AN ORDINANCE relating to the Office of Housing; authorizing the acquisition of two parcels in South Park for the purpose of development of affordable housing and community ground floor space; placing the property under the jurisdiction of the Office of Housing; and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.
Motion carries and the appointment is confirmed. Will the park please read the short title of item seven into the record? To be part of the Finance and Housing Committee Agenda Item seven Council Bill 120114 relating to the Office of Housing authorizing acquisition of two parcels in South Park for the purpose of development of affordable housing and community ground for space. The Committee recommends the bill pass. Thank you so much, Governor Mosquito. You are the chair of the committee and are recognized to provide the committee's report. Excellent. Thank you. Council president, colleagues, as I mentioned this morning, I'm really excited about the legislation in front of us. Constable 121104 is an opportunity for us to move forward on developing affordable housing in a critical area of our city that has seen high risk of displacement. This legislation also represents the first time the Office of Housing is useful utilizing the Acquisition Authority that I sponsored Veon and via an amendment to the Administration and Finance Plan. Update In 2019, we as a Council made the decision to adopt the amendment so that we could increase the Office's Office of Housing Authority to quickly act and move forward on purchasing lands of exactly this type for acquisition. Again, in this year in our acquisition and finance plan update in June, we now have not only increased the amount of funding the Office of Housing had, bringing that amount previously to 30 million. Now, the Office of Housing also has more ability to purchase properties like this in the future because we removed the cap. So this is a really great example of that good work that this council did being put into action and examples of the type of future purchases that we will now be able to see via the Office of Housing. Given this Council's authority to remove the CAP on acquisition authority. This property specifically and I see Councilmember Herbold teeing up to speak about it in District one. This is specific to South Park and the South Park Community Center community, who has been working in collaboration with the Damage Valley Affordable Housing Coalition and Duwamish Valley Cleanup Coalition. Office of Housing and the Office of Sustainability and Environment. That is going to be working to create more affordable housing in South Park, using community preference strategies to help stave off and even reverse some of the effects of displacement, specifically in the South Park community. This piece of the legislation also works towards addressing climate resilience in the neighborhood. South Park is a neighborhood that is experiencing a high risk of displacement, and it also is an area, as we discussed in our committee, that is experiencing a disproportionate impact of environmental injustice in the community. This project and the legislation in front of us is responsive to those concerns and will help tremendously add value to the neighborhood at a site previously occupied by just a garage. So let's turn that space into housing and more community assets. The timing of this legislation is also reflective of the urgency expressed within the community and an agreement the Office of Housing has begun to enter into with the community and the seller so we can be competitive in the purchasing of this property. I want to note that acquisitions like this, in addition to the legislation that we passed in 2018 that prevents the city from selling off public land and under-utilised land to the highest bidder. Both of these strategies help bring in more public assets to the city, allow us to acquire and retain more public property that can be used for the public good, like housing and community sites. That is being considered here at South Park housing coupled with community space on the ground level so that we can truly create homes and a place for folks to continue to live, thrive and enjoy in our city. So, colleagues, I am hopeful that you will consider passing this legislation today again passed out of the Finance and Housing Committee with a do pass recommendation unanimously, as this legislation allows the Office of Housing to acquire two parcels in South Park for affordable housing development, along with ground floor space. And again, this is a community supported project that will utilize these properties to create up to 100 family sized affordable housing units and affordable being defined at 60% of the area median income. Along with that critical community space on the first floor, the community has asked the city to acquire the site and do an RFP for affordable housing development with community priorities in mind, which can commence as soon as we pass this. So looking forward to passing this today and thank you for your support. Thank you very much for that report. Are there any additional comments on the bill? Councilmember Herbold. Please. Thank you so much. I want to just lift up the fact that affordable housing was one of seven priority areas identified in the Damage Valley Action Plan. And this was a plan that was passed a couple of years ago. I think our our action on the action plan is good evidence that with community support and community mobilization, the plans that are developed by community won't just sit on a shelf someplace gathering dust, but that they can actually translate into concrete action. The specific goal that this addresses is pursuing additional opportunities for permanent affordable housing for low income households in the Duwamish Valley. South Park is such a small, close knit community that they they often say that they can literally put together a by name list of folks at risk of displacement with the inclusion of the community preference policy embedded in the request for proposals that will be developed with the community involvement. This acquisition can go a long way towards beginning to address displacement for that list of community members. I want to also give a shout out to the Dual Valley Affordable Housing Coalition for their long track record on developing community vision and for organizing affordable housing in South Park, Georgetown and the communities of Egualmente Valley. This is part of a three pronged approach that she's done a lot of work on. I've gone to a lot of meetings about this approach, and it is specifically focused on addressing displacement with the development of new affordable housing. They state, in partnership with a nonprofit developer, build new affordable housing for families, including displaced households from the Duwamish Valley. Second prong is a multipurpose building, a one stop cultural anchor where local families can access opportunities and resources, open space for gatherings and pop up multigenerational space for learning retail, affordable child care and low income housing units . And the third prong is the preservation of naturally existing affordable housing. They rates in the next 2 to 3 years with the help of public and private partners, or, of course, orchestrate the acquisition of enough units to impact the immediate rental area. The goal is to acquire 100 units in the Duwamish Valley and there has been some work on that third prong partnering specifically with Habitat for Humanity on some some probation work there. I want to just also in closing, thank the Office of Housing for pioneering this innovative approach to addressing displacement. And of course, I think Muskat up for her leadership in allow in sponsoring the legislation that allows for the lifting of the cap for acquisition. Thank you. Thank you so much. Are there any additional comments on the bill? Right. I don't see any other customers of their hands up, so consumers get it. You cannot close out this discussion and then we will take a vote. Thank you so much. I just want to echo Councilmember Herbold comments and appreciation from the Vice Chair for Office of Housing for the Community Coalition that has brought this legislation forward, very excited to follow their lead on what they'd like to see there, and wanted to take this chance to thank Aaron House in my office, along which we stressed the central staff for their work on this as well. Appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you. Okay, so debate on the bill is now closed. Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill? So on. Yes. Strauss. Yes. For both. Ah, yes, thank you. Whereas as. Lewis Yes. Morales. Yes. ROSQUETA. I. Peterson, I. Council President Gonzalez I and I'm in favor and oppose. The bill passes and the chair will sign it. Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf? Is there any further business to come before the Council? Hearing none. This does conclude the items of business on today's agenda. Our next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is on July 19, 2021 at 2:00 PM. I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon. We are going to stay. I.