If approved by voters, Proposition 3 would replace the city’s expiring affordable housing tax levy
VANCOUVER – On Monday (Jan. 9), Vancouver City Council unanimously approved a resolution expressing support for Proposition 3, the Affordable Housing Levy which is on the ballot for the Feb. 14 Special Election.
If approved by voters, Proposition 3 would replace the city’s expiring affordable housing tax levy. Proposition 3 would provide continued funding for affordable housing and housing services for people with low and very low incomes in Vancouver. The replacement levy is projected to provide rent assistance and housing services to 2,500 households, preserve or construct 2,400 affordable homes, support 550 shelter beds and help 150 households with home ownership over the life of the levy.
The proposed levy replacement would raise $10 million annually, totaling $100 million over a period of 10 years starting in 2024. The property tax levy amounts to approximately $0.30 per $1,000 of assessed value, meaning the owner of a home valued at $500,000 would pay $150 per year ($0.30 X 500 = $150). As the city grows, the levy rate and cost per property goes down.
In keeping with the Revised Code of Washington (RCW 42.17A.555), the Vancouver City Council may express a collective position regarding Proposition 3 by adopting a resolution.
Read the Affordable Housing Fund Report to learn more about the City’s current work to address affordable housing and homelessness in Vancouver. Visit Affordable Housing Levy to learn more about Proposition 3.
Ballots must be deposited into an official ballot drop site by 8 p.m. on Feb. 14, or they can be mailed if postmarked no later than Feb. 14. If you need to register to vote or check your registration, visit clark.wa.gov/elections.
Information provided by city of Vancouver.
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The funding at $100 million dollars is supposed to provide some level of assistance to house people. Note that it isn’t even 6,000 people. That is $16,667 per person! That funding is not Section * or HUD housing which we already provide through the federal taxes we pay. It isn’t Grants from the state money which we also provide. It is in addition to tax abatements for the wealthy developers that provide “mixed use” developments which offer lower housing supposedly affordable to persons who earn less than the requisite amount of money.
What does that mean? Who are we subsidizing there? Well anyone who earns: ” (3) If a review finds that at least twenty percent of the new housing is developed and occupied by households making at or below eighty percent of the area median income, at the time of occupancy, adjusted for family size for the county where the project is located or where the housing is intended exclusively for owner occupancy, the household may earn up to one hundred fifteen percent of the area median income, at the time of sale, adjusted for family size for the county where the project is located, then the legislature intends to extend the expiration date of the tax preference.”
What? Well according to the latest statistics that means $87,648 is the median household income in Washington State… so at 80% the household we are subsidizing with tax abatements from the city for rich developers earns $70,118.40. What? Why can’t they afford to pay rent at the rate that will cover their taxes then? In our tax shift state why am I supporting someone who earns twice as much as I do by subsidizing their rent with my property taxes?
How many programs are there? Well, the Federal TRANSIT Authority has grants for developers who build complexes on or near (within a mile) of a transit line. What, transit dollars are building housing? Yes indeed.
What am I saying?
How many hundreds of dollars do I have to spend supporting housing!
Keep in mind we already have school levies and bonds and a lifetime levy for the fire department. How much more are homeowners in Vancouver expected to bleed? It’s time to start thinking about moving. Homeowners are nothing more than a cash cow here.
Vote NO on the homeless levy!
Want to learn the REAL truth? https://pu4cc.info
The city just gave away 2.76 million dollars in tax breaks to one developer, on one project.
When I see this city making everyone pay their full tax bill, only then you can come to me with your hat in hand. Until that happens, this city’s habit of cuttin’ developers a tax break and then shifting the tax burden onto its rank-n-file citizens is going to have repercussions across the board, for every levy or bond.
The city has thrown piles of money at the homeless for the past 7 years and I’m sure not seeing much, if any, improvement. You will never, ever, be able to spend your way out of homelessness. “If you build it, they will come” is being proven in that the more services the city provides, the more there are that need those services.
Jamie Spinelli, city housing czar, and all her minions have built homelessness into a self-sustaining industry! They don’t want to solve the problem; they need the problem to continue to grow, thus ensuring their continued employment, paychecks, and juicy benefits… all courtesy of the rank-n-file citizens.
It’s time this city wakes up and quits chasing unicorns and fairy dust. Rank-n-file citizens are taxed to death already! City leaders need to start listening to the rank-n-file citizens instead of their select few whose pecking order depends on how much money is brought to the city’s table.