The Issue
Skyway-West Hill and North Highline, both urban unincorporated areas bordering Seattle, have large BIPOC and immigrant communities, as well as large numbers of low-income households. Skyway has the highest proportion of African-American residents of any area in the state. These richly diverse neighborhoods have experienced rising land values and cost of housing, which threatens to displace many current residents of Skyway-West Hill and North Highline unless there is policy intervention.
During the Subarea planning phase 1 work that occurred in 2018-2019, Skyway-West Hill and North Highline residents identified housing affordability and displacement pressure as their top priorities. King County wants to ensure the future development of the neighborhoods reflect the communities’ needs and supports the preservation and creation of affordable housing.
Help Us Create a Solution
To better understand the desires of Skyway-West Hill and North Highline residents, King County Department of Community and Human Services and the Department of Local Services will host three anti-displacement workshops through the end of the year. The goal of these workshops is to explore 11 anti-displacement strategies for the Skyway-West Hill and North Highline communities. The feedback received will guide King County staff’s recommendations to address displacement in Skyway-West Hill and North Highline, which will be summarized in a report released in 2021.
King County staff will provide overviews of different anti-displacement strategies and review the potential benefits and limitations of each strategy. Community members will be asked to share their experiences and insight into housing and displacement as well as provide feedback about each potential anti-displacement strategy.
Workshop Series Details:
Workshop 1 (Saturday, October 17th, 10 am-12:30 pm): Strategies to Increase Affordable Homeownership
Features info on Community land trusts, Rent-to-own and down payment assistance programs, and Property tax exemption opportunities.
Workshop 2 (Saturday, November 7th, 10 am-12:30 pm): Strategies to Mitigate Displacement when Development Happens
Features information on Community preference and right to return policies, Community benefit agreements, Relocation assistance, and Local and inclusionary employment prioritization.
Workshop 3 (Saturday, December 5th, 10 am-12:30 pm): Strategies for Preservation and Creation of Affordable Housing
Features information on Inclusionary zoning, Manufactured housing community preservation, “no net loss”, and Redevelopment assistance programs.
Workshops will take place over Zoom and there will be simultaneous interpretation for Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Zoom information and workshop materials will be provided via email in advance of each workshop. Register HERE: English, Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese
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