Seattle Growth and Affordability I had Presentation to UDI Victoria - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Seattle Growth and Affordability I had Presentation to UDI Victoria Nathan Torgelson I City of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) | March 6, 2019

Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections WHAT WE DO: • Permit review and issuance — implement 17 City Codes • Design Review on major projects • Inspections • Code enforcement • Tenant protections and rental inspection program • Zoning code revisions • Community engagement

SEATTLE: BOOM CITY • One of the fastest growing cities in USA • 2010 Population: 608,660 • 2018 Population: 730, 400 • Multifamily Vacancy Rate: 5-6% • Office Vacancy Rate: 9.4 % (lowest since 2001) • Center City Seattle: 50 million square feet office space, 7.4 % vacancy, 82,000 residents; 300,000 jobs; 6.4 million square feet under construction (66 projects) • Amazon 10 million square feet; up to 4 million planned or under construction

U.S. CRANE TALLY City January 2019 Crane Tally Seattle 59 Los Angeles 44 Portland 30 San Francisco 29 New York City 28 Washington DC 28 Chicago 26 Denver 17 Source: Rider Levett Bucknall Crane Index, January 2019 *Toronto: 104, Calgary 33. (No data for Vancouver or Montreal)

Seattle construction still booming and won’t end anytime soon Originally published February 19, 2019 at 6:00 am

RESIDENTIAL UNITS Residential units reported in the year the construction permit was issued (includes units completed and those that are permitted, but not yet built); 69,000 gross units in last 7 years 15000 11,905 11,576 12,100 10000 8,845 8,353 8,313 7,845 7,800 6,569 4,355 4,603 5000 3,912 1,519 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 -5000 Net New Units Demo

BUILDING PERMIT INTAKE 2007-2018 Permit Count 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

SEATTLE’S HOUSING REALITY IN 2016

TODAY’S SEATTLE’S HOUSING REALITY 2019 rent up 1.7%, but up 50% since 2010 4,487 people are living without shelter in Seattle; 4,112 with shelter More than 45,000 Seattle households spend more than half of their income on housing Average monthly rent for all types of rentals in Seattle is $1,945

WHAT IS HALA? Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda 65 recommendations from Housing Committee in 2015

SEATTLE HOUSING LEVY 35 Year History of Affordable Housing Investments • 2016 Housing Levy passed by 70.6%, providing $290 million over seven years • Subsidized housing designed for households under 60% of AMI, with emphasis on households under 30% AMI • 50-year regulatory period • Additional programs for Homeownership Assistance, Homelessness Prevention, and Home Repair

INCENTIVIZING AFFORDABILITY Creating affordable apartments in market-rate construction • Multifamily Property Tax Exemption provides affordability for up to 12 years • Over 2,500 affordable apartments in otherwise market-rate buildings, and 2,000 more in the pipeline • Per-household rent savings average $6,000 per year

MANDATORY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY Growth with Affordability • All new multifamily and commercial development must either build or pay into a fund for affordable housing • Provides additional development capacity to partially offset the cost of these requirements (zoning changes) • Increases housing choices • A state-approved approach other local cities have used • Adopted so far Downtown, South Lake Union, Uptown Central District, University District. So far 15 projects, $13.3 million and 19 units

HOUSING LIMITED BY ZONING Current Planning Area Boundaries, Urban Centers & Urban Villages

MANDATORY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY Creating more affordable housing through growth We are enacting zoning changes so that new development will create income-restricted affordable housing. Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) lays the framework for how Seattle grows equitably and sustainably.

HOW WE ENGAGED COMMUNITY • Nearly 200 in- person community “meet - ups” • A nine-month facilitated community focus group process with 160 community members • Ongoing online conversation with 2000+ community members • “Telephone town halls” with 70,000+ households • A translated mailer sent to nearly 90,000 households • 10,000+ doors knocked to try to speak with every single- family-home resident in every urban village, including in-language • An email distribution list of over 4,700 • The HALA Hotline and HALAinfo@seattle.gov

COMPREHENSIVE REZONES Propose comprehensive MHA rezones and new affordability requirements in: • All urban villages and urban village expansion areas • All areas outside urban villages with multifamily and commercial zoning • Legislation transmitted in December of 2017 citywide MHA rezones MHA already in effect Urban village Proposed urban village expansion

AFFORDABILITY REQUIREMENTS + REZONES Without MHA: With MHA: market rate building with current code + additional development capacity no affordability requirement + affordable housing contribution

MHA PAYMENT AND PERFORMANCE AMOUNTS

MHA PAYMENT AND PERFORMANCE AMOUNTS

AFFORDABLE HOMES THROUGH PAYMENT & PERFORMANCE Advantages to both; 2 to 3 leveraging with LIHTC and mixed-income communities Liberty Bank Building Africatown/Capitol Hill Housing Plaza Roberto Maestas El Centro de la Raza/Beacon Development Mercy Othello Plaza Mercy Housing NW

USE GROWTH & EQUITY ANALYSIS Vary scale of zoning changes based on displacement risk and access to opportunity

DIVERSITY

CITYWIDE MHA PROPOSAL Mappin ing Example le: : West t Se Seattle le Ju Junctio ion Primary principles: • Bigger upzones were proposed, due to high access to opportunity and low risk of displacement. • The urban village is expanded to a10 minute walkshed to frequent transit (future light rail).

THANK YOU For more on Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA): seattle.gov/HALA Nathan Torgelson Director Nathan.Torgelson@Seattle.gov City of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI)