Drafter
Clerk 02/28/2019
Title
A MOTION accepting the final report and recommendations of the regional affordable housing task force and declaring the recommendations contained therein represents the policy of the council.
Body
WHEREAS, between 2012 and 2017 average home purchase prices rose fifty three percent and average rents increased forty-seven percent in King County, and
WHEREAS, average household income has not kept pace with housing costs in King County, increasing by only thirty percent between 2012 and 2017, and
WHEREAS, the stock of rental homes affordable to households at or below eighty percent of area median income decreased by 36,470 units between 2007 and 2016, and
WHEREAS, a household is considered cost burdened when it pays thirty percent or more of its income toward housing and is considered severely cost burdened when it pays fifty percent or more of its income toward housing, and
WHEREAS, 124,000 households in King County are severely cost burdened, and
WHEREAS, eighty-eight percent of severely cost burdened households earn fifty percent or less of area median income, and
WHEREAS, cost burden disproportionately affects households of color, with fifty-six percent of black households and almost half of Latinx households experiencing cost burden, and
WHEREAS, twenty-two percent of renters and eleven percent of home owners are cost burdened, and
WHEREAS, ensuring that no household earning eighty percent area median income and below is cost burdened today would require an estimated 156,000 new affordable units, and
WHEREAS, an estimated 244,000 new, preserved or subsidized affordable units are needed by 2040 to ensure that no household earning eighty percent area median income is cost burdened, and
WHEREAS, the council and executive acknowledge that despite the ongoing regional efforts, the magnitude of the affordable housing crisis requires a more intensive and coordinated approach, and
WHEREAS, the council passed Motion 14754 on...
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