Earlier this week Mayor Murray gave his State of the City Address, a speech that mirrors the Presidential State of the Union Address given to the United States Congress. In his speech here’s what Mayor Murray had to say about affordable housing:

As with our minimum wage task force, we have brought together people with very different perspectives who often do not agree, to work together on a definitive proposal just as rigorous as the solution we developed on the minimum wage. Their recommendations, due in May, will help ensure people – and especially families –can live in this city no matter their income.

People including the mother I met who works downtown and lives in South King County, but spends hours a day commuting. Hers is a common story that is often lost, but experienced by thousands of other workers across Seattle. These stories represent the true cost of a lack of affordability in our city.

I have made it clear to the members of the committee – and will reiterate here today –that we are not going to get there with a single tool.To address our affordability challenges, everyone must play a part: from developers to landlords to nonprofits to employers to the construction industry… to City government.

That’s why I am committing 35 million dollars of City resources to enact the recommendations of this Advisory Committee.

It seems a little strange to publicly allocate $35 million for a recommendation that hasn’t been made. This is the latest unhelpful turn in the workings of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Committee. The other unhelpful stuff has been done by the City Council, trying to cram low-rise legislation and changes to the Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) Program through the Council and ignoring the HALA process. But this time the Mayor himself isn’t helping his own Committee. It’s going to be very difficult for the $35 million figure not to shape the discussions of the HALA Committee. It may seem like a great idea to throw $35 million on the table, but now how is the Committee supposed to consider all the options when it has to figure out how to spend $35 million.

And many if not most of the problems in the housing picture in Seattle are not about money. For sure, poor people struggle with rents, but we are facing a housing shortage which would be helped by leaving the low-rise zone alone (they’re producing lots of housing) and figuring out ways to lower costs and make it easier to build housing. These are all regulatory fixes that don’t require any funding at all but will increase overall housing supply.

What’s even more strange is that the $35 million is for a single year. Publicola quotes a Mayoral spokesman saying,

The mayor’s commitment was for this year’s implementation only, recognizing that future years’ revenue to support affordable housing may be come from other sources.

Hmmm. A single year. $35 million dollars. $15 from the Seattle Housing Levy and $20 from incentive zoning fees that have been collected but unspent. Is there some idea lurking here but not articulated? Is all this money really available to do whatever the HALA Committee recommends? Could it be used to build affordable units on public land, as Councilmember Sawant has proposed?

It’s very likely HALA Committee members are just as puzzled by this latest addition to their to do list. Meanwhile, very real damage to affordability is being considered by the City Council. It seems like the best thing the Mayor could do is to give the workings of the HALA Committee more focus not more money. Perhaps the HALA Committee might have ideas that require funding, but it seems like it would make more sense to let them make a recommendation first, then identify funding for the recommendations. Hopefully more details on how the money can be used will be forthcoming.