With King County Metro facing structural budget issues that are likely to result in a fiscal cliff early in the next decade, and bus service across the county still trailing pre-pandemic levels, a group that includes Transportation Choices Coalition, the Nondrivers Alliance, and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 argue that now is the time to utilize additional funding tools in the county’s toolbox. Tuesday’s letter urges Zahilay to consider utilizing the ability to leverage its already-established transportation benefit district, which could fund transit via a vehicle license fee or a sales tax increase up to 0.3%.

“As transit riders and activists we are concerned about transit funding in King County. We are facing an impending fiscal cliff and national economic downturn which will simultaneously increase the need for transit while reducing its funding,” the letter read. “As our country and region face a retracting economy, it is important to fulfill the affordability mandate voters resoundingly endorsed in the 2025 elections. Car dependency puts a financial burden on families and limits access to economic opportunity. Our transit network deserves investment, especially in South King County. A fully-funded transit system is crucial to meeting these needs.”

The full list of signers to the letter also includes the Seattle Transit Riders Union’s bus and transit service subcommittee, Move Redmond, Urbanist Shoreline, Livable Kirkland, Eastside Urbanism, West Seattle Urbanism, Complete Streets Bellevue, and Seattle Subway.

Passing a supplemental funding source to directly fund expansion of King County Metro service, building upon the 0.9% sales tax that the agency depends on for the lion’s share of its funding, has been a goal of transit advocates in King County for years. In 2014, county voters rejected a 0.1% sales tax increase paired with a $60 vehicle license fee that would have brought in at least $135 million per year, despite the threat of service cuts prompted by the Great Recession.

That failure at the ballot box prompted Seattle to go it alone with a successful ballot measure that averted many of those cuts, and turned the city into a major source of funding for bus service.

In 2020, it looked like King County might finally return to the ballot to take the momentum gained by Seattle’s measure countywide, but the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on that idea. Seattle’s measure was scaled back later that year, something that advocate saw as a missed opportunity given the landslide 60-point margin it won by. Today, Seattle’s measure funds around 140,000 annual Metro service hours, compared to nearly 350,000 in 2019.

Since the Seattle Transit Measure is expiring at year’s end, 2026 is the next opportunity to bring the two levels of government into alignment, but with Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson still getting situated in office, it would require significant legwork. That said, improving bus service was one’s Wilson’s stated top priorities, and she did lead Transit Riders Union for over a decade before running for mayor.

“We are coming off the heels of a legendary year for transit in Puget Sound history. We just opened three new light rail stations, and we just elected an Executive who ran on a very heavily pro-South King County services platform,” Transit Riders Union member Noah Williams told The Urbanist in explaining this push. “It’s really important that we have a measure that offers truly regional freedom for all of King County. We have the Seattle transit benefit district here, which is great and provides funding for this local area. And there’s also been murmurs of transit benefit districts in a similar style appearing on the Eastside. It’s great that there’s the energy there. We believe that that should cover the whole region, not just Seattle.”

Seattle’s 0.15% sales tax measure currently funds way more than just bus service. Only around half of the approximately $50 million generated annually goes directly to Metro, with the remainder of the funds spent on physical improvements that benefit transit riders, keeping the Seattle Streetcar operating, free ORCA transit cards for underserved communities, and other policy priorities including City staff working to advance Seattle’s next Sound Transit lines. Last year, the measure was amended — under a proposal spearheaded by Councilmember Rob Saka — to allow spending on investments improving transit safety and security.

Though Wilson has signaled that she’s interested in pivoting the Seattle Transit Measure back toward the core goal of improving bus service, it’s unlikely that a county measure would be able to fund all of the programs on Seattle’s wish list.

Some signs of movement at the county level have emerged when it comes to additional transportation funding, even before Zahilay took office. On the campaign trail, both leading county executive candidates voiced support for putting a county transit measure on the ballot — though they didn’t specify timing.

Last summer, the County Council explored pulling the trigger on its ability to unlock 0.1% of the 0.3% in sales tax authority it has available, with the funds generated split between the county’s roads department and Metro. While the need for roads funding is relatively straightforward, with the county facing a significant roads funding crisis that could fully deplete its capital reserves within a few years, the exact uses for the new dollars at Metro were much less clear, and the idea was pulled back to the council’s backrooms.

That additional sales tax would have come on top of a 0.1% increase the county approved last year to fund public safety, an amount that was matched by many cities including Seattle. Double-dipping into sales tax authority would likely be seen as a major increase in regressive taxation, at a time when many progressive groups are trying to push to make the state tax code less regressive. But the universe of tools available to local government is very limited under state law, King County even more so than the City of Seattle.

The timeline for Wilson and Zahilay to coordinate on a paired strategy is tight, with the City likely to be finalizing its renewal measure by spring. In order to get on the November ballot, any measure would need to be approved by early summer.

“What we’re looking for is just to raise the floor of transit,” Transit Riders Union member Harper Nalley told The Urbanist. “Right now South King has decent service given the density and the character of that area, but it could do a lot more. Comparing South King [County]’s ridership to other cities, it’s much higher per capita. And so there’s definitely a need for it and a desire for it. And then Seattle, of course, has an even more open transit environment politically, and every measure has passed much with much wider margins in Seattle, and so we’d like to use that to be able to give [riders] the exceptional transit that Seattle really deserves.”

The Urbanist reached out to Executive Zahilay’s office on Thursday for comment and will update the piece if we hear back.

While opposed to a county transit measure in 2023, Zahilay told The Urbanist in December of 2024 when rolling out his county executive campaign: “My position that public transportation is a top priority and needs to be funded has not changed, but the level of emergency has changed, and that is that Metro is about to hit a fiscal cliff. There might be many people around the region who won’t be able to access public transportation, and I would want to give voters that chance of saying, ‘hey, we do want to fund Metro.’ And so I would give voters that option.”

The post King County Advocates Push for Transit Funding Measure in 2026 first appeared on The Urbanist.

In her interview with The Urbanist, Hasegawa brought up the need to accelerate the RapidRide R Line bus project upgrading Route 7, spur transit-oriented development, and incentivize affordable housing. She vowed to champion the project to build a lid over I-5 to repair the “concrete scar” the freeway tore through the core of Seattle, creating housing and park space in the process.

Hasegawa has served on the Seattle Port Commission since 2022. Earlier in her career, she worked as a legislative aide for King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, which she said familiarized her with issues before the council.

Her opening pitch emphasized her family’s long roots in the community and the need to stop the cycle of displacement and anti-immigrant backlash that her family lived first-hand.

“I am a fourth generation Japanese American from the Beacon Hill neighborhood in South Seattle,” Hasegawa said. “My family’s story starts with my great grandfather, who immigrated to the Central District in search of a better future, and everything that he worked for was taken from him from the government. His assets were seized, his bank accounts were frozen, and him and his four children were put into American concentration camps in Minidoka in Idaho, not because of what they had done, but because of who they were.”

