On the 11th of February 2025, the voters of Seattle will decide the fate of Proposition 1A: the people’s plan to dedicate funding to the Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD).
Seattle DSA worked in coalition with House Our Neighbors on Initiative 135 to create the Seattle Social Housing Developer and Initiative 137 to get Proposition 1A on the ballot. It is essential that we, as socialists and the Left, mobilize to ensure the success of this important step towards creating a more equitable city.
Proposition 1A will create a 5% excess payroll compensation tax on businesses paying an employee more than $1 million, which will raise ~$50 million per-year—enough to provide 2000 affordable social housing units over 10 years.
Politically, it is essential that we nullify the dirty tactics of the corporate backed members of the city council. After delaying the adoption of I-137 to appease their corporate backers, ensuring it wouldn’t appear on the high-turnout November ballot, councilmembers Maritza Rivera, Cathy Moore, Sara Nelson, Joy Hollingsworth, Rob Saka, and Robert Kettle are attempting to hijack the people’s initiative with Proposition 1B: the Chamber of Commerce’s plan to strangle the SSHD in one hand and the city’s JumpStart funding in the other.
Proposition 1B would generate one fifth of Proposition 1A’s funding and sunset after 5 years. This would mean the SSHD wouldn't be able to provide nearly enough housing to close the housing deficit.
Most insidiously, Proposition 1B robs Peter to pay Paul: it plans to fund the SSHD by taking $10 million from JumpStart funding, an already existing payroll tax which funds private affordable housing, nutrition assistance, grants to small businesses, and support for immigrant families. Apparently, Maritza Rivera, Cathy Moore, and Robert Kettle think there isn’t a housing crisis, people face no difficulties affording food, small businesses have no financial issues, and immigrants can be ignored.
Ensuring Proposition 1A passes is a critical step forward for the socialist movement in Seattle. Proposition 1A validates the political labor our comrades have contributed to organizing a robust affordable social housing program in Seattle, and represents a mandate for socialist housing policy over the current ineffective privatized approach.
Seattle voters are tired of the tent cities adjacent to neighborhoods lined with walled mansions that materially and symbolically embody capitalist barbarism. Not only us socialists, but all ethically conscious human beings demand the equitable decency that social housing provides. Adequately funding the SSHD is especially critical given the current financial climate, as private affordable housing developers are suffering from a capital crunch due to ballooning costs.
A dedicated revenue stream will insulate the provision of affordable housing from market fluctuations, and while 2000 units over the next 10 years is far from enough to alleviate the city’s housing crisis, it’s an essential step in proving that a better world is possible.
Without establishing an independent funding mechanism to provision the Seattle Social Housing Developer, the housing crisis will exacerbate and inequalities will widen. This is exactly why tens of thousands of voters signed I-137: to establish a new and independent funding mechanism for the SSHD.
Proposition 1A will fulfill this goal, while Proposition 1B will only further strain the already overburdened funding bottlenecks in affordable housing. As socialists, we must mobilize to ensure our city takes a step on the right side of history.
