There are 2+ reasons Seattle doesn’t mandate inclusionary units & allows developers to pay a few “in lieu” of putting the affordable units on site. It’s not some elaborate Marvel Comics “developer villain giveaway” that some nimbys (+ some on the left) try to make it out to be. https://twitter.com/sharethecities/status/1294333455535226881

1. It is murky legally to mandate a fee under our state law and a big ass lawsuit would slow housing production which many of us think is a bad thing (h/t @TheUrbanAce)

2. The flexibility of matching dollars generated through the relatively new MHA program was projected to be a 50:50 split of inclusion & fees so that @seattleoh would have matching $$ for the various complex funding sources required to build deep affordable housing

If you hear neighborhood nimbys or some folks on the left saying the city is “taking bribes from developers so as to not build affordable housing” that person does not understand or is lying to you about how we currently build income restricted multi family housing.

Is it ok to be angry about how we build and finance and exclude affordable housing from many neighborhoods?!

Heck yes!

But the lies that get spread don’t help anyone make better policy!

And thinking “oh let’s just mandate exclusion in all new construction” won’t get us the number of units we need as fast as the current flawed system. And we needed those units 10-15 years ago and WE DON’T HAVE AN INCOME TAX or FEDERAL magical pots of MONEY to build housing.