Seattle Chamber Behind Council Plan to Torpedo Social Housing Initiative

Today is the last day to vote in the special choice that decides the fate of the Seattle Social Housing Developer, and House our neighborsThe Grassroots group behind the social housing effort, just revealed a bomb shell. According to a request for public registration that the group shared on Monday, the group orchestrated the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce plan to force the social housing financing measure from the high -turn presidential election and to a low -turn elections facing a competing measure.

In fact, the e -mail, which was sent on August 5, suggests that the chamber even designed the voice language for proposal 1b and conducted legal review to make sure it would pass patterns. In the e -mail, Chamber President and CEO Rachel Smith President Sara Nelson and Councilor Maritza Rivera (District 4) pressed to delay House our neighbor’s initiative 137 (which was proposal 1A) and add competing proposals 1b. In addition, she spoke specifically to include misleading languages ​​that suggest that both initiatives would finance the same type of social housing.

In reality, House suggested our neighbors a mixed income cross-sub-model that has not been tried in Seattle, while the chamber’s proposal would keep financing the same type of nonprofit housing that Seattle is already producing. This difference – and the opportunity to innovate and try a new model to create housing, back it in the special choice.

Similarly, the respective sources of financing are quite different.

Proposal 1A would charge an excess compensation’s payroll tax on some of the largest and most profitable companies in the city, which traveled approx. $ 53 million annually via a 5% tax on individual compensation exceeding $ 1 million annually. Companies that do not compensate for individual employees would be exempt from tax annually.

Meanwhile, proposition 1b simply foams $ 10 million a year from the existing jump start Payoll expenditure tax, which the Seattle City Council has already exhausted significantly by diverting revenue away from affordable housing and to their preferred spending priorities. Furthermore, Prop 1B will sunset after five years, so it only collects $ 50 million in total, while Prop 1A would raise more than a year and not change resources away from nonprofit home builders.

House Our neighbors submitted their qualifying signatures for King County elections in July, but the timing was such that the Seattle City Council was technically within its rights to delay and force the measure to miss the deadline to be on the vote in November. However, the Council was facing pressure to act quickly and ensure that the initiative was on the higher turnout, with the then councilor Tammy Morales (District 2) supporting this opportunity.

Ultimately, Smith’s argument swung the central fraction in the council and forced the delay and addition of a competing measure. It’s not hard to see where the chamber’s motivation came from, since several of their members, including Amazon and Microsoft, are the top political donors on the Prop 1b campaign, with more than half a million dollars flowing at the last minute. Amazon would definitely pay the tax considering the high compensation packages that are common among their leaders. In 2023, for example, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Reportedly drawn more than $ 29 million in total compensation.

On the other hand, whether Council President Sara Nelson made the right call in siding with Big Business over a grassroots house initiative will eventually be up to voters in November when deciding her re -election.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has made a similar calculation that chamber support is more important than pleasant advocates of social housing. Harrell approved Prop 1B and seemed prominent on campaign literature criticizing Prop 1A and calling for 1b support.

Recent voting from the Northwest Progressive Institute and Change Research indicates that Harrell’s approval assessments have refueled With him now 10 points underwater. The study also found that Nelson and any other councilor who was not named Alexis Mercedes Rinck are unpopular. Frustration with delay tactics and the lack of progress with housing solutions seems to be a major part of this sinking approval.

Seattle voters have until 1 p.m. 20 to get their ballots in a ballot or postmarked.

Doug Trum is the publisher of the urbanist. He is an urbanist writer since 2015, and dreams of pedestrian streets, bus lanes and a mass-timber building to end our housing crisis. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in Seattle’s Fremont Quarter and loves to explore the city on foot and by bicycle.