A Seattle woman can't build affordable housing on her property without first paying the city $77,000
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.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/a-seattle-woman-can-t-build-affordable-housing-on-her-property-without-first-paying-the-city-77-000-now-she-s-suing/ar-AA15kqVg
