Seattle ranks No. 10 in the most expensive major cities in America and the housing affordability issues remain persistent. With that, Mayor Ed Murray submitted a proposal to the City Council for an ordinance that would require property developers to include affordable housing units in new developments or they would have to pay a fee, The Seattle Times reported.
Both options are actually beneficial for the city, where those who could not afford to own a home literally fall in line just to get a chance of being considered for the low-income apartments. The ordinance would help Murray achieve his target of producing 20,000 new affordable homes in the next years, of which 6,000 can be built using the money from the fees developers would pay along with other sources of funds. The fees, according to Murray, is estimated to amount to $176 million in the next decade, per The Seattle Times.
The publication also noted that before the ordinance could go into effect, the City Council would have to approve rezoning proposals that would allow taller buildings to be built in dense neighborhoods. The Seattle Times quoted Murray saying, "Twenty thousand affordable units in a decade is simply off the charts. Everyone who works in this city should be able to live here."
In a separate report, The Seattle Times noted that home prices in the city rose 11 percent in February compared to a year earlier, outpacing most of the cities in the United States, according to S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index released last week. On one hand, price gains show signs of slowing down with the seasonally adjusted rate growing by a mere 1.3 percent in February compared to January's 1.5 percent. On a national level, home prices climbed 5.4 percent in February year over year, a tad lower than the 5.7 percent increase the previous month.
