After several quiet months, Council member Tim Burgess’s attempt to regulate short-term rentals listed through AirBnB, VRBO, HomeAway and other services is back. There are a handful of revisions to the plan, and this time there’s real legislation to be introduced into the Council’s legislative process.
Continue readingTag: affordable housing
Move-in fees legislation passes out of committee
Today the Energy and Environment Committee passed an amended version of Council member Sawant’s proposed ordinance, capping move-in fees and requiring landlords to offer an option for paying those fees in installments.
Continue readingFew controversies in budget votes today
Budget chair Tim Burgess’s plan for this year was to use two rounds of discussion to build most of the 2017-2018 budget by consensus, leaving today’s meeting to hash out whatever controversies remain. That is exactly how it played out, and even today’s meeting had few major conflicts.
Continue readingThe war of words over more affordable housing escalates
Over the last two days, the argument over whether the city should use its bonding authority to plow more money into affordable housing has threatened to turn into a pitched battle, with both sides digging in their heels.
Continue readingMore details on new affordable housing proposal
The proposals to be discussed at tomorrow’s budget committee meeting have been posted now, and with that the details of Council member Herbold’s new proposal to spend an additional $29 million for affordable housing.
Continue readingMore affordable housing: the plot thickens
For several weeks now, Council member Sawant and her coalition have been pushing a proposal to redirect funds from the troubled North Precinct police station project to fund 1000 units on new affordable housing. This afternoon, a competing proposal was announced, introduced by six Council members — including Sawant.
Continue readingThe North Precinct and new affordable housing
Council member Kshama Sawant has been stumping non-stop for her plan to kill off the last vestiges of the North Precinct police station plan, and to divert the funds to build 1000 units of affordable housing. Her proposal came up for discussion in the Council’s budget discussions yesterday, and it didn’t fare well.
Continue readingNotes from this morning’s Council Briefing
Here are my notes from the weekly Council Briefing session, in which the Council members tell each other what’s going on.
Continue readingNews roundup
In advance of the Mayor’s speech rolling out his 2017-2018 budget proposal, there’s a little bit of everything in the local news this morning.
Continue readingLet the budget shell games begin: Sawant pitches 1000 new affordable housing units
Over the next eight weeks, the City Council members will be looking for hidden pots of money that can be used to fund new or expanded projects. And Kshama Sawant has already put forth her first proposal: now that the North Precinct police station is at least temporarily shelved, she wants to use that money to fund 1000 new units of affordable housing. But chasing the details of her plan takes us deep down the rabbit-hole of municipal finances.
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