A RESOLUTION amending and adopting the Policies and Procedures that govern the Reuse and Disposal of real property owned by The City of Seattle not subject to the City Light Department jurisdiction; updating certain portions of the procedures related to property reuse and disposal for affordable housing; and adding provisions regarding the use of proceeds from surplus property disposal.
Agenda Item three Resolution 318 37 amending adopting the policies and procedures that govern the re-use and disposal of real property owned by the City of Seattle, not subject to the city department jurisdiction, updating certain portions of the procedures relating to property, reuse and disposal for affordable housing, and adding provisions regarding the use of proceeds from surplus property disposal. The committee recommends a resolution be adopted as amended. Councilmember Mesquita Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, this legislation is a call for development done right? It's a call for development done through the community lens for the families and workers who want to and need to live within the city. It's in. It's in response to the call for density to help address the environmental impacts of displacement. Earlier today, I was listening to public testimony from the legislative body that oversees housing in Olympia. And Jaime Hahn, president of the Northwest Carpenters, testified saying the following. Despite the boom and despite the fact that our membership is overwhelmed with work, we are still not producing, producing enough housing, he said. Just like the police officers who cannot afford to live on the streets that they patrol. Just like the teachers who cannot afford to be neighbors to the children they educate, carpenters cannot afford to live in many of the homes we build with our own hands. This legislation is a response to the housing crisis and the injustice that many of us have talked about so far. We need housing. We need affordable housing. We need to house the homeless and we need to do it now. This legislation is in response to the call for reversing the exodus, especially of communities of color. As our friends from the tribal community said today. People who are the most vulnerable are losing out on the opportunity for housing. We're losing out on the opportunity for density in our neighborhood. We're losing the opportunity for more greenspace and public space for communities to engage and have opportunities for engagement. We're losing the opportunity for individuals to be able to live in the city that they work. And we need to make sure that all city property is used for the best use and not just sold at the highest price. Many of us know the root causes of the sad reality. The historic roots of redlining and restrictive zoning has often made it harder for working families, especially women and people of color, to have access to affordable housing. When housing is so limited in our city, it's often redlined communities where we see families and community organizations that are trying to serve those families who don't have the capacity to purchase new land and don't have the ability to create housing opportunities, especially mixed use opportunities for the density done in our for density in our communities. But when we remove the cost of land, the cost of producing affordable housing can be decreased by 15%. So in response to the comments that we've heard today, no, this legislation doesn't correct the injustice of redlining and it doesn't correct the injustice of having land taken. But it does help us begin the first steps necessary to make sure that more community organizations and individuals who are the most vulnerable have actual site control, and that we build the housing to respond our communities need. And now is the time where we have to act. Here is where we need to act at the local level. The Federal Department on Housing and Urban Development has just engaged in efforts to dismantle efforts to create affordable and fair housing. Here is where we have the opportunity, and I want to thank representative for you another woman of color who we should constantly thank when they are leading the effort, who passed House Bill 2382. She passed this earlier, this legislative session to make sure that we look at opportunities for us to take a step further and make sure that community has the opportunity to build the housing that we need on surplus property, that we commit ourselves to engaging and creating affordable housing to meet our fair housing goals, and that we are not only building housing but building community opportunities by making sure that housing is above child care facilities, above health facilities, next to public parks , and creating opportunities for small businesses to thrive on the first and second floors. And that we do this in a way that is built next to transit centers. And when we see maps of Seattle and where we know that displacement is occurring, especially for these most vulnerable communities, we have an obligation to do more. The community organizations who helped pull together this legislation have made it possible for us to now have tools in hand for us to take the next steps in living our values. And that is public land should be used for the best public use. And over the years coming up, I hope that we can act with urgency to make sure that these policies are set into place. Mr. President, there's six bullets that I'd like to read that outline what this legislation does, if I might. Please do. Councilmember. First, it sets a policy that requires the city to prioritize using surplus land for affordable housing in addition to parks and open spaces. Childcare and early learning centers. Educational facilities. Light routes. Light rail stations think little things like grocery stores so we can address food deserts. It allows for us to make sure that the land can also be leased, which means that the city maintains public ownership or partial ownership from municipal use. And that means that the property can be developed into affordable housing for mixed use. It directs the Office of Housing to partner with community organizations in areas of heightened risk of displacement, allowing for greater community ownership, site control and affordable housing to be developed through their lens. And it sets a benchmark that if a parcel is sold, if after an intense analysis, that the land is not going to be developed by the city in partnership with community organizations, that if it is sold, a goal of 80% of that revenue will be generated for parcels to go into affordable housing and into making sure that we meet our goals under the Equitable Development Initiative. It adds additional reporting from the Office of Housing regarding implementation to ensure accountability. So we're actually living our values and those organizations are serving the community that they intend to serve and that they're reflective of the community through their boards and leadership. It also cuts in time, cuts it in half the time for internal process in the city to review these parcels so we can build housing with urgency of the changes that I'm most excited about. It directs the Office of Housing to work with community organizations and to design affordable housing, especially for those who are at risk of displacement. To make sure that we are actually working with the communities that are at highest risk of displacement, instead of just assuming that that will happen with development and development is done right when community organizations are brought to the table, we can create the housing that we need and we can do it in a way that addresses the environmental impacts of displacement and as an effort to try to reverse some of the