Housing Developments: Construction Spice

May 21, 2018 in Housing Developments, Policy & Advocacy

Putting a bow on #AHW2018

Last week hundreds of community members came together at dozens of events across the county in support of safe, healthy, affordable homes for all as part of our third annual Affordable Housing Week! Check out #AHW2018 and #Homes4AllKC for a rundown, and email your city council to thank them for recognizing the week and encourage them to stay engaged.

#AHW2018 Headlines:

..and finally, our #AHW2018 Theme Song Contest Winner (for the second year in a row) Weber Thompson! Their in-house band “Two Turntables and a Micro House” brought the heat once again with “Imagine Our City.” Come for the tunes, stay for Construction Spice.

Thanks to everyone who participated in Affordable Housing Week! We’ll see you again next year.

Other developments…

  • New “head tax” puts Seattle in the national spotlight. Following Council’s unanimous vote Monday to enact an employee hours tax, folks around the sound and the rest of the country had a lot to say. This week, local outlets have turned speculative, with Seattle Times, KUOW, and Capitol Hill Blog wondering what’s next. Meanwhile, opposition aims for a November referendum.
  • “Zoning is the whole game when it comes to housing,” Maybe not the whole game, but either way, Mike Rosenberg takes a look at Seattle’s single family zoning and finds that 88% of new growth has been absorbed by 18% of its zoned residential land area.
  • Home is a parking spot for thousands in King County. South Seattle Emerald explores what life feels like for people living in their vehicles.
  • How a 2013 motel raid inspired a vision for new affordable homes in Tukwila: KUOW chats with Mohammed Jama about the Abu Bakr mosque’s plans to turn an old motel into new community asset.
  • King County’s homeless population has grown 11.5% since 2017, but funding has increased by less than 2.5% even as public and non-profit agencies move more households out of homelessness. This and more from the McKinsey report, which is partially behind a paywall.
  • An estimated 300 new affordable homes coming to Issaquah after Council approves changes to inclusionary zoning code.  Under the new policy, 15% of new units must be affordable to households earning 70% of AMI, or a developer can build fewer units with deeper levels of affordability.
  • “The crisis of housing and the cost of housing has moved from a social issue to one of core economic competitiveness,” Bellevue Mayor Chelminiak said at the State of the City meeting. 
  • King County taxpayers are paying more to add lanes to freeways into Bellevue than they would to put affordable housing within Bellevue city limits, according to KCHA executive director Stephen Norman.
  • ADU: What’s it 2 U? The City of Seattle is accepting comments on its Accessory Dwelling Unit Draft EIS.
  • “We’re moving outside the box.” King County Housing Authority’s work acquiring properties and leveraging housing choice vouchers to house more people was featured in Slate.
  • New tool in the works to identify publicly-owned land suitable for affordable housing development. Enterprise Community Partners’ Home & Hope tool will map all the public land in King County.
  • Naloxone Training for Case Managers and Housing Providers 6/5: The Coalition on Homelessness and King County Department of Community and Health Services host this free training in Kent. Register here.
  • Affordable developments face land construction costs just like any other building, KING 5 reports. Susan Boyd of Bellwether Housing sums it up her conversation with the news outlet; “Lots of money, land, and political capital are needed to build more.”
  • Washington Home Ownership Resource Center hosts State Homeownership Convening on June 13th in Tukwila: Registration is now open for the third annual statewide homeownership convening!