Despite that ordeal, the Hasegawas were able to reestablish themselves in Seattle and get back on their feet. Unfortunately, the affordability crisis is making it harder for other immigrants and newcomers to replicate that story and make ends meet in high-cost metro areas.

“My dad was a union leader. He was secretary treasurer the Teamsters Local 174, and he was able to sustain our family of four on the single union salary. Today, my husband and I pay $4,200 a month on childcare,” Hasegawa said. “Child care is just one representation of how affordability is crushing people and making it hard to live in these communities that we love. The American dream is no longer moving away and buying a house with a white picket fence. It’s the ability to be able to remain in place in the community that you helped build. And I believe that answering the issue of affordability is going to be key to getting a lot of the pressing issues up today right.”

Along with her husband, Hasegawa is raising her two young children in the same home her grandparents and parents lived in before her.

King County Council District 2 encompasses the University District, Laurelhurst, Ravenna, Eastlake, Capitol Hill, the Central District, South Seattle, Skyway, and the Allentown neighborhood of Tukwila. It’s a renter-heavy area bearing the brunt of the affordability crisis. If elected, part of Hasegawa’s district would overlap with the district of her dad Bob Hasegawa, who has represented the 11th Legislative District in the state legislature since 2013.

Urban development

Hasegawa trumpeted the benefits of transit-oriented development (TOD) to improve affordability and boost economic activity.

“D2 is the perfect place where we can make sure that we’re modeling what transit-oriented development development looks like. It’s already zoned residential. Many places are zoned for high rise, these are places that could truly benefit from that sort of development. Missing middle housing, I would love to see incentives to developers who can guarantee a certain number of affordable housing units for an X amount of time.”

The County doesn’t directly control the land use across much of District 2, with the exception of the Skyway, a neighborhood that sits on unincorporated land between Renton and Seattle. But the County does invest significant resources in affordable housing, in addition to adopting policies that guide land use across the entire county

One place Hasegawa would like to spur development is near I-5 downtown on space created by lidding the freeway.

“We talk about our communities as being historically impacted by [transportation] systems that have caused noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution, light pollution,” Hasegawa said. “I think about the I-5 corridor, also known as the concrete scar that cuts right through the heart of our district. I would love to be an ardent advocate for the next big project.”

She pitched it as an environmental justice project that would be a big job creator.

“Lidding I-5 would be something that connects D2 to this the urban core. It would give us square footage for over a thousand new affordable housing units, child care centers, green space, and livable areas where we could have that transit-oriented development that could address some of those environmental injustices and give us the density that we’re looking for in order to accommodate the projected growth of our area, in a way that’s close to the urban core.”

With rising construction costs hitting megaprojects across the region, lidding I-5 will also require a huge investment and likely a delicate collaboration across multiple levels of government in partnership with the private sector.

On the topic of the Civic Campus Initiative, a proposal pushed by former County Executive Dow Constantine to redevelop the County’s campus in Downtown Seattle and SoDo, Hasegawa said she supports the idea, but would like an emphasis on affordable housing and uplifting marginalized communities.

“What I would like to see happening is an equitable land banking development program where we’re doing an assessment of, in particular, those county properties that are near transit hubs, and making sure that we are developing that for affordable housing specifically,” Hasegawa said. “That is exactly what we should be doing, as opposed to selling it away to the highest bidder. I would love to champion a policy where 100% of that was set aside for social housing. I would love to see long-term agreements with community land trusts, with communities of color and historically displaced and impacted community members.”

Following in the tradition of her father, Hasegawa said a public bank would be a way to fund affordable housing and make her ambitious plans come to fruition. Bob Hasegawa has long proposed establishing a public bank at the state legislature to no avail, and the legislation (Senate Bill 5754) is back this year for another go at it.

Justice experience and standing up to Trump

Hasegawa’s campaign also made her criminal justice experience a selling point: “As renewed federal actions under Donald Trump threaten civil liberties and immigrant protections, Hasegawa is the only candidate in the race with deep, hands-on criminal justice policy experience at both the county and state levels and a Masters in Criminal Justice from Seattle University.”

Hasegawa said the County must be willing to stand its ground against federal attacks, and sue to block overreach.

“The Trump administration is waging economic warfare targeting investments into our local governments based upon our support for programs that we love, like equity programs, sustainability, environmental justice, diversity in contracting,” Hasegawa said. “Where the federal government is no longer going to be funding, this is exactly where we continue to be innovative and continue to walk the line on our priorities.”

Endorsement battle heats up

The battlelines are already forming in this race. While Saldaña announced with a broad list of endorsements, Hasegawa also touted a wide list of endorsements including:

• King County Councilmembers Rod Dembowski and Teresa Mosqueda
• Seattle City Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Eddie Lin, Joy Hollingsworth, and Dan Strauss
• Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans; and 
• Representatives Sharon Tomiko Santos (D-Seattle, 37th LD), Chipalo Street (D-Seattle, 37th LD), David Hackney (D-Tukwila, 11th LD), Steve Bergquist (D-Renton, 11th LD), Gerry Pollet (D-Seattle, 46th LD), and Darya Farivar (D-Seattle, 46th LD).

Occasionally those endorsements overlapped, as in the case of Mosqueda and Street, who endorsed both candidates.

“Toshiko leads with both courage and care,” Rinck said in a statement. “She understands how policy decisions show up in people’s daily lives, especially for working families and communities that have too often been left out. I’ve seen her in action as a fierce advocate for justice. King County needs her experience, her values, and her steady leadership.”

Her campaign also claimed early endorsements from a number of unions, including Deep Sea Fishermen’s Union of the Pacific AFL-CIO, Inland Boatman’s Union, International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 19, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 46, Pacific Northwest Ironworkers, Ironworkers Local 86, Masters Mates and Pilots Union, International Association of Firefighters Local 1257.

In a race with two big-name progressives, small differences are likely to get blown up. In her Urbanist interview, Saldaña noted she was the only candidate to endorse Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson before the primary, which Wilson ended up winning by nearly 10 points, shocking the political establishment. Hasegawa endorsed Bruce Harrell in the primary, before switching to a sole endorsement for Wilson.

Hasegawa emceed Wilson’s last big rally before election night, where Saldaña was also a featured speaker.

In her campaign announcement, Hasegawa noted she serves on the transition teams for newly elected Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay. Those two leaders have yet to weigh in on this race.

The post Toshiko Hasegawa Jumps in King County Council District 2 Race first appeared on The Urbanist.

In recent years, nonprofit housing providers in King County have confronted a variety of challenges, including climbing vacancy rates, widening wealth inequality, an uptick in the number of residents not paying rent, and steep cuts to federal programs that fund operating expenses. A recent King County report highlighted some of those challenges, as organizations move to adapt and head off what could be a perfect storm facing nonprofit housing providers.

The vacancy issue is connected to rising incomes in King County, which also causes rents in subsidized housing to climb, since those rents are typically capped at a set percentage of area median income or AMI.

“The increase in AMI has caused an increase in income-restricted rents to the point where a large chunk of income-restricted affordable housing actually rents higher than market rate housing,” said King County council member Claudia Balducci, who chairs the Affordable Housing Committee (ACH) of the Growth Management Advisory Council, a regional, multi-government advisory board. 

In September, the ACH released a report looking at trends in multifamily and affordable housing across King County, and found that increased production of studio and one-bedroom apartments over the past decade has caused rent increases for these smaller units to slow. Combined with a steeply rising median family income (which is now at $157,000 countywide), the report observed that “unrestricted studio, one-, and two-bedroom units in much of King County rent at rates affordable to households with incomes between 60 and 70 percent of AMI. This means that many income-restricted units at 60 percent AMI and higher are meeting the same needs as the private market.”

Sharon Lee, executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI), a nonprofit which manages and builds affordable housing, said the lack of affordable two- and three-bedroom units is due in part to a focus on small units in both market-rate and subsidized housing development. 

“One of the failed policies that we have is that there’s been this really big push to produce as many units with the lowest amount of subsidies,” Lee said. “And so essentially, developers were incentivized to do as many studios and one-bedroom units as possible, and then it looks much better because the per-unit cost is less.”

The ACH report observed that between 2014 and 2023, when multifamily housing production increased to at least 7,500 new units each year, 59% of all apartments built in King County were studios and 32% were one-bedroom units. Because of low production of larger units, combined with the loss of some existing multi-bedroom units, units with three or more bedrooms currently account for only 18% of apartments in King County.

Organizations like LIHI and Southeast Effective Development (SEED) have begun to address that need with a handful of new developments that include more multi-bedroom units, but those developments are a fraction of what’s needed, especially for multi-generational households. 

Another trend the ACH report observed was a huge surge in AMI, led by the booming tech industry. Between 2017 and 2025, AMI rose 64% in King County — nearly double the rate of inflation. Relatedly, the income gap between homeowners and renters continued to widen over that time period. Households that own homes earned a median income of $156,765 while renters had a median income of nearly half that — $82,818, the report found.

Because AMI is used to determine eligibility for income-restricted housing, rising median incomes, combined with flattening rents for studios and one-bedroom apartments in King County have led to a situation where many market-rate apartments are actually less expensive than income-restricted affordable housing, especially units priced at 80% AMI.

The ACH report notes that in 2023, the median rent for a market-rate studio apartment in the Seattle metropolitan area was $1,646, below the maximum allowable rent for an 80% AMI rent-restricted studio. Moreover, the median market-rate rent for studio apartments in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties was $1,565 in 2025, which is competitive with the maximum rent for 50% AMI rent-restricted studios ($1,375).

Balducci said this has made rent-restricted affordable housing less competitive over the past two years. 

“If I’m applying for an apartment and I have 80% or 70% area median income, I can walk into a private apartment building, and if I can put together the first-and-last security deposit, I can sign a lease and then walk in,” she said. “Or, I’ve got to go through all these hoops it takes to qualify for and get placed in affordable housing, and then keep on qualifying for it, doing all the hassle of that. Who’s going to do that?”

The report notes this issue is particularly prevalent in South King County, where median rent for market-rate one-bedroom apartments in 2023 was 67% of AMI. This compares with 77% in Seattle, and 88% in Bellevue.

This lack of competitiveness has increased vacancies at various affordable housing buildings across the county. An analysis by the Seattle Times in August found that vacancy rates in Seattle’s income-restricted housing climbed fivefold from 2017, hitting 11% in 2024.

Susan Boyd, chief executive officer of Bellwether Housing, the largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing in the Puget Sound region, said that 2024 was especially challenging, though the situation has improved in 2025. “We definitely felt the challenges of adapting to the softening rental market that really hit in 2024, especially for our studio units with shallower subsidies,” Boyd said.

Bellwether responded by lowering some rents slightly and working to leverage as much rental assistance as it could for tenants. She said the average vacancy rate at all Bellwether properties is now at 6% and only about 1 in 10 buildings have a vacancy rate over 10%, noting that many of those properties are dealing with “overcoming broader neighborhood safety concerns.”

Nona Raybern, a spokesperson for the Seattle Office of Housing (OH), took issue with the Seattle Times’ claim that vacancy rates are currently rising in affordable housing buildings in Seattle. “Vacancy rates in affordable housing are not increasing and are operating very much in line with the overall citywide vacancy rates,” Raybern said.

Raybern provided OH data from the six largest income-restricted housing providers in Seattle over the first three quarters of 2025, and those figures show a mean average vacancy consistently hovering at just under 6%.

Most of those vacancies, Raybern observed, were in studio and one-bedroom units. “OH is responding to this changing market by emphasizing family-sized housing and extremely low-income housing below 50% AMI as priorities for applications received through the 2025 Rental Housing NOFA [notice of funding availability].” In this year’s funding cycle, OH has $170 million available to providers, supported by the 2023 housing levy and a portion of the JumpStart payroll tax.

In response to the issue of vacancies in affordable housing, Mayor-elect Katie Wilson, during the campaign, floated the idea of opening some workforce affordable housing (which generally ranges from 50% to 80% AMI) to “low-acuity” lower income people. In an article published at PubliCola, Wilson said the city should do more to serve people below 50% AMI who don’t require the full range of services that accompany permanent supportive housing. Mayor Bruce Harrell and several nonprofit housing providers criticized the proposal.

Lauren Fay, senior business manager at Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), which focuses on permanent supportive housing, said making vacant workforce housing available to people earning below 50% AMI could work, but offered some caveats. 

“Anything that we can do to get people into homes urgently is a great idea,” Fay said. “I just think we need to do it with eyes wide open and not underestimate the full range of supports that folks will need beyond just the subsidy to afford the rent.”

She noted that someone coming out of homelessness into supportive housing often needs a wide range of services related to health, job skills, substance use, and mental health, and that can cost upwards of $35,000 per year for each person.

Sage Wilson, a spokesperson for Mayor-elect Wilson’s transition team, declined to comment on Wilson’s proposal to open workforce housing to lower income residents. 

“The transition team has a whole group working on housing affordability and community needs and is doing very broad outreach and consultation in that area, and that work is going to inform how the mayor-elect advances her vision. No specific details until that process is complete,” Sage Wilson said in an email.

Lee said that there are plenty of workers in the 30% to 50% AMI range – particularly young workers making minimum wage – that aren’t served by either supportive housing or workforce housing. Preventing displacement from historically diverse neighborhoods will require targeting the needs of these residents, she said.

“If you want to keep residents in the community, you need units that are 30% or 40% AMI. A full-time minimum wage worker in Seattle is at 40%,” Lee said. “When they try to apply for housing, and all the units are at 50 and 60, they’ll probably get denied for lack of income.”

Another problem facing affordable housing providers is the tricky issue of a small population of tenants who have exploited winter eviction moratorium rules to avoid paying rent, even if they may have the ability to pay. It’s a controversial issue – Lee and other housing providers have argued that the rules should be modified or provide some exceptions for income-limited housing. 

“We have people who could pay but won’t,” Lee said, “They’ll actually turn down a payment plan. We offer some very generous payment plans to help them catch up.”

Lee and Emily Thompson, an affordable housing developer, wrote an op-ed for the Seattle Times last November urging Mayor Harrell and the city council to revise the winter eviction moratorium, claiming that about 70% of Seattle’s affordable housing residents behind in rent were not cost-burdened, suggesting they may be able but are not willing to pay rent.

Seattle’s tenant protections prevent eviction of people with school-aged children or those who are employed by schools during the school year, from September to June. Seattle also limits evictions of people earning at or below 80% AMI during winter months, from December 1 to March 1.

Former city council member Cathy Moore proposed changing some of those tenant protection rules, but did not pass the legislation before resigning her seat in June.

Because evictions are a leading cause of homelessness, changing the protections has faced sharp criticism from advocates for unsheltered people.

Fay, at DESC, is happy the council didn’t change the eviction limits. 

“They really did stand to create more homelessness,” she said. “We are in a situation now where, between making evictions easier and all of the funding cuts that we are feeling from the federal government, we are creating a potentially nightmare scenario for ourselves. We don’t even have enough shelter space to handle these scenarios, let alone what this would do to our social service system.”

In Tacoma, affordable housing providers asked the city council for exemptions from school year and cold weather winter eviction bans, and last week the council passed several of those changes. The legislation exempts the Tacoma Housing Authority and other nonprofit affordable housing providers from the winter and school-year eviction moratorium in of the city’s Landlord Fairness Code Initiative, passed by voters in 2023.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of 2025 for housing organizations has been evisceration of federal funding for a range of health, childcare, and housing programs. In particular, proposed new rules for the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care program, which funds permanent supportive housing, may be cut by more than half in 2026. PubliCola first reported last month that proposed federal cuts could reduce federal permanent supportive housing programs in Seattle from a current level of $60 million per year to around $20 million. 

“The federal issues are pretty dire at the moment, Fay said. “DESC stands to lose about $16 million in operating funds through these HUD cuts.”

“We have 1,776 tenants that we’re providing supportive services to currently, and it’s our responsibility to continue that work, regardless of what HUD does,” she said. “We’re going to need to figure out something as a community to make it possible to ensure that those folks don’t end up experiencing homelessness again.”

Raybern said the Office of Housing is scrambling to figure out ways to backfill some of those lost funds.

“The HUD CoC funding threats are significant, potentially impacting between $40 million and $60 million of ongoing annual service and operating costs for permanent supportive housing,” Raybern said.

After some delay, the Office of Housing is offering a second round of “urgent operating support” (UOS) to nonprofit affordable housing providers to help these organizations shore up operations. This year, $27.8 million is available to help housing providers in “managing rising operational costs and maintaining the financial well-being of their properties,” Raybern said. In 2024, the Office of Housing awarded $14.2 million in UOS grants to 24 organizations, which ranged from $177,000 to $900,000.

Fay said DESC is applying for the UOS grants, and was grateful for the support in 2024, which helped the organization balance its budget. 

“Last year, it was really helpful with starting a cool, innovative program within our housing portfolio, where we were able to help tenants who had fallen behind on rent get back up to speed by helping to essentially wipe out a portion of their past due rent.”

Though Lee said her organization is grateful for the support, she said it falls short of what organizations will need to weather the current crisis. 

“The city had some funds available last year, and a lot of nonprofits and for-profits applied, and the funds were spread really thin,” Lee said. “Then, for some reason, the Office of Housing didn’t have any funds available this year. It made no sense. Why would you skip a year?”

Without the boost of operating support, some nonprofits warned that they’d be forced to sell off some of their buildings or default on loans. The UOS grants helped them avoid that fate, but potentially only temporarily if their financial outlook does not improve. The federal government is likely to exacerbate the problem rather than help, in the near-term.

On the other hand, if the Office of Housing continues to dole out a high level of operational subsidies, it would eat into its ability to fund the construction of new affordable housing.

The post Housing Nonprofits Grapple with Fiscal Crisis and Federal Threats first appeared on The Urbanist.

On Tuesday, the King County Council unanimously selected Rhonda Lewis for an interim appointment to District 2, a seat vacated by Girmay Zahilay winning election as King County Executive last month. Lewis served as Zahilay’s chief of staff when he was a councilmember and was one of the three nominees that the newly installed executive put forward for consideration.

Lewis’s appointment marks the first time a Black woman has served on the council for Washington’s largest county, and it also connotes the first time the county council has been majority women.

Zahilay stressed Lewis’s breadth of experience, which included a stint as the county’s chief of operations under Dow Constantine and as the City of Tukwila’s city administrator. He also argued elevating his chief of staff would prevent a lapse in constituent services.

“I am filled with gratitude and excitement as Rhonda Lewis becomes a member of the King County Council. She makes history today as the first Black woman to ever serve on the Council, but the true victory here is that she will bring a career of deep experience in county operations and service delivery to represent District 2 residents over the next year,” Zahilay said in a statement. “District 2 is in incredibly capable hands, and I have full confidence that Rhonda and her team will ensure no gap in constituent services between now and when the next permanent Councilmember takes office in November 2026.”

The move did face a smattering of criticism that Zahilay should recuse himself from selecting his successor, but that criticism was largely ignored in council deliberations. The public consensus among councilmembers was that Zahilay had selected three great nominees. The other two nominees were Skyway community leader Cherryl Jackson-Williams and nonprofit leader Nimco Bulale, who ran for the state house in the 37th Legislative District in 2022 and finished third. All three had pledged not to file to run for the seat next fall.

In 2009, when Dow Constantine won his term as King County Executive, he did not put forward a list of finalists for the seat he vacated on the county council. Instead, the council held an open process in which they received 11 applications and ultimately selected former Seattle Councilmember Jan Drago, who pledged to serve as a caretaker rather than run for reelection.

“I am honored to have been selected by the King County Council to join them over the next year and finish out Executive Zahilay’s term representing District 2,” newly appointed King County Councilmember Lewis said in a statement. “We have many challenges and opportunities over the next year as the King County Council works to address important issues that District 2 residents care about, like affordability and housing and homelessness. I look forward to partnering with my new colleagues and Executive Zahilay to meet these problems head on and do everything we can for District 2 and everyone else across the region.”

Meanwhile, the race is already heating up when it comes to who will fill the permanent seat next year, with State Senator Rebecca Saldaña jumping in early this week and Port Commissioner Toshiko Grace Hasegawa announcing she’s “strongly considering” a run.

Sound Transit slate coasts through

Councilmembers also unanimously approved Zahilay’s slate of appointments to the Sound Transit Board of Directors. Board Members serve four-year terms, which are staggered in two-year intervals. That means not all board seats were up this year.

Most of the vacancies happened organically by former boardmembers losing their elected offices, which makes them ineligible for the board by state law. The one exception was Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, who Zahilay opted not to reappoint. The list of new or reaffirmed Sound Transit board appointees are as follows:

• Girmay Zahilay, King County Executive
• Katie Wilson, Mayor-elect of Seattle
• Steffanie Fain, King County Councilmember (District 5)
• Pete von Reichbauer, King County Councilmember (District 7)
• Teresa Mosqueda, King County Councilmember (District 8)
• Angela Birney, Mayor of Redmond
• Thomas McLeod, Mayor of Tukwila

Pete von Reichbauer and Angela Birney were reappointments. Zahilay already served on the Sound Transit Board (after a 2024 appointment by Constantine), but he will have considerably more power as an Executive, given the power to appoint King County’s delegation, which accounts for 10 of the 18 seats on the board, a majority to make decisions around tens of billions of dollars in transit investments.

In the coming year, the Sound Transit Board is poised to consider major revisions to its financial plan and project delivery schedule due to escalating costs that have put the agency’s cumulative budget gap through 2046 at $30 billion or more. It’s set to be a particularly influential year on the board.

“The future of our region relies on safe and reliable mass transportation, and it is more important than ever that Sound Transit’s Board of Directors collaborate with staff and community partners to fulfill our promises to taxpayers on time and within budget,” Zahilay said in a statement. “We are entering a monumental phase for Sound Transit as the Federal Way Link Extension opens this weekend, the Eastside Link Extension nears completion in 2026, and future extensions reach important planning phases. […] I am confident that this slate of Sound Transit Board nominees will serve our transit system well in the short- and long-term as they advocate for their constituencies and look to the future of regional transportation.”

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Mosqueda has increasingly been getting involved in Sound Transit issues as she lobbied for a seat on the board, and Seattle Mayor-Elect Wilson also brings a transit background as co-founder and long-time head of the Transit Riders Union, an advocacy group pushing for transit improvements and more equitable fare policy. Wilson and Zahilay have pledged to work together closely in their new executive roles.

“I’ve spent years advocating for the fast, frequent, reliable, and affordable mass transit system that Seattle and our entire region deserve. I’m excited to get to work and help make that happen as a member of the Sound Transit board,” Wilson said.

The only nominee who faced questioning by the council was Tukwila Mayor Tom McLeod. Pressed to weigh in on project prioritization, McLeod hinted at interest in delaying or scaling back projects in Seattle in an apparent nod to prioritizing the light rail “spine” to Tacoma and Everett, which has been a priority for many board members, particularly those from Pierce and Snohomish Counties.

The King County Council is considering the latest slate of Sound Transit board appointments, with Tukwila Mayor Tom McLeod is up now: "Everything needs to be on the table for board consideration; ultimately, choices in Ballard and West Seattle will ripple across the entire financial plan," he says.

— Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley.bsky.social) December 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM

McLeod has also been a vocal advocate for the completion of a 1 Line infill station near Boeing Access Road, close to Allentown. Included in plans since the line’s inception and promised to voters in 2016, the project was deferred and the costs have ballooned to nearly $500 million, which is a remarkably high price tag for one above-ground station.

Similarly, von Reichbauer’s statement continued to make it clear projects outside Seattle would take priority for him: “I look forward to advocating for the completion of this transportation spine.” A Federal Way resident, von Reichbauer is the longest serving Sound Transit board member.

Fain, who just won election to King County Council in District 5, was a bit more circumspect in her prepared comments.

“As Chair of the Council’s Transit, Economy, and Environment Committee, as well as the Regional Transit Committee, I’m committed to prioritizing safety, ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of Sound Transit, and meeting the growing needs of our transit-dependent communities in South King County,” Fain said. “I look forward to working collaboratively to deliver a cohesive system that supports our residents, our workforce, and our local economy.”

Among the three seats that didn’t face reappointment this year was Seattle Councilmember Dan Strauss, Renton Councilmember Ed Prince, and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, who chairs the System Expansion Committee and unsuccessfully ran against Zahilay for the Executive seat.

The post King County Council Appoints Top Zahilay Aide to Vacant Council Seat first appeared on The Urbanist.

“In this moment when people feel really afraid and maybe hopeless and a little distracted, I want to remind people that we have power, and that it’s in our connections and relationships with one another, and that we can do hard things.” Saldaña told The Urbanist in an interview Monday morning. “And, you know, budgets suck all the time, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t keep on having values and keep on pushing forward and making sure that we’re making government work for working people.”

Saldaña made the announcement at her seventh annual “Golden Clippys” community meeting where she hands out awards highlighting “the amazing work of outstanding organizers and community leaders.”

She already appears to have company in the race. Seattle Port Commissioner Toshiko Grace Hasegawa announced she is “strongly considering a run” on Sunday — though she stopped short of formally jumping in the race. These machinations have all been taking place just a few days before the King County Council is set to vote on a temporary replacement who will fill Zahilay’s shoes until this election’s winner is certified next fall.

Accomplishments in state senate

Saldaña joined the Washington State Senate in December 2016, when Democrats were in the minority in the upper chamber. At the time, Saldaña was executive director at Puget Sound Sage, a progressive nonprofit focused on uplifting communities of color in South King County. The King County Council voted to appoint her to fill the seat after its previous holder, Pramila Jayapal, won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2018, Saldaña went on to win reelection, facing a longshot Republican challenger and winning a landslide victory with 89% of the vote. Her 2022 reelection bid was unopposed. During her time in the Senate, she rose to become the Senate Deputy Majority Leader and now serves as the chair of the Labor & Commerce Committee and as a member of the powerful Ways & Means committee.

Over her nine years in the senate, she pointed to big accomplishments on core progressive issues, like climate action and economic justice, and in “building the bench” of progressive leaders. The state legislature was not very diverse when she first started, but has added far more women of color over the last decade.

“In this last 10 years, we have put a price on carbon,” Saldaña said. “We’ve passed progressive revenues. We have put a lot of infrastructure in to try to Trump proof us during his first regime.”

Her campaign announcement elaborated on her list of legislative wins.

“I’m proud to have worked with coalitions to deliver wins in the legislature like the Voting Rights Act, Capital Gains Tax, Climate Commitment Act, Healthy Environment for All Act, Paid Family and Medical Leave, and more. I’m ready to keep delivering at the local level,” Saldaña said in the release.

Transit expansion and climate action

Transportation was not her area of focus at the state legislature, but Saldaña called herself a reliable, good vote. She stressed that King County Metro is central to efforts to curb pollution and meet the County’s ambitious climate goals.

“To me, transit is a benefit to us all,” Saldaña said. “And I think too often we’re thinking about fare enforcement as opposed to, like, how do we make sure that people that are benefiting from this system are all investing into this system? I will definitely be looking at creative ways that we can be thinking about revenue and thinking about Metro not as just a service for those riding it, but really as a service for the whole region to keep us moving, to be able to make our air cleaner, and be able to get people connected to the things that they love and the people that they care about.”

She shared some frustration that King County had scaled back its bus fleet electrification goals due to budget pressures and reliability issues with new battery-electric bus technology. While Saldaña wants to get the county’s electrification work back on track, she acknowledged that it should not come at the cost of bus frequencies and service.

“A bus that is polluting is cleaner than the 100 cars that we would need for people,” Saldaña said.

Saldaña voiced support for the Graham Street Station area planning led by Puget Sound Sage, which had the goal of fighting displacement and fostering community development when Sound Transit eventually finishes the in-fill light rail station that will go between Columbia City and Othello Station on the 1 Line — currently tabled for 2031. She said she was continue to advocate for the project, and expressed some interest in a seat on the 18-member Sound Transit Board of Directors, should one arise. She noted she was excited that County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda recently won a board nomination from Zahilay.

A long list of endorsements

In her career, Saldaña has also built a wide assortment of allies. She entered the race with a large list of endorsements — many of them colleagues at the state legislature.

Saldaña’s campaign consultant Stephen Paolini shared the following list of endorsements:

• State Senator Adrian Cortes (18th LD)
• State Senator Emily Alvarado (34th LD)
• State Senator Manka Dhingra (45th LD)
• State Senator Claudia Kauffman (47th LD)
• State Senator Marko Liias (21st LD)
• State Senator Jamie Pedersen (43rd LD)
• State Senator Marcus Riccelli (3rd LD)
• State Senator Javier Valdez (46th LD)
• State Senator Vandana Slatter (48th LD)
• State Senator Claire Wilson (30th LD)
• State Representative Liz Berry (36th LD)
• State Representative Mia Gregerson (33rd LD)
• State Representative Nicole Macri (43rd LD)
• State Representative Shaun Scott (43rd LD)
• State Representative Sharlett Mena (29th LD)
• State Representative Edwin Obras (33rd LD)
• State Representative Lillian Ortiz Self (21st LD)
• State Representative Julia Reed (36th LD)
• State Representative Chipalo Street (37th LD)
• State Representative Jamila Taylor (30th LD)
• State Representative Brianna Thomas (34th LD)
• King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (8th District)
• Former King County Councilmember Larry Gossett
• Cindy Domingo, Community Leader
• Rhonda Gossett, Community Leader
• Davida Ingram, Director, Seattle King Co. African-Americans Reparations Committee
• Miguel Maestas, Deputy Director, El Centro de la Raza
• Estela Ortega, Executive Director, El Centro de la Raza.

Temporary appointment process

The election in November will determine who holds the seat for a full four-year term, but until then the King County Council will appoint a temporary fill-in. Executive Zahilay has proposed three nominees for consideration saying all three have pledged to fill the seat in a caretaker role rather than run for reelection next year. All three are Black women: Zahilay’s former chief of staff Rhonda Lewis, Skyway community leader Cherryl Jackson-Williams, and Seattle Foundation grant officer Nimco Bulale, who ran for state house in the 37th Legislative District in 2022 and finished third.

“I am thrilled with the three people that Executive Zahilay put forward. All three of them are incredible leaders. Any of them would do a great job,” Saldaña told The Urbanist. “Council can’t go wrong if they choose one of those three. And I hope that they will.”

Katie Wilson and progressive resurgence

As an early backer of Katie Wilson in her mayoral bid, Saldaña said she is really excited for what her mayoral administration will bring. She said she first met Wilson when they were both working to fight bus service cuts that King County Metro was considering in the aftermath of the 2008 recession. Parallels exists between the leadership Wilson is seeking to bring and Saldaña, with both seeking to restore faith in government and reinvigorate progressive policymaking.

“When I endorsed her, it’s because I want someone that shares my values and that is courageous and is going to lead with hope and creativity in the face of challenges, and not just do things okay,” Saldaña said. “A lot of times [when] you’re feeling a crisis, you’re gonna hunker down, right? And just kind of keep on doing the things. But that’s not how we get progress.”

Visit Saldaña’s campaign website for more information.

The post Rebecca Saldaña Announces Run for Girmay Zahilay’s Former County Council Seat first appeared on The Urbanist.

Zahilay becomes the first new Executive elected to lead King County’s 18,000-employee county government since 2009, when Dow Constantine was first sworn in — ahead of what would be nearly four full terms in the role. After winning his bid to be Sound Transit’s next CEO this past spring, Constantine handed the reins over to his Deputy Executive, Shannon Braddock.

Since Braddock was an unelected appointee, Zahilay took office as soon as election results were certified on Tuesday, five weeks earlier than otherwise.

In the recent election, Zahilay faced Claudia Balducci, one of his colleagues on the King County Council. The race was mellow in spite of its high profile. Zahilay’s focus stayed on bigger picture ideas and his own personal story, in contrast with Balducci’s focus on her own track record being in the weeds on policy. In the end, Zahilay walked away with just over 54% of the vote, after securing a number of major endorsements, including from Governor Bob Ferguson, Representative Pramila Jayapal, and the MLK County Labor Council.

“The oath of office, to me, is a commitment to serve with integrity, to follow the law, to listen before I lead, to center those most affected by our decisions and to focus relentlessly on building a stronger, safer, more affordable and more hopeful King County,” Zahilay said before being sworn in by US District Court Judge Richard Jones. “I’m so humbled by this responsibility. I’m energized by what’s possible.”

Emphasizing what he has been referring to as the four B’s that make up his top priorities — breaking cycles of addiction and homelessness, building infrastructure, creating a better, more accountable government, and getting boots on the ground within communities — Zahilay pledged to bring people together to solve the county’s problems.

“In addition to considering myself the CEO of King County government, I commit to you that I will be a regional convener,” Zahilay said. “Government, community, labor, business, nonprofits, philanthropy, faith leaders, neighborhood organizations, families. We are a region deep with talent. This is such a special place that we live in — if we align those strengths, I believe there is no challenge that we cannot take on.”

In setting up a 100-person transition team, Zahilay has made overtures to corners of the county that might be surprising to the progressives who elected him, including the appointment of Microsoft’s Brad Smith as one of the team’s co-chairs. Smith has become one of the state’s biggest advocates against progressive tax reform, opposing a wealth tax proposal considered by the Washington State Senate earlier this year.

As Executive, Zahilay will face considerable constraints when it comes to the county’s budget, which is significantly hemmed in by a 1% cap on its annual property tax levy, a cap that the legislature has kept in place despite considerable lobbying by city and county officials from around the state. Due to state law, the county mostly cannot approve new revenue options that local cities like Seattle have been pursuing to keep up with rampant inflation and rising demand for services. Seattle added a payroll expense tax in 2020, and is flirting with a local supplement to the statewide capital gains tax.

Those constraints were brought into sharp relief last week, at Zahilay’s final budget vote as a member of the council. The county council unanimously voted to offer a six-month funding reprieve for Harbor Island Studios, the publicly owned film studio that the county has been operating out of a former flour mill since 2021. However, Zahilay laid down a marker before taking office as Executive: he won’t be using the county’s general fund — its most flexible funding source — to pay for its continued operation.

“When it comes to the budget, we’re weighing opportunity costs, trade-offs, risk, and when we use the general fund, which is incredibly volatile and constrained — and it’s also the funding source for so many of our most essential services — the question we have to grapple with is, if we spend money here, what are we not funding? It’s not how important is this thing,” Zahilay said. “As we keep saying, the general fund is not a sustainable or appropriate option here. And for several years, we’ve just basically been kicking the can down the road. […] I won’t be transmitting a budget to the council with general fund dollars for the studio.”

