Seattle voters may have a unique opportunity this November to support a new model of providing affordable housing, and they should take it. Initiative 135 was crafted by the House Our Neighbors Coalition as a progressive alternative to the Compassion Seattle ballot measure, which sought to codify homeless encampment sweeps before being struck down in court. While Compassion Seattle was built on short-term thinking, I-135 would set up a public developer with the mission of amassing land and creating social housing on it in perpetuity. This is the long-term thinking that Seattle sorely needs.
House Our Neighbors gathered and submitted almost 30,000 ballot signatures in June. Due to invalidations, that total ended up being about 5,000 short of the requirement to win a spot on the ballot, but the campaign gets a 20-day window to gather more signatures to close the gap. On Saturday, July 20th, that 20-day window officially launched.
