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 Mayor Ed Murray said his proposal was aimed at addressing an
overheated real estate market, fueled in part by the growth of
Seattle-based Internet retailer Amazon.com <AMZN.O> and other
companies, that is pricing out low- and middle-income residents.
Affordable housing has emerged as a top political issue ahead of
fall elections in Seattle, a city of 650,000 residents. Housing has
been hotly debated, especially in gentrifying neighborhoods where
residents bemoan - or flee - soaring rents and the tearing down of
Craftsman-style homes for modern multifamily buildings.
A lack of affordable housing, combined with stagnant or falling
wages, has been cited by experts as a key contributing factor to
homelessness in a number of U.S. cities.
 "This is a conversation about building an equitable Seattle, where
those who work, that struggle economically - those who just
struggle, period - can live in this city," Murray told reporters.
The plan requires City Council approval.
Murray hopes to add 20,000 units of affordable housing over 10
years, 6,000 of which would be paid for by private residential and
commercial developers.
Murray's plan would impose a special fee on commercial developments
ranging from $5 to $17 per square foot, based on a building's size
and location.
It also would require up to 8 percent of multifamily dwellings be
set aside for residents earning no more than 60 percent of the
area's median income - $37,680 for an individual or $53,760 for a
family of four. Alternatively, developers could pay a fee to help
finance off-site affordable housing.
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The Real Estate Investors Association of Washington said looser
zoning and permitting among other building incentives - as opposed
to mandates and fees - would bring higher inventory and lower
prices.
"Six-thousand units in 10 years? I don't believe the 6,000 units
would address the needs we have now," association President Shirley
Henderson said.
Investment firm Vulcan Inc, which led the transformation of
Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood where Amazon is based, has
already contributed $9.6 million toward affordable housing in
exchange for additional height and density allowances, "evidence
that a program that links fees to additional development capacity
clearly works," said Lori Mason Curran, a director at the firm.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Steve Gorman and Eric
Beech)
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