mayor’s work with the minimum wage advisory committee, this is not a majority rule situation.”
These are the people who are going to determine the future of who can afford to live in Seattle. Any names jump out at you for one reason or another? If so, send me an e-mail: ansel@thestranger.com.
Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory Committee members:
Co-chair David Wertheimer – Citizen, Philanthropic Sector (Gates Foundation)
Co-chair Faith Li Pettis – Partner, Pacifica Law Group
Alan Durning – Sightline Institute
Bill Rumpf – President, Mercy Housing Northwest
Catherine Benotto – Principal, Weber Thompson Architecture
David Moseley – 40 year administrator for Washington State
David Neiman – Principal, Neiman Taber Architects
Don Mar – Owner, Marpac Construction
Estela Ortega – Executive Director, El Centro de la Raza
Gabe Grant – Vice President, HAL Real Estate Development
Hal Ferris – Principal, Spectrum Development
Jermaine Smiley – Washington & N. Idaho District Council of Laborers
Jonathan Grant – Executive Director, Tenants Union
Jon Scholes – Vice President, Downtown Seattle Association
Kristin Ryan – Director, Seattle Office, Jonathan Rose Companies
Lisa Picard – Executive Vice President, Skanska
MA Leonard – Vice President, Enterprise Community Partners
Maiko Winkler-Chin – Executive Director, SCIDpda
Maria Barrientos – Founder, Barrientos
Marty Kooistra – Executive Director, Housing Development Consortium
Merf Ehman – Attorney, Columbia Legal Services
Mitch Brown – ASUW Representative
Paul Lambros – Executive Director, Plymouth Housing Group
Sean Flynn – Board Vice President, Rental Housing Association
Ubax Gardheere – Lead Coalition Organizer, Puget Sound Sage
Cindi Barker – City Neighborhood Council*Two committee members have yet to be confirmed.
Steering Committee members:
Mayor Ed Murray
Councilmember Sally Clark
Councilmember Mike O’Brien
Speaker of the House Frank Chopp
Office of Policy and Innovation Director Robert Feldstein
Office of Housing Director Steve Walker
Department of Planning and Development Director Diane Sugimura
Seattle Housing Authority Executive Director Andrew Lofton
Advisory Committee co-Chair Faith Li Pettis
Advisory Committee co-Chair David Wertheimer