Speaker 1: Bill passed and chose sign it, please read agenda item number 12.
Speaker 4: Agenda item 12. Cancel Bill 119 635. Relation to the Satellite Department and the Office of Housing. Transferring jurisdiction of the former loyal heights and finished substation properties from the City Light Department to the Office of Housing for the purpose of developing permanent, affordable home ownership. The committee recommends the bill pass.
Speaker 1: S member skater.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. President. This is the grand finale to the grand finale of City Light bills and efforts coming out of the Housing, Health, Energy and Workers Rights Committee. This legislation and the subsequent housing that will be built as a result of this legislation really stems from the work that you all supported last year. The two pieces of legislation that I sponsored in 2018 that said, if we have surplus property in this city, whether it's at Seattle City Light or any other department, we should be maintaining that land in public hands at the city and building affordable housing on it. We were able to do this because of the work of the state legislature who passed in 2018 House Bill 2382, giving Washington the jurisdiction to express it or the express authority to sell, transfer or lease public surplus property at no cost or low cost to other public entities for the purpose of providing affordable housing. So I want to thank represent a review of speaker former speaker Frank Chopp, who led the efforts on this. And we know that this is critically important right now as we think about the overall cost of land in this city continuing to skyrocket. There is a premium on Seattle's real estate market, and the ability to convey underutilized public land removes a major barrier to the creation of affordable housing and community driven development, to the tune of about a 15% reduction in the cost of terms of overall construction of housing. When we build on publicly owned surplus property, we're helping to maintain keeping land in public hands and meet the city's growing need for more affordable homes, reduce displacement and help address the affordability crisis that many of our families are facing. I'm really excited about this piece of legislation in front of you, and I think that it is important to note where these parcels are as we think about increasing access to high opportunity neighborhoods. The sites include Phinney Ridge and Loyal Heights. These are currently vacant, unused parcels of property in access to high opportunity neighborhoods. So think about bus lanes and schools and child care and parks. This is really an area that I think if we get more folks, the ability to live in these neighborhoods and for example, here have permanently affordable home ownership opportunities, we're creating a true transformation in our city that reflects the values of the original intent, which was to help more people be able to stay in the city, to have affordable options and ideally be able to have a smaller commute to their work or to have greater stability in their community overall. We also know that it's not just about where you live and getting from your workplace to home. It's about access to childcare and health clinics, libraries and so much more public spaces. We have deliberately been working through the Office of Housing to make sure that as we create additional housing opportunities, we are looking at helping to serve those who are most at risk of displacement through affirmative marketing and community preference policies that we also included in the disposition policy. This is a really great opportunity for us to basically there's two pieces, two parcels here. One piece relates to City I'm sorry to one. One thing that we're doing is moving land from the city of the city of Seattle City Light Department to the Office of Housing. And we're going to be partnering then when the land gets transferred to Office of Housing with Homestead Community, Land Trust and Habitat for Humanity to invest in creating at least additional 19 condominiums in Finney Ridge and eight family sized townhomes in Boyle Heights. These properties will allow for us to create more homes that will be brought online faster at lower cost, and allow the public investment to be spread further. Thank you again to the partnership of the Washington State Legislature for expressly saying that we have this authority and people questioned. And in the past they passed House Bill 2382 to make it very clear. And here we are at the city of Seattle, the first city to pass in the legislation the ability to transfer land, low cost or no cost. And here we are now. The first city again to enact the tenants of that House bill that sent that state bill and to make sure that we actualize creating affordable housing throughout Seattle. So I'm hoping this is the first of many and really excited to see the disposition policies coming into fruition and action here.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Casper Macheda. Any questions or comments? If not, please call the rule on the passage of the Bill.
Speaker 2: Skinner, I O'Brien. Pacheco. I so want I. Bagshaw. Hi. Herbold. I worked for President Harrell High eight in favor and unopposed.
Speaker 1: The bill passed and chair of Senate. Please read Agenda Item 13.
AN ORDINANCE relating to the City Light Department and the Office of Housing; transferring jurisdiction of the former Loyal Heights and Phinney Substation properties from the City Light Department to the Office of Housing for the purpose of developing permanently affordable home ownership.