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| Kayla Schott-Bresler, HDC Policy Manager presents the award to Council. Photo courtesy City of Shoreline |
On Monday, May 11, the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County awarded the City of Shoreline the Municipal Champion Award for its leadership in supporting affordable housing opportunities in Shoreline and across the region.
The award recognizes the City’s efforts to create an equitable community through tools like incentive zoning and impact fee exemptions for affordable housing around the 185th Street Light Rail Station Area; partnerships with local affordable housing developments and nonprofits, such as the Ronald Commons project; and through efforts to raise awareness of affordable housing needs and solutions.
“Creating incentives and opportunities for more affordable housing in Shoreline is something all of us on the Council take very seriously,” stated Mayor Winstead. “Nearly 20% of Shoreline’s households are paying more than half of their income on housing costs. Encouraging the construction of more affordable housing will help alleviate some of that burden on our neighbors.”
Shoreline City Manager, Debbie Tarry, said,
“We are honored to be recognized for our efforts at creating more affordable housing opportunities in Shoreline. Shoreline is committed to creating a community that is open and available to people of all economic backgrounds. As such, we are working hard to create more housing choices, which includes affordable housing, to meet the needs of our diverse, vibrant, and growing community.”
Housing Development Consortium Seattle-King County (HDC) is a nonprofit membership organization representing represents more than 100 private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and public partners who are working to develop and preserve affordable housing in King County. Through education, advocacy, and leadership, HDC supports and inspires its members as they work collaboratively to meet the housing needs of limited-income residents throughout King County.
Planning staff and planning commission members accepted the award on behalf of the City at the banquet held Friday, May 1 (see previous article), but this was the formal presentation to the City Council.
How many times is the City going to milk this faux-ward? There was already one article about the award when it was presented at the HDC luncheon. Was the city awarded a second award by hdc or were they re-awarded the same award? As the mayor said in her recent column, don't be fooled. If you wipe out small, modest affordable homes to make way for 7 story big boxes with a low percentage (brought to you by the hdc - lobbyists for developers and financiers) affordable units, you have a net gain of ZERO affordable housing and less people owning affordable homes that aren't throwing their money away each month by renting or being shackled by hoas for a condo! That is not equity! That is the rich getting richer on the backs of the lower and middle class! What's vision 2029, you ask? A couple gated communities with multi million dollar estates and great views and the rest of shoreline in a treeless, dense, urban jungle of highrises and choking on pollution from the lack of lush tree canopy. The affordable single family home in Shoreline will become a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteVeneers... brought to you in part by the following donors:
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:04, totally agree. This is the most embarrassing display of self aggrandizement, we've ever seen by this out-of-touch Council! This was a set-up from the beginning. There will be nothing "affordable" about this housing. It will end up displacing truly affordable existing housing. Thousands of seniors now live in their homes which are paid off! They want to age in place. They have invested in this city and homes. They have kept them up, paid taxes, and contributed to this community for decades.
ReplyDeleteThis "award" is a fraud. It is self-generated. Shoreline citizens and voters are not fooled.
Anon. 11:04 nailed it! Don't be fooled. If you live anywhere on the east side of Shoreline, you're in for a very long and very rough ride - that is - if you don't join the effort to replace this council, or flee to outlying areas, which is what many are already planning to do. "Thanks" Shoreline for throwing away our neighborhoods. And BTW, if you think the high density replacement neighborhoods will be affordable, you've drunk the kool-aid too and have already been fooled.
ReplyDeleteFor crying out loud, this Council and the planners need to be replaced. It would be one thing if Shoreline's light rail stations were being built in abandoned industrial areas, then maybe an urban village would be a good solution, but these are modest, established, single family home neighborhoods. Bring some sanity back to Shoreline during these next two election cycles!
ReplyDeleteI'm not anti-Change, anti growth, or anti -progress, but I have serious concerns over this upzoning. I live on 168th, east of 15th ave NE and this route is only going to be more.conjested as it is one of the backroads routes from lake city way. Its already a well known bike route. Cut down your damned density, city hall! if you think new Shoreliers aren't going to have cars, despite living next to a SUBURBAN light rail stop, you're more foolish than I previously was led to believe. Look at Burnaby BC... People in Burnaby HAVE CARS, despite living close to the Skytrain stop.
ReplyDelete"Veneers." Best zinger I have ever seen on SAN.
ReplyDeleteJanet: please explain to me how seniors (and others) are going to be displaced from their affordable homes unless they WILLFULLY sell them to the big, bad developers?
ReplyDeleteNo seven story boxes will be built unless the people living along the corridor WILLFULLY sell to a developer. If someone in the rezone area has to sell their home, don't take the big bucks offered by a developer, sell your home for less to a nice family that wants to raise their family in a forward thinking community such as Shoreline!
Sure Anon 11:147am... we'll just have dozens of Edith Macefield type situations all over the place. Let's teach those obstinate senior citizens a lesson and corner them in on all sides, shall we?
ReplyDelete@.anon 11:14... Get the City to put it in writing that community renewal area laws will not be used in the subarea, then we can discuss willing Sellers and buyers. Sure, the City says they won't be using eminent domain to build new housing at the hands of the City, but imposing CRA laws to force eminent domain to sell to a federal or state sponsored party is a whole new concept, no? There are handfuls of government sponsored property aggregation "non-profits" (emphasis on the QUOTES) waiting at the ready... Mark my words.
ReplyDelete