CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION establishing a spending plan for the proceeds generated from a new Progressive Tax on Business to address homelessness and housing affordability authorized by the ordinance introduced as Council Bill 119250.
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WHEREAS, the City Council adopted the ordinance introduced as Council Bill 119250, authorizing the collection of a new Progressive Tax on Business to address homelessness and housing affordability, to be imposed beginning January 1, 2019; and
WHEREAS, the new Progressive Tax on Business is anticipated to generate an average of $47.4 million in proceeds on an annual basis, as shown in the spending plan included as Attachment 1 to this resolution; and
WHEREAS, the City faces a homelessness crisis, as evidenced by the 2017 Point-in-Time count that showed 3,857 homeless people living unsheltered in the City; and
WHEREAS, recent data from the American Community Survey showed over 29,000 households with incomes at or below 50 percent of area median income (AMI) are severely cost burdened, paying over 50 percent of their income for rent and utilities, and, as a result, are at potential risk of homelessness; and
WHEREAS, persons of color are disproportionately represented in the homeless population and for renter households who are severely cost burdened; and
WHEREAS, the City is committed to eliminating racial inequities such as these through implementation of the Race and Social Justice Initiative; and
WHEREAS, the new Progressive Tax on Business will generate significant funds to address identified iniquities; and
WHEREAS, these additional funds will increase the construction of long-term, low-income housing units to address the primary cause of homelessness and the housing affordability crisis, and to ensure such housing is permanently affordable; and
WHEREAS, the proposed spending plan is consistent with the City's Pathways Home plan, based on the recommendations of Barbara Poppe and Associat...
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