Seattle voters embrace excess compensation tax to build social housing, reject Chamber-conceived alternative
A grassroots initiative that would create a new source of progressive revenue to build publicly-owned social housing in Seattle appears to be on its way to a decisive victory tonight despite an onslaught of corporate cash in opposition, suggesting that voters in the Emerald City are eager to try a new approach to tackling our housing crisis.
With 18.99% turnout so far, 68.32% of 95,173 Seattle voters were saying “Yes” to the first question posed to voters as part of Propositions 1A and 1B, while 57.55% were backing 1A, formerly known as Initiative 137. 42.45% were voting for 1B, an alternative conceived by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and submitted to the February 2025 special election ballot by the Seattle City Council at the Chamber’s behest.
1A’s lead is quite robust and probably not surmountable in the late ballots.
If implemented, 1A would create an excess compensation payroll tax to fund the Seattle Social Housing Developer, an entity created two years ago by Initiative 137’s predecessor, Initiative 135, which passed with 57.09% of the vote. Both I‑135 and I‑137 were spearheaded by the House Our Neighbors coalition and endorsed by NPI.
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/02/seattle-voters-embrace-excess-compensation-tax-to-build-social-housing-reject-chamber-conceived-alternative.html
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