June 16, 2015

Seattle releases affordable housing fee proposal

Seattle's Department of Planning and Development last week released proposed changes to some of the programs for creating and preserving affordable housing in the city.

The Affordable Housing Mitigation Program includes linkage fees, which could require developers of all new projects, except manufacturing and industrial projects, to either build affordable housing into their projects or pay into an affordable housing fund.

According to a draft environmental review, the proposal also includes possible changes to the incentive zoning program that allows developers to build taller and denser if they put affordable housing in their projects or pay into an affordable housing fund.

The proposal doesn't say how much the fees could be, but it offers a maximum of $28 per gross square foot.

DPD's Brennon Staley, said the proposals are options to be considered by Mayor Ed Murray's Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory Committee. DPD wanted to have the language ready in case the HALA group recommended a linkage fee or changes to the incentive program, so legislation could come together quickly.

Changes to the incentive program include altering or getting rid of the option to build affordable units in for-sale projects; changing or eliminating an option to build affordable units off-site, adding quasi-judicial rezones to incentive projects; allowing all affordable units in a building to be concentrated in the first 85 feet; and consolidating and clarifying land use code. Staley said DPD wants to streamline the incentive program, which today has different rules and standards in different neighborhoods.

The concept of fees for new development has encountered push back from the real estate industry. Coalition for Housing Solutions, which is a group of developers, property owners, architects and business associations, has opposed the plan. At an industry event last week, the group distributed a flier documenting how the city could get nearly 23,000 affordable units over 10 years, without the linkage fee. The group's proposals focus on expanding the Multifamily Property Tax Exemption program and asking voters to approve a larger housing levy.

Murray has set a goal of building 50,000 housing units over the next 10 years, with 20,000 of them income-restricted. He formed the Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory Committee to figure out how to get it done.

The committee is expected to deliver its recommendations to the mayor in the next few weeks.

DPD's options are open for comment until June 25, and the deadline for appeals is July 2.

For more information, or to view the proposals, visit: http://goo.gl/p81ZlC