Is the MHA program working?

Earlier this month, the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing issued its annual report on the MHA program, which requires developers to contribute to the city’s efforts to build more affordable housing. Now that the program has been running for a few years, it’s an apt time to look at how it’s doing.

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Preview of Monday’s pivotal MHA meeting

Two weeks ago the Council walked through all of its proposed amendments to the city-wide MHA ordinance; I wrote up the results here. Tomorrow afternoon, they are scheduled to vote on those amendments, vote it out of committee, and then give final approval to the ordinance on March 18th.. The Council will also start discussing a draft companion resolution to accompany the MHA bill that commits the Council to several other actions. Here’s a preview of how things are shaking out, and the awkward conversations the Council members will need to have tomorrow as they vote on amendments.

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MHA enters the endgame

Two notable things happened today with regard to the proposed city-wide MHA “upzone” legislation: the city published the anticipated Final EIS addendum expanding on the historic resources analysis, and the City Council’s list of proposed amendments was released in advance of tomorrow’s MHA committee discussion.

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