In an online news conference on Tuesday, the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing announced a new round of $55.8 million in affordable rental and owned housing that would create 840 new units, putting the City on track to either approve or start construction on a record $115.8 million of new affordable housing in 2020.

The funds will create a total of 1,430 units in projects across the city.

A new Habitat for Humanity Seattle – King County housing development named Copper Pines has broken ground in Loyal Heights.

Copper Pines is being constructed on City-donated land (7750 28th Ave NW) as part of the Housing Seattle Now initiative. The new units will be three-story, three-bedroom, two-bath townhomes set to house seven families in 2022.

Dan Strauss, Seattle Councilmember (District 6) and Reuven Carlyle, Washington State Senator (36th Legislative District) joined Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County on October 29 to celebrate the groundbreaking of a brand-new eco-friendly Habitat neighborhood – Copper Pines – in the Loyal Heights area of North Seattle. The event was a scaled-down version of Habitat’s typical project groundbreakings, in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Alice Donnelly purchased her home in Burien 40 years ago. When her mother became ill, and needed fulltime care, Alice quit her job and moved her mom into her own home in order to care for her. This put an incredible strain on her finances, forcing Alice to take out a second mortgage in order make ends meet. A few years after her mother’s passing, Alice herself began experiencing serious health issues, which put additional pressure on her finances and emotional well-being.

Kittitas County Habitat for Humanity has formed a partnership with Habitat  Seattle/King County, which will expand help to services & production of affordable homes for families in Kittitas County. In addition to that partnership, Kittitas County Habitat has brought on board a new area director, Kelle Dvorak Vandenberg, who will coordinate volunteer recruitment, plan events, serve as liaison to city & county governments, faith groups, & conduct fund development.

Habitat for Humanity is planning on building seven permanently affordable townhouse units in North Bend. The project took a step forward on July 21, with the North Bend City Council signing a development agreement with the Seattle-King County chapter of Habitat for Humanity.  It includes two units that will be for families making less than half of the area median income, with the rest marketed toward those making 80 percent.

Habitat for Humanity Seattle–King County  and Kittitas County Habitat for Humanity  have formed a strategic partnership that will expand services and production of affordable homes for qualifying families throughout Kittitas County, according to a news release from Habitat for Humanity. The partnership will result in cost savings for Kittitas County Habitat for Humanity by consolidating its operations with Habitat SKC.

The Seattle City Council voted to impose a new payroll tax on big businesses. The measure passed 7-2. This tax targets big earners and the companies that employ them. Companies with more than $7 million in annual payroll will be charged a percentage based on how many people they employ with salaries of at least $150,000. Companies that have billion-dollar payrolls will pay an even bigger share for high wage workers.

More help is on the way for King County residents struggling to pay rent due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. On Friday morning, United Way of King County, the City of Seattle, and King County announced a partnership to expand the United Way’s Home Base program to help provide rental assistance.

On March 15 UUC was joined by a wonderful guest speaker, one of the prospective owners of homes now being built in Lake City by Habitat for Humanity. Together, families and volunteers will build the houses over the next 2 years. This is the “sweat equity” model of homeownership.