This month Mayor Murray and members of City Council launched work on a new Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda. The Mayor and Council have called together leaders in our community to help develop a bold agenda for increasing the affordability and availability of housing in our city. The agenda will chart a course for the next 10 years to ensure the development and preservation of a diversity of housing for people across the income spectrum. The Housing Affordability & Livability Advisory Committee will review every piece of the housing puzzle, including innovative ideas to pilot new types of housing, accessory dwelling unit regulations, new efforts to preserve existing affordable housing, opportunities to stretch our valuable Housing Levy dollars, and more.
The twenty-eight member stakeholder advisory committee is co-chaired by Faith Li Pettis of Pacifica Law Group and philanthropic-sector leader David Wertheimer, and includes renters and homeowners, for-profit and non-profit developers, and other local housing experts. The committee is charged with delivering a set of recommendations to the Mayor and Council by May 29, 2015.
The agenda will be guided by the following goals and values:
- Strengthen our city through housing affordability
- Ensure equal access to housing to advance social and racial justice
- Promote the livability of Seattle’s neighborhoods
- Promote housing opportunity across Seattle
- Promote equitable growth
- Continue our commitment to prioritizing those most in need
- Embrace innovation and build upon current, proven programs and policies
There are many opportunities for public participation in the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda. Opportunities include several public meetings to be held throughout the city in November and December. In addition, there will be online forums for public comments, a resource-rich webpage with updates on the committee’s progress, and periodic updates to the City Council with opportunities for public comment. The process will also include several topic-specific working groups that will involve a broad range of community members in addition to members of the committee.
Read the Mayor’s press release about the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda.
The Mayor’s webpage will soon include information and resources about the agenda, including the upcoming public meetings.