Dear friends,

Now that the initial kerfuffle over the release of the Seattle Housing and Livability Agenda (HALA) has calmed, reasoned debate can ensue.

It's difficult to address a complicated policy topic in a short newsletter article, but here's my bottom line - the HALA Committee identified 65 strategies all falling under the rubric more: More resources for affordable housing, more housing period, more support for communities and more innovation.

Bottom line: More means more public investment. The cost of building or rehabbing multifamily housing is growing due to higher construction and land costs. As citizens of a city that believes in equity and resilience, we need to commit more through the Seattle Housing Levy and other funding sources. More means for-profit developers need to do more to prevent displacement. More means the City, State and County have to cut the bureaucratic roadblocks that slow and add cost to development of both affordable and market rate housing. More means we have to make room in all of our communities for more people to move in.

The Mayor should be lauded for setting bold goals and encouraging bold action to address this crisis. We will all have to give more and do more to make the goals a reality.