Affordable-housing levy goes before Seattle voters Nov. 3

On Nov. 3, Seattle voters will decide the fate of Proposition 1, the city's request for a $145 million affordable-housing levy that comes amid an ongoing economic crunch.

The seven-year levy is being pushed by a mayor and City Council hopeful that voters who saw fit to reject just two proposed cost increases in the past decade (a latte tax to fund day-care programs, and a fee on disposable shopping bags), will prove as giving as they were the last four times a housing levy appeared on the ballot.

"There's a willingness in this town to step up to the plate, and if ever a need could be demonstrated, it is now," said coordinator John Fox, of the Seattle Displacement Coalition.

Convincing voters of that need will be key for the Yes For Homes campaign, which has more than $288,000 in contributions from low-income housing agencies, social-service groups and financial institutions, and no significant opposition except, as Councilman Nick Licata puts it, "a fear of people's own financial security."

"We have a very generous population that has always supported it in the past," Licata said. "If it doesn't pass, it will be a measure of how much people are hurting."

Or, perhaps, a way for voters to say their generosity shouldn't be taken for granted.

Proposition 1 opponent Kirk Robbins, a Queen Anne activist who co-authored a statement against the levy for the Seattle Voters' Guide, says the city seeks approval of a levy amount that far exceeds the rate of inflation when compared with 2002's $86 million levy. That levy, when adjusted for inflation, would translate to about $103 million today, Robbins said.

"This levy would do some good for some people, but it's too big an increase for a recession," the voters-guide statement says.

Similar concerns were voiced earlier this year by representatives of the Downtown Seattle Association and Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce

"We urge you to consider a renewal at the existing levy size of $86 million, given the state of the economy," the association's Jack McCullough and the chamber's Randy Bannecker wrote in a letter to Mayor Greg Nickels in April. "The city should be realistic about what it is able to achieve."

Ultimately, the City Council decided affordable-housing needs outweighed those concerns. Housing advocates, in fact, had pushed for a $167 million version.

But after concerted efforts to urge the council to ensure the levy would serve primarily low-income residents and to set a cap on those closer to median income, "advocates at all ends of the spectrum are pleased," said Anna Markee, of the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County.

If passed, the levy would cost homeowners about $17 per $100,000 of assessed property value annually.

For the average Seattle home, assessed at $460,000 in 2010, that would amount to about $79 a year. That's up from $49 a year under the previous levy and, according to a city news release, about $6.60 a month, "the price of a latte and muffin."

The city plans to use the bulk of the levy — about $104 million — to build or preserve 1,670 apartments. More than half the money would benefit people earning up to 30 percent of median income annually, or about $25,300 for a family of four.

The council also directed that no more than 10 percent of that money could aid those earning up to 80 percent of median income annually, or $64,000 for a family of four.

Other money would provide assistance to 550 renters annually, help fund 180 first-time home purchases and allow the city's Office of Housing to buy land or buildings for future development.

According to Fox, of the displacement coalition, the city lost 5,000 low-income rental units from 2005 through 2007. Some units were demolished, others turned into condominiums, but ultimately it was more than could be replaced in the same period.

Fox also noted studies indicating a shortfall of 30,000-plus units for those making 40 percent or less of median income.

Seattle voters passed housing levies in 1995, 1986 and 1981. The most recent, an $86 million measure passed in 2002, surpassed aims by producing or preserving 2,011 apartments and helping 211 first-time homebuyers.

While Fox is a frequent critic of city responses to housing needs, "this is one thing we are doing, and we can't lose it," he said. "Otherwise the crisis will be much larger than it is."

Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com