Posted on 12/16/2022 5:59:55 PM PST by simpson96
Anita Adams’ ambition sounds simple enough: the Seattle homeowner wants to build a second, four-unit structure on her property so she can give her adult children, father-in-law, and potentially other family members a place to live in the city’s historically Black Central District, where she has resided her entire life.
The 49-year-old government worker and her husband can afford the project with financing, which she expects would total around 2,200 square feet, though she may have to rent out one of the units for a few years to help cover construction costs.
What she can’t afford, though, is the extra $77,000 she would need to fork over to Seattle upfront just to break ground. That cost was created by a local rule to create and fund affordable housing —but Adams argues it is instead blocking her kids from being able to afford to stay in a city where her family has lived for generations.
So, for two years, the project has been on hold while her children live outside of Seattle. In the meantime, the expected cost of the project has ballooned from about $600,000 to at least $750,000 and as much as $900,000 due to inflation and rising interest rates, she said.
“I should have the right to be able to leverage my property the same way the upper echelon enjoys leveraging theirs,” Adams told MarketWatch. “I’m not a huge developer, I can’t afford all of that. I never, ever thought I would have to go through this to be able to add housing stock in Seattle.”
In Seattle, new developments in certain areas have to include affordable housing units or the developer has to pay the city an amount of money based on the floor area of their project — to fund low-income housing preservation and production elsewhere
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Simple, move beyond the city limits and get beyond gov’t regulation.
“Some elections can just down-right hurt!”
___________________________________
I was discussing this with my beloved.
We reasoned given the location, she probably voted the folks into office that created the situation, or she herself voted for the zoning/housing fund to be created thinking it would even the score with the ‘rich,’ never foreseeing the day it would come back and bite her.
I’m aware of it.
The unintended consequences of laws that are passed without thinking them through and getting input from all sides.
Easy solution. Dig a 2200 sq ft basement.
Nothing to show but a huge pile of dirt
in your yard. If you’re a savy
enough builder to make things safe and
meet code, no one would be the wiser.
Except, maybe for the number of cars
in your driveway.
Theft by government.
“Adams has two options: Add two extra affordable units to her project and rent them at below-market rates to income-restricted tenants for 75 years, or pay a fee.”
When a socialist government owns what you have paid for...
A Racist family crying about helping the poor, you voted for it enjoy it
Typical low IQ response :)
“Sounds like she did not know what she was getting into.”
Good post.
Developing property requires a lot of knowledge and skill.
It is no game for amateurs in our world of dozens of regulations, rules, fees and mandates.
In many locations bribing local officials is also required.
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