The final recommendations put forward by Mayor Ed Murray’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) contain several strategies that can readily be put into place in the Yesler Community Collaborative neighborhoods.
“The neighborhoods within the greater Yesler area offer a prime opportunity to pilot affordable housing preservation and development strategies proposed by HALA committees in a place-based way,” noted Doris Koo, Yesler Community Collaborative’s lead consultant. “With the innovative work going on now in this area, we have an opportunity to test the cumulative impact of coordinating strategies on housing affordability in some of Seattle’s most at-risk areas.”
The wide-ranging report of the HALA task force contains recommendations and strategies that will likely be received with varying degrees of enthusiasm and support across Seattle. However, YCC board members and partners, who have provided policy recommendations to the task force, anticipate working through the recommendations carefully and continuing to participate in the legislative process.
“We applaud the efforts of the task force and the research and creative thinking that have gone into the process. We are especially gratified to see that several of the recommendations the Yesler Community Collaborative suggested have been incorporated into the report,” said YCC Board President Sue Taoka. “We look forward to initiating pilot projects that will support and test many of these recommendations.”
The HALA recommendations included several policy suggestions from YCC’s Housing Cohort, including housing preservation strategies, innovative financing, maximizing the use of available city land and providing incentives to owners to maintain affordable rents.
Final Report and Recommendations of the Housing and Livability Agenda Advisory Committee