It’s Christmas Eve! Here’s a recent email I sent out highlighting our recent work and what we’ll be working on next year. Things will likely quiet down for the next week, but it is a busy year ahead. 

It all starts on the playground. My first recollection of telling people the truth was when I was in first grade. “Santa Claus isn’t real,” I said. “It’s your parents that bring the gifts!” The ensuing controversy on the playground isn’t surprising. And it isn’t surprising that the powers that be in Seattle and Washington state also struggle with the idea that when prices are high the way to lower them is more supply; whether it is fruit cake or housing, more really does mean less. It isn’t a miracle just basic economics.

Here’s a quick end-of-year summary of our work to disrupt the status quo.

Appeal of impact fees– this week we’ll have the pre-hearing conference for our challenge of the City of Seattle’s ill-advised effort to impose even more costs on housing even while they fret over high housing costs.

MFTE legal Challenge– We need your help if you are participating in the City’s Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program. The City is violating state law as well as the Seattle Municipal Code not tracking rents in the program to HUD standards but instead just making up their own. Let us know if you’re interested in supporting this effort.

Opposing rent control– We’ll be in Olympia to educate legislators and other about why rent control and other measures won’t help renters but make housing prices worse.

MHA Legal Challenge– We continue to explore the best way to legally challenge the City’s blind charge to impose fees on every square foot of new housing in the city. Read my editorial in the Seattle Times.

Ongoing cost studies– We’ve given our initial thoughts to the cost study by JLARC that we supported and we’ve just completed our own. The bottom line: non-profit housing is inefficient. The solution to the housing problem is more housing, not more money.

Fair Housing Washington– We’re headed into Olympia with a broad agenda to stand up to bad ideas and support good ones. For example, we’re hopeful that the legislature will extend and fund the Early Release Voucher program, a program that helps people leaving jail with real solutions not headlines. Read the agenda here.

FREOPP– As a visiting fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, I’ve created a one pagerthat lays out path to fix housing. You can read a longer version at Forbes.

We do a lot of work for very little. And we do it because it is the right thing to do, building the intellectual and economic case to support the hard work of people who build, operate, and finance housing. You are the good guys! Now is the time to donate to Seattle For Growth.

Please consider a donation today either on-line or send a check made out to Seattle For Growth, and send to Roger Valdez, PO Box 2912, Seattle, Washington 98111.

And yes, Virginia, supply and demand really does exist!

Please consider a donation today either on-line or send a check made out to Seattle For Growth, and send to Roger Valdez, PO Box 2912, Seattle, Washington 98111.