Seattle Space Needle
The housing crisis in Seattle is giving life to a new concept: Social Housing.
“From Austria to Singapore, Argentina and France” countries around the globe have embraced government owned and operated housing, but it wasn’t until February of this year that voters in Seattle approved the idea “It’s a model built on the idea of providing a universally high standard of living coupled with universal affordability” says City Councilmember Tammy Morales.
The first meeting of the Social Housing Developer Board focused the big picture “We spent time working with Social Developers in France” says Morales, whose been working the finer points of this approach for more than a year “We worked on land use legislation, and we even started working with state legislators to get some seed funding.”
Affordability hits at the core of the housing crisis in Seattle, but housing stability may be its most important feature. “We know from the research these things effect our mental health” says Housing Development expert Julie Howe who now sits on the 13-member board “Being able to be in one place for a while and make those social connections that is preventative (helpful).”
Social Housing is seen as a place where the under-served can put down roots, but a new approach is needed “A lot of times if you get a better job or make more money” Devyn Forschmiedt works in education where teachers often struggle to live where they teach “You can’t access your housing anymore which actually de-incentivizes people from seeking better employment.”
But reimagining housing, financing and the government regulations is a steep hill “I don’t know of any place where the public policies really support that blend of resources” and renting over owning complicates the challenge says Chuck Depew, a community development expert “From the home ownership side we do have some good examples to prove it actually does work.”
But how soon and how well? The city is already targeting several pieces of publicly owned land, but renter’s advocate Tom Barnard says the decision makers must get this right “The people of Seattle are united in advocating for affordable housing and that the market has failed us.”
The struggle is real, but it’s a brick-by-brick process.