Proponents of a long-term studio funding solution pointed to the benefits that the facility offers to the local economy and its creative industries.

So far the transition team has been acting quickly to transform the Executive’s office, notifying dozens of staff members who likely didn’t consider themselves political appointees that their jobs won’t be carrying forward into the new administration. Those workers include much of the existing staff in the Executive Climate Office (ECO) as well as long-range planners who manage the county’s growth planning. As reported by PubliCola, the restructure is poised to impact around 100 of the 133 people currently serving in the Executive’s office’s appointed positions.

Tuesday’s swearing-in means there’s now a vacancy on the King County Council. Later this month, the county council will be tasked with appointing a new representative for District 2, which spans from Skyway all the way into Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood and had been represented by Zahilay since 2020. Earlier this week, Zahilay announced that he would be submitting a list of three names for the council to consider in appointing his old seat, under the expectation that none of those candidates would file to run for the seat next November.

That process is a departure from the precedent set in 2009, when the council filled a vacancy left by the election of Dow Constantine (who had represented District 8) by picking from a list of names produced by an independent community advisory committee, cutting Constantine out of the process. In the end, the council interviewed four different candidates, some who had intended to run (including Joe McDermott, who would later go on to win the seat) and those who didn’t, ultimately selecting former Seattle Councilmember Jan Drago.

Zahilay being directly involved in selecting the candidates to fill his own former seat could open up his office to charges of political favoritism and a potential quid pro quo.

Taking over Zahilay’s role as Chair of the King County Council will be District 3’s Sarah Perry, who represents a large swath of Northeast King County, including Woodinville, Issaquah, and North Bend. Jorge L. Barón (who represents Northwest Seattle’s District 4) will take Perry’s place as Vice Chair.

Balducci will continue to serve on the county council, but the committee shakeup includes ousting her as Chair of the Committee of the Whole, leaving her leading only the Regional Water Quality Committee — likely to be one of the sleepier committees.

Author’s note: The Urbanist Elections Committee (on which I serve) endorsed Claudia Balducci for County Executive, while also noting Zahilay made a credible case as an urbanist.

The post Girmay Zahilay Takes Office as King County Executive, Pledging to be ‘Regional Convener’ first appeared on The Urbanist.

Due to former County Executive Dow Constantine’s early departure from office this past spring to become Sound Transit’s CEO, Zahilay has a much shorter runway than most new elected officials, who genearlly take over in January. Zahilay held his transition press conference with Interim Executive Shannon Braddock, from whom he will be taking over following the certification of the election results on November 25. He has laid out of a vision of the “four B’s”:

• Breaking the cycle of homelessness, addiction, and incarceration in King County,
• Building more housing, child care, and transit infrastructure,
• Boots on the ground to make county government visible to more residents, and
• Better government that is more transparent and accountable.

In his remarks Monday, Zahilay put the issue of housing production front-and-center as part of that ‘building’ agenda. While the majority of the housing permitted in the county is built within cities and towns, where county government doesn’t directly control land use regulations, the County does play a significant role in steering regional planning and subsidizing below-market-rate housing.

“We will prioritize building the infrastructure needed to meet the demands of our growing population. We believe that more supply creates more affordability,” Zahilay said. “That means increasing the supply of housing, childcare, transit and business opportunities by doing things like accelerating permitting timelines, investing public dollars in our infrastructure and coordinating more effectively across the region and across sectors.”

The idea of increasing the pace of construction on affordable housing was a central campaign platform for Zahilay, after he put forward a proposal in 2024 to consider utilizing the county’s excess bonding capacity to create more workforce housing. But a follow-up report released this year by Braddock’s office spelled out the limits of that idea, with additional revenue almost certainly needed to scale up the number of units that the county builds. With few direct revenue sources available to the county — King County can’t level a B&O tax, capital gains tax, nor a payroll expense tax — funding will likely remain Zahilay’s biggest limiting factor.

Zahilay affirmed his support for ramping up housing production across the county, citing a recent Seattle Times story noting that King County is falling behind its own goals for creating subsidized affordable homes.

“I think we have to do a much better job of keeping up the supply that is needed for this growing population. The last estimates that I heard showed that we need hundreds of thousands of more homes — more homes in general, from market-rate housing to affordable housing, by 2044,” Zahilay said. “I will make sure that we’re working closely with our state partners, with our regional partners, to make sure that we’re making it easier to build, that we’re getting the revenue that we need to invest in more housing, and making sure that we’re truly prioritizing this issue.”

Following the model of Governor Bob Ferguson (one of his most high-profile endorsers), Zahilay’s announcement included a 100-person transition committee. The mega-committee is being led by four co-chairs: ex-Seahawk football star Doug Baldwin, MLK Labor Council head Katie Garrow, the Seattle Indian Health Board CEO Esther Lucero, and Microsoft president Brad Smith.

The fact that Smith was tapped for the role is a clear gesture of good will toward King County’s business community, but it remains to be seen whether that gesture will pay dividends. Smith has been a major booster of infrastructure investments across the region, including the expanding Sound Transit network and building Cascadia high-speed rail, but has been highly critical of moves by Washington policymakers to reform the state’s regressive tax system.

This fall, Smith lambasted the Washington legislature for moves it took to balance the state budget earlier in the year, despite the fact that many of the new revenue sources contemplated — like a wealth tax — did not advance across the finish line, resulting in fairly substantial cuts to state services.

Among the longer list of transition committee members are some folks that might prompt a raised eyebrow on the county’s progressive left, including Kemper Development‘s John Carlson, Mercer Island Mayor Salim Nice, and Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell. Ultimately, many of the committee members have something in common: out of the 12 sitting elected officials included, only one — State Representative Nicole Macri — hadn’t endorsed Zahilay during this year’s campaign.

Despite the fact that Zahilay will oversee the state’s largest transit agency in King County Metro, transit and transportation groups aren’t heavily represented on the transition committee. Retired Metro General Manager Terry White did make the list, but representatives of groups like Transportation Choices Coalition, Washington Bikes, and Amalgamated Transit Union 587 didn’t. Many of those groups endorsed Balducci, who they saw as having a stronger record on transportation issues. That would seem to be a reason to invite those groups into your transition team, and not shut them out.

Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck (who just won her own race in a landslide) did make the transition team, and could serve as a conduit to the transit advocacy community. Recently, Rinck joined with transit advocates to launch a Better Bus Lanes campaign, pushing to upgrade three of Seattle’s busiest bus corridors.

My guy Girmay doesn’t only take the bus, he wants to work with me to make them faster and more reliable! Grateful for his partnership on this to deliver on better transit service!

[image or embed]

— AMR – Alexis Mercedes Rinck (@alexis4seattle.bsky.social) October 28, 2025 at 8:06 PM

The transition team’s subcommittees are expected to submit their final recommendations by the week of December 12. Zahilay encouraged county residents to apply for a position in county government, and to share their ideas for how to improve its operation, at his transition website.

