Mayor Ed Murray will officially reveal recommendations from his housing task force group, the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA), Monday morning. Of interest will be whether these recommendations, which show a newfound focus on increasing density in Seattle, have changed much from the draft leaked last week by Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat.
Immediately after the announcement from the mayor's office, housing activist and HALA member Jonathan Grant will issue his own recommendations with the support of Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata. For some, last week's leaked document goes too easy on developers. Grant's proposal will likely look more similar to the recommendations of the Community Housing Caucus, an alternative housing group formed last winter. That group has emphasized charging developers who don't build affordable housing, using the city's bonding capacity to fund low-income housing, and pushing the state to repeal the ban on rent control.