injustices that we talked about before. So I'm excited about this legislation, as you can tell. Mr. President, there's been a number of efforts that we have worked on together over this last year. But this is the piece of legislation that I think really helps us live our values in terms of how we can do a better job with publicly owned land and make sure that we get more affordable housing and community assets. This wouldn't have been possible without the organizations that you heard of today and a number of additional ones that I'd like to read very briefly, including folks from Puget Sound, Sage Got Green Interim CTA, El Centro 350, Seattle, Sierra Club, Campus Housing, Housing Development Consortium Future Wise of four Terra Enterprise Community Partners Chief. South Seattle Club. Seattle Indian Services Commission. Beacon Hill Development Group. Rainier Beach Action Coalition. Filipino Community Center Abundance of Hope Sustainable Seattle Sightline Mount Baker Housing Seattle Tech for Housing Seattle for everyone and so many more. I want to say very briefly before we get to amendments, a huge amount of appreciation to Sally Bagshaw. Thank you, Councilmember Bagshaw, to your team Allison, Dan, Brian and Linda for their ongoing work with us to make sure that we got this right. To Tracy Radcliff from central staff who constantly worked with us to make sure this was possible and to the intense work from our team, especially Michael Maddox and all of his research on this. I want to thank also as well Aretha Basu and Farida Cuevas, who helped shape this work and working with community organizations. This is a continuation of the work that you all worked on, I think, in 2017 within Councilmember Burgess. What we've done today is taking it to the next level in terms of what we mean by highest and best use of the parcels. And I'm really excited with this legislation. We will hopefully be able to see more. PLAZA Roberto Maya's does more Filipino community centers, more literal shopping places and more opportunities for, for example, Seattle Club as chief Seattle Club to acquire site control for production of permanently affordable housing to serve communities who've been left out and are at risk of displacement. And this is, I think, how we respond to the housing crisis today and also the housing crisis that will be here with us in 20, 30, 40 years if we don't act now. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Catch from a skater. Any. My colleagues like to address the resolution. So we'll go with Councilmember Beckstrom. Thank you. I want to just say. Councilmember Mesquita, you and your office have been fabulous partners on this. Thank you very much for taking the lead. Michael Maddox, I know you're embarrassed in the background that we call you out, but truly working with you and with the folks in my office who've done that is make a big difference. I just want to say I completely concur that this is the right way to go and we simply need a whole lot more housing, a lot faster, which means much more resources in order to do this that people say, well, it costs so much money. And I want to remind my legislator friends that last year the housing trust fund offered $100 million, which was a great beginning, but not statewide. We could so easily use $100 million right here to build the kind of units that we need. And if we're doing full on brick and mortar, we know that it's about $30 million for 100 units. And if we want to look at some options, like what we've been arguing for around modular is to try some pilots to get some things built and up and on, just ready to go for people. I really want to encourage us to look at every possible alternative. And in that regard, I would like to say thanks to my King County colleagues, John Arthur Wilson and Adrian Quinn, who are helping us look at those kinds of opportunities across the county. We cannot do this alone. You will hear me say a thousand times. The city government can do anything, but we can't do everything. And we need help and we need money in order to get this going. So. Also, we've got the green space, the parks, the education, all the amendments that we talked about. Do you have an amendment, an amended version that we need to bring forward before we vote on this? I sure do. Great, July. Thank you. Please. So that's my comments. I just say. And what? Thank you. So why don't we take the amendments and then we could describe the the amended legislation and we have some closing comments. So you have, I believe, an amendment one councilmember mosquito. Thank you, Mr. President. I think I unfortunately described the amendments as I was doing my spiel. So I do have two amendments, both just to clarify legislation. So the first is Amendment one, I'd move to amend Resolution 31837 by using substitute version five for substitute for version for the second. It has been second. So basically we're just accepting version since she actually spoke to the the new version. So substituting version five for version for any comments on the amendment. All those in favor of the amendment. But I. I. Opposed the ayes have it and amendment one has passed. Amendment two relates to attachment. I'd like to move to amend resolution 31837 attachment A by substituting version five for version for a second. It's been moved in second on the attachment. Any comments those in favor of amendment number two, which is again the attachment a subsequent version five for version for a. All those in favor say I. I opposed the ayes have it and those two amendments are passed. So we have an amended resolution and Casper bring back show you're through with your remarks, I assume. And Councilmember O'Brien, you have the floor, sir. Thank you so much again. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Mosqueda, for your work on this. And thanks community members for continuing to make sure that the city is focused on delivering as much affordable housing and using and prioritizing all of our resources towards that. I am thrilled to be supporting this going forward. I also want to acknowledge that there are there are surplus properties that are currently going through a process. Some of the homeowners spoke to that, specifically the Mercer Mega BLOCK, and I've been working closely on that and want to make sure that the process will maximize the amount, affordable housing and want to work with community members to really understand how we can do that to serve the best interest and get the most housing and in the neighborhoods where we need it most at the same time. So I think this resolution is a great step forward and we'll continue to work on those that are in the process. Thank you, Casper and Brian. I'll just say briefly councilmember skater that and I think what? What makes a difference in a good legislature legislator is the the ability by which they can get creative and really think outside the box and look at new problems and old solutions. And again, sort of put on their thinking hat and really push the envelope. And I think that's what you and your staff are doing. So I want to commend you on that. We've looked at surplus property and both from the generous Upton and for our utilities for years. But I think you've taken a much more aggressive approach and one that will better serve our residents and our our constituents throughout this city. So thank you for bringing forth this resolution. And with that, I think we are ready to vote. Are you ready to vote, Catherine Mosquito. Okay, all those in favor of adopting the resolution as amended. Please vote i. I those oppose vote no. The motion carries the resolution is adopted. Then Chair will sign it. Please read the next. Yeah, let's step on that. Please read the next agenda item.