Richard McIver is willing to cut housing developers some slack -- just not as much slack as the mayor wants.
McIver is chair of the Seattle City Council's Housing and Economic Development Committee, which is expected to vote May 21 on his proposal for expanding a tax break on new buildings that include some affordable rentals or condos. What's at stake is who the units will be affordable to under what's called the Multifamily Tax Exemption, a program that encourages developers to provide affordable units in the private market.
Under the current program, a developer can skip paying any property tax altogether on a new building for 10 years if he or she makes up to a third of the units affordable to renters making 60 to 70 percent of area median income. At that level, the city considers a one-bedroom affordable starting at $1,068. Last year, arguing that nurses and firefighters were being priced out of Seattle, Mayor Greg Nickels proposed expanding the program from 17 to 39 neighborhoods and allowing developers to charge higher rents aimed at people making 90 to 100 percent of median, with a one-bedroom ranging from $1,374 to $1,425 -- near-market rate rents, some housing advocates say, that don't deserve a tax break.
McIver's proposal would raise the qualifying income to 80 percent of median income, with a one-bedroom topping out at $1,255. That's still out of the ballpark for the city's lower wage earners, but Elana Dix of Puget Sound Sage, a jobs and housing advocacy group, says it's better than the mayor's proposal.
"I don't think we deny there's a lack of middle-income housing, too," Dix says. But, "If we're giving up public resources -- property taxes -- the demand is for deeper affordability."