(The Center Square) – Tuesday’s Seattle City Council meeting erupted into bursts of frustration from citizens after the council decided to delay sending an initiative to fund social housing to the November ballot, meaning the measure will go to a February special election next year.
Initiative 137 is a community-led ballot measure that garnered more than 25,000 signatures last month. When an initiative gathers enough signatures, the city council must take action to either place it on a ballot, pass it into law or propose an alternative option for voters to consider against the originally proposed law.
The deadline to put I-137 on November’s ballot was Tuesday afternoon. Advocates for the initiative had hoped the council would act before then so they could benefit from high turnout in fall’s general election.
The delay means the initiative will go before the voters in February.
Seattle City Councilmember Cathy Moore previously expressed interest in the city council exploring an alternative ballot measure that would ensure tax dollars are spent on lower-income households that range from 50% to 60% of the Seattle area’s median income.
Fellow Councilmember Bob Kettle motioned to delay the vote to place the ballot measure on November ballots. He cited legal issues that were raised but not addressed during a council briefing on July 29.
“Good governance requires us to do our due diligence on these legal questions and is the basis of my motion to remove Resolution 32142 from the agenda,” Kettle said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales countered, saying that the move by her fellow city councilmembers to delay the vote was “one of the most undemocratic moments” she has seen in Seattle. She called out the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, which called into public comment encouraging a competing measure.
“If the chamber wants to have an alternative placed on the ballot, then they can get 25,000 signatures to do that too,” Morales said.
House Our Neighbors created the initiative, which would levy a 5% payroll tax on Seattle employers with workers who make more than $1 million a year. Utilized revenue from the proposed 5% compensation tax would go to fund social housing in Seattle and be available to all regardless of income.
Rent rates at social housing units would ideally be no more than 30% of the household’s income, according to House Our Neighbors. That means if a tenant were to make more money, then said tenant would see their rent adjusted to continue to match the 30% rate. There is no time limit on how long a tenant can stay at a social housing unit.
Those who attended the city council meeting were upset that the city council chose to limit the public comment period to an hour in order to meet the 4:30 p.m. deadline to put Initiative 137 on the ballot.
“Seattleites showed up to support the resolution to place I-137 on the November ballot and were blindsided by this last minute decision to delay,” Tiffani McCoy, policy and advocacy director at House Our Neighbors, told The Center Square in an email.
McCoy said she is looking forward to securing the funding for the Seattle Social Housing Developer in the February special election.
“We will keep a close eye on this alternative and maintain constant communication with our lawyers,” McCoy concluded.
The city council has an early October deadline to vote for putting the initiative on the February ballot.