Government

Durkan Signs Executive Order Addressing Affordable Housing

THE SEATTLE MEDIUM — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed an Executive Order to help create a more affordable Seattle.

Published

5 years ago

February 26, 2019

By The Seattle Medium

This week, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed an Executive Order to help create a more affordable Seattle, combat residential displacement in neighborhoods across Seattle, and create more affordable low- and middle-income housing. Read the full Executive Order here.

“To help create a city of the future, we must work together to protect against gentrification and displacement and make it possible for families to stay in Seattle,” said Durkan. “As Seattle has grown, we have seen far too many communities of color pushed out of their homes in Rainier Beach, the Central District, Beacon Hill, and Chinatown-International District. With this Executive Order, we are refocusing our work on strategies to prevent displacement and gentrification. It begins with community, and we will continue our work together to develop a holistic response so we can make a more affordable future real for families across Seattle.”

According to Durkan, the City has continued its commitment to increasing affordable housing across Seattle, including in neighborhoods at high risk of displacement, by leveraging more than $710 million to build 3,600 new, low-income, affordable homes by 2022. In addition, the City Council is expected to pass, and the City will begin implementation of Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA), which will provide 6,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years.

This Executive Order directs City departments to develop and implement strategies to further affordability and mitigate residential displacement, particularly in neighborhoods with communities at high risk of displacement. The Executive Order focuses on four key areas:

Creating and supporting several policies to further address displacement including:
- The creation of Community Preference for affordable housing units coming online.
- Development of continued financing for property acquisition and preservation.
- Expansion of the City’s home repair program for low income homeowners.
- Monitoring of Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) requirements including MHA performance projects.
- Leveraging new community driven affordable housing and commercial projects in Seattle’s newly designated Opportunity Zones
- Recommendations from the City’s Affordable Middle-Income Housing Advisory Council regarding middle income housing strategies
- Development of legislation to continue the Multi-Family Tax Exemption program, which expires in 2019.
- New affordability and housing online tools to connect individuals and families to City of Seattle benefit programs and housing.

Advocacy at the Washington State Legislature for additional resources and tools for anti-displacement efforts and more affordable housing.

Support of the City’s Equitable Development Initiative, which invests in Seattle’s existing community members and businesses in high displacement risk neighborhoods.
Creating a Citywide cross-departmental workplan to look comprehensively at residential anti-displacement efforts, which include regulations, tenant protections, incentives, and funding can work together to increase affordability and mitigate displacement.

As a first step, the Executive Order directs the Office of Housing to establish a Community Preference policy, which will allow City-funded housing developers to prioritize access to new affordable housing for residents in neighborhoods that have experienced high displacement on a case-by-case basis. The Community Preference policy is in part a response to a resounding call from community-based organizations – the need for increased access to affordable housing built within their neighborhoods.

“I want to thank community members in the Chinatown/International District. It was they, during the 2017 deliberations to pass MHA in the Chinatown/International District, who first asked that the City Council work with the Executive to allow housing providers to prioritize renting to members of displaced communities,” said Councilmember Lisa Herbold. “I want to also thank Mayor Durkan, in her executive order proposing changes to the Housing Levy policies, for her support for a Community Preference policy, in response to Resolution 31754. This type of policy has been utilized in other cities. Done well, this policy can be an additional tool towards ensuring that the people who make our city work and keep it strong and diverse are able to live in our city.”

This article originally appeared in The Seattle Medium.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

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Alameda County

DA Pamela Price Stands by Mom Who Lost Son to Gun Violence in Oakland

Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018.

Published

6 days ago

April 22, 2024

Oakland Post

District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones

Publisher’s note: Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018. The photo was too small for readers to see where the women were and what they were doing. Here we show Price and Jones as they complete a walk in memory of Scott. For more information and to contribute, please contact Carol Jones at 510-978-5517 at morefoundation.help@gmail.com. Courtesy photo.

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Bay Area

MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

Published

1 week ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Mayor London Breed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

***PRESS RELEASE***

MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

HUD’s Continuum of Care grant will support the City’s range of critical services and programs, including permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and improved access to housing for survivors of domestic violence

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program is designed to support local programs with the goal of ending homelessness for individuals, families, and Transitional Age Youth.

This funding supports the city’s ongoing efforts that have helped more than 15,000 people exit homelessness since 2018 through City programs including direct housing placements and relocation assistance. During that time San Francisco has also increased housing slots by 50%. San Francisco has the most permanent supportive housing of any county in the Bay Area, and the second most slots per capita than any city in the country.

“In San Francisco, we have worked aggressively to increase housing, shelter, and services for people experiencing homelessness, and we are building on these efforts every day,” said Mayor London Breed. “Every day our encampment outreach workers are going out to bring people indoors and our City workers are connecting people to housing and shelter. This support from the federal government is critical and will allow us to serve people in need and address encampments in our neighborhoods.”

The funding towards supporting the renewal projects in San Francisco include financial support for a mix of permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and transitional housing projects. In addition, the CoC award will support Coordinated Entry projects to centralize the City’s various efforts to address homelessness. This includes $2.1 million in funding for the Coordinated Entry system to improve access to housing for youth and survivors of domestic violence.

“This is a good day for San Francisco,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “HUD’s Continuum of Care funding provides vital resources to a diversity of programs and projects that have helped people to stabilize in our community. This funding is a testament to our work and the work of our nonprofit partners.”

The 2024 Continuum of Care Renewal Awards Include:

$42.2 million for 29 renewal PSH projects that serve chronically homeless, veterans, and youth
$318,000 for one new PSH project, which will provide 98 affordable homes for low-income seniors in the Richmond District
$445,00 for one Transitional Housing (TH) project serving youth
$6.4 million dedicated to four Rapid Rehousing (RRH) projects that serve families, youth, and survivors of domestic violence
$750,00 for two Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) projects
$2.1 million for three Coordinated Entry projects that serve families, youth, chronically homeless, and survivors of domestic violence

In addition, the 2023 CoC Planning Grant, now increased to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000, was also approved. Planning grants are submitted non-competitively and may be used to carry out the duties of operating a CoC, such as system evaluation and planning, monitoring, project and system performance improvement, providing trainings, partner collaborations, and conducting the PIT Count.

“We are very appreciative of HUD’s support in fulfilling our funding request for these critically important projects for San Francisco that help so many people trying to exit homelessness,” said Del Seymour, co-chair of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. “This funding will make a real difference to people seeking services and support in their journey out of homelessness.”

In comparison to last year’s competition, this represents a $770,000 increase in funding, due to a new PSH project that was funded, an increase in some unit type Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and the larger CoC Planning Grant. In a year where more projects had to compete nationally against other communities, this represents a significant increase.

Nationally, HUD awarded nearly $3.16 billion for over 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs including new projects and renewals across the United States.