Tracking HALA: Ending Homelessness with Social Impact Bonds
We’re starting a project that tracks all 65 recommendations of the Mayor’s Housing Affordabilty and Livabilty Agenda (HALA) Committee. As I’ve mentioned (and been derided for) the HALA document has gone from a pile of wonky idea and policies to a slogan being used to push Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning (MIZ). So far, the only recommendation […]
Here We Go Again: Commercial Rent Control Still On the Table
A proposal for commercial rent control is back! Bad ideas seem to thrive in Seattle. Or I should say, old ideas. Don’t like the price of something? Freeze it in place. Don’t try to understand or address the underlying issues about why prices are going up or even ask, “Are they going up that fast?” […]
OK, Housing is a Right; Don’t we Still Need More?
So if housing is a right, not a commodity to be bought and sold the question still remains: don’t we need more. I’m not being snide here at all. What I am asking is, if we have 1000 people who need homes and 100 homes then whether housing is a commodity or a right, don’t […]
