Will We See More Inventory In Seattle?

Enhanced Housing Affordability Needed – Will we see more inventory in Seattle?

In his first State of the City address, newly elected Seattle Mayor Ed Murray devoted a portion of his remarks to housing affordability and pledged to establish a group of stakeholders to develop recommendations to bring housing within reach to more people. 

SKCR will work with the Mayor to identify solutions for additional housing opportunities that do not place further burdens on median income buyers, already struggling in this competitive market.

“In this city, households that spend 30 percent of their income on housing are considered to be cost-burdened. In 1990, 41 percent of renters were spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. In 2012, that figure is now 47 percent. 52 percent of household earning half of the average median income are spending half their income or more on housing. This is up from 43 percent in 1999. This is quickly becoming a crisis. I plan to work with Council to duplicate the approach we have taken with the living wage issue and apply it to the issue of affordable housing. I will convene a group of stakeholders – including community members, housing providers, the business community, real estate developers, and others – to deliver a set of recommendations on a plan for affordable housing for Council to act upon during its budget process this fall. All ideas are on the table as we work through the challenges facing the homeless and those who work but cannot afford to own or rent a home in this city. We must also be prepared to address the issue of social justice. After all, 51 percent of whites own their home in Seattle. For African-Americans that number is just 27 percent. As we conduct this important work, we as a City must improve our ability to track the housing that we are building, and better align development with our needs. We need to collect data, but we also need to mine and analyze it to give us a more strategic instrument for promoting housing affordability prospectively – not just assessing its lack retrospectively.”  — Mayor Ed Murray