(Editor's note: This letter was sent to Seattle City Council members with a copy to this newspaper.)

Dear Council members:

We are writing as an ad hoc coalition of housing and homeless advocates to strongly urge you to support the renewal of our long-running and essential housing levy and it's placement on the 2009 ballot. In these tough economic times, the need in our community has risen precipitously with even longer waiting lists for subsidized units and a greatly overtaxed homeless shelter system.

We are prepared to work with you to bring the best proposal forward to the voters - one that maintains our ability to meet the increased need especially among the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable in our community and one that can secure the broadest support from voters. Toward those ends, upon close review of the mayor's recommendations, we believe the council should make the following changes in his proposal:

1. The total amount of the levy should be raised to $167 million. This is the dollar amount the mayor's levy advisory group urged the council to support and what they said was needed to maintain progress towards meeting the goals of the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. We strongly agree. It also is an amount we are confident voters will support especially when they see that the vast bulk of funds reach down and serve those who need it the most.

2. The levy ordinance, as in past levies, must contain either a chart or explicit language dedicating levy amounts to each respective low income group. This time, a minimum of 60 percent of the rental portion of the levy must serve households with incomes at or below 30 percent of area median.

Further, a minimum of 90 percent of the rental portion must be dedicated to those with incomes at or below 50 percent of area median. The majority of the remainder of the rental portion (10 percent of all rental funds) should serve households with incomes between 50 percent and 60 percent of area median.

The mayor's proposal allows as much as 45 percent of the rental portion - more than $45 million - to go to households with incomes as high as 80 percent of area median.

The 2002 levy did not allow use of any rental funds and only a small portion of "NHOP" funding for households from 60 to 80 percent of median. In total only .7 percent of combined rental and NHOP dollars served these households.

By contrast, more than 70 percent of rental and NHOP funds combined served households at or below 30 percent of area median and more than 90 percent was dedicated for housing serving those at or below 50 percent of area median. Recent polling shows voters are less concerned about the size of the levy than they are concerned about who gets the funding. They want the poorest of the poor and homeless households to receive the support and that's what this levy must reflect.

To allow potentially use of 45 percent of rental funding for those with incomes thousands of dollars above average worker salaries would jeopardize voter approval of this levy.

3. We strongly support the mayor's inclusion of a portion in this new levy dedicated for creation of an "Acquisition Fund."

4. We also urge you to include in the levy ordinance for the first time language explicitly guaranteeing that at least 30 percent of the homeowner portion of the levy be dedicated for community land trusts and cooperative developments including use of this set-aside for creation of multi-family land trusts and cooperatives.

In closing we wish to reiterate our strong support for the 2009 housing levy and are looking forward to working with you, the mayor, and the community to securing broad approval. By making the changes above that we recommend, this is the best way to secure that support and in a way that ensures our continued progress towards meeting the needs of the 10-year plan and the most vulnerable in our community.

Signed,
(any affiliations are listed for identification purposes only unless otherwise stated)

David Bloom
Sharon Lee
John V. Fox, Seattle Displacement Coalition (also endorses letter)
Bill Kirlin-Hackett, Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness
Sally Kinney
Alice Woldt
Gary Clark
Ishbel Dickens
Sarajane Siegfriedt, King county Democrats Legislative Action Co-chair
Bette Reed
Sinan Demirel
Carla Bueno
Erin Rants
Laurie Mayer
Lisa Beaulaurier
Will Parry, Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans (also endorses letter)
Maureen Bo