Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda at a rally for the Housing Levy

LIHI urges Seattle voters to vote for the Seattle Housing Levy. The new seven year Seattle housing levy, replacing and expanding the expiring housing levy, is a proven broadbased response that helps working families, young people and seniors to remain in the city. It provides supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness, safe housing for victims of domestic violence and their children, and emergency rental assistance to keep families from losing their homes.

The $970 million Housing Levy will support the development of over 3,100 units of new affordable housing throughout the city, including both rental and homeownership opportunities. In total, the 2023 Housing Levy is expected to serve more than 9,000 low-income individuals and families by building diverse options for affordable housing throughout Seattle and providing direct assistance to prevent homelessness.

Tracey Williams and her daughter experienced homelessness in Seattle. They first stayed in a tiny house in the Central Area for 6 months before moving to Seattle Housing Levy funded permanent housing in the Othello neighborhood. She is now employed by LIHI.

2023 Seattle Housing Levy Programs and Goals

Rental Housing Production & Preservation: $707 million

Goal:

• Produce and preserve 3,516 affordable apartments

Creates and preserves affordable rental housing, including Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), for seniors, people exiting homelessness, working families with children, people with disabilities, and other low-income households. 

Operating, Maintenance, and Services (OMS): $122 million

Goals:

• Support operations for 510 new homes
• Stabilize workers supporting 646 existing homes

Ensures safe, sustainable operations at in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and creates a new wage stabilization fund for workers in PSH buildings. 

Homeownership: $51 million

Goals:

• Create 277 new homeownership opportunities
• Stabilize 90 low-income homeowners

Creates new permanently affordable for-sale homes, provides down-payment assistance for low-income homebuyers, and stabilizes low-income homeowners through emergency home repair grants and foreclosure prevention assistance. 

Prevention & Housing Stabilization: $30 million 

Goal:

• Stabilize and prevent 4,500 households from experiencing homelessness

Provides short-term rent assistance and housing stability services to help low-income households avoid eviction or homelessness.

Acquisition and Preservation: Up to $30 million

Provides short-term acquisition loans for cost-effective purchases of buildings or land for rental or homeownership development.

Program Administration: $60 million

Ensures continuous and effective administration of all Housing Levy-funded programs by covering costs associated with project selection and contracting, development underwriting, construction monitoring, project performance and compliance, fiscal management, program policies and reporting. 

Tax rate: $0.45/$1,000 assessed value 

Cost to median Seattle homeowners: $383/year or $31.92/month (based on assessed value of $855,136) 

For more information about the Housing Levy, please visit: 

• seattle.gov/housing/levy.
• Yes for Homes

Funding for the acquisition of LIHI's Clay apartments came in part from the 2016 Seattle Housing Levy.