“This is our moment to reset, to unite across cities, sectors and communities, and to build the partnerships that real progress demands to the people of King County,” Zahilay said. “Thank you for your trust. I will lead with integrity, listen to every viewpoint, and measure success by the real outcomes that we are able to deliver safer communities, more affordable housing, better health and a government that earns your confidence. Every day, together, we will reset the region and build a King County that works for all of us.”

Disclosure: The Urbanist Election Committee (on which I serve) endorsed Balducci for King County Executive. Also note that Zahilay tapped Jazmine Smith, Futurewise’s advocacy director, for the transition committee. Outside of her Futurewise work, Smith also co-chaired The Urbanist Election Committee and serves on The Urbanist Board of Directors.

The post After Victory, Zahilay Announces County Executive Transition Team first appeared on The Urbanist.

In the 2026-2027 budget, King County Executive Shannon Braddock proposed a series of changes to one of the county’s pre-filing youth diversion programs, currently called Restorative Community Pathways (RCP). The changes are extensive enough that RCP would cease to exist in its current form, its replacement a county-led program as opposed to community-led.

Signified by a name change to the King County Youth Diversion and Intervention Program, Braddock’s plan consists of both financial cuts to the program and organizational changes that would bring coordination and administrative work within the county’s Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS). 

RCP has been hailed as an innovative community-based program, a collaboration between six different local community organizations with its Downtown Renton team as its organizational core.

Braddock’s plan would also eliminate funding for the positions of the RCP’s Downtown Renton team, which comprises the Youth and Family Fund, the RCP operations team, and six community navigators. The operations team is scheduled to be funded through the end of March 2026 and the navigators through the end of August. 

“The Downtown Renton team, we’re a lot of the glue to the consortium because we handle the finances, the communications, the referrals, and we hold the Youth and Families Fund, which gets direct help to the families when they need it the most,” said Jasmine Vail, communications coordinator at RCP.

Should these changes be passed as part of the county’s budget, the DCHS would release a Request for Proposals (RFP) in early 2026, with community organization contracts to be finalized in September. A new administrative position within DCHS is anticipated to begin in April. 

In a letter to King County Council Chair Girmay Zahilay about her proposed changes, Braddock references the King County Prosecuting Attorney Office’s (KCPAO’s) July announcement that the office would be pausing their referrals of youth felonies to diversion through RCP. 

Braddock may have been influenced by a recent audit completed by the King County Auditor’s Office that found DCHS hasn’t been properly administering its grants, leading to improper payments and possible fraud. The only fraud noted in the report was one DCHS employee likely having dual employment and one or two organizations in the “Stopping the School-to-Prison-Pipeline” program submitting altered documents, the only one cited being a difference between $1,000 and $7,000.

DCHS expanded its grant-making capacity by 95% between 2019-20 and 2023-24, making growing pains likely, but mainstream media reporting on the audit claimed the county “may have given millions of dollars away in public money.” Additionally, an error on the auditor’s part led the initial report to vastly overstate the degree to which DCHS grants had grown, exaggerating by $900 million.

The audit reviewed four different youth programs funded by DCHS. RCP was only mentioned twice in the audit: once in which two organizations filled out prepaid card logs incorrectly and once in which one organization submitted an erroneous expense report, for which the County was later reimbursed.

“We submitted a corrective-action plan to the County this summer, and we have consistently adapted to the County’s contracting requirements as they’ve evolved,” an RCP press release stated. “We reject any suggestion by King County Councilmember Regan Dunn that RCP engages in fraudulent or wasteful practices.”

Nevertheless, Braddock moved to replace the program. At the heart of this decision lies two conflicting evaluations: one solicited by the KCPAO and conducted by Dr. Claus C. Pörtner, Professor of Economics at Seattle University and the other solicited by DCHS and conducted by Impact Justice, a national nonprofit.

The work of Restorative Community Pathways 

Launched in 2021 in the wake of the George Floyd protests, with advocacy going back to 2012 and the No Youth Jail movement, RCP is a consortium of six community nonprofits in King County: Choose 180, Collective Justice, the Congolese Integration Network, Creative Justice, East African Community Services, and the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington.

Offering an alternative to the court-based system for juveniles primarily between the ages of 12 and 18, RCP uses a community-led model of restorative justice to help both youth who have been accused of a crime and community members associated with these cases who have experienced harm. Youth can be referred to RCP by either the KCPAO or the community, and once engaged, they receive community supports and resources designed to help them heal and get their basic needs met.

Kids who have allegedly caused harm undergo a process of accountability through the program. 

One of the stated goals of RCP is to reduce the disproportionate impact of the legal system on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth and help them create better futures for themselves. 

Aaron Vanterpool, nickname “Preme”, one of RCP’s community navigators who works in downtown Renton, says he’s available to the youth he’s helping 24/7 by phone. The kids in his caseload range from being homeless to being involved in domestic violence situations, having trouble in school, or struggling in the foster care system. He acts as a mentor, doling out advice and support while connecting the kids to services and opportunities: skills training, resume building, money for transportation to job interviews and classes, money for food and clothing for their households, and more. 

“A lot of the kids that are coming to us are underserved and underprivileged, unfortunately, but we do deal with a wide variety of kids, and I really think that the work that we do helps the promotion of their brain function, their maturity, their education, and things that they were not receiving from different places in their lives, and they wouldn’t be receiving from just being put in a jail cell or pushed down that path,” Vanterpol told The Urbanist. “I think we are definitely a deterrent for whatever factors that led them to us in the first place.”

Meanwhile, support for harmed parties can look like financial restitution for anything lost or damaged during alleged incidents, which can help people feel whole and retain their employment. Harmed parties are also offered access to services like therapy, job counseling and training, food, and more stable housing. 

“Unfortunately, the normal traditional justice system does not provide that support for harmed parties, and that may cause animosity between community members,” Vanterpool said. “As a restorative-based program, we are able to make those connections and create those bonds, and actually have those kids that came in as maybe an alleged [person who caused harm] and a harmed party, now they’re friends, and now they’re doing pro-social activities together and really building each other up.”

Recent evaluation of RCP

DCHS contracted with the nonprofit Impact Justice to provide an independent evaluation of the RCP program, which was released just a few weeks ago. 

The evaluation cites systemic inequities such as housing and food instability and caregiver incarceration, as well as racial bias, punitive school environments, and unmet basic needs as creating huge challenges for youth, especially those who are marginalized. 

“These conditions create pathways into the legal system for young people who may have high needs but pose little risk to public safety,” the report reads. “Often, they are experiencing trauma, behavioral health issues, or family conflict—challenges better addressed through supportive services rather than legal intervention. Research consistently shows that formal system involvement can leave youth worse off, increasing the likelihood of re-arrest, incarceration, and long-term instability.”

In 2024, the report says there were 2,328 cases involving youth referred to the KCPAO for legal system involvement, representing about 1,595 individuals. Of these cases, 45% were misdemeanors, while 18% involved property crimes, drug-related offenses, and other felonies. A quarter of the cases involved the use of a weapon or crimes against a person.

Charges were filed in 38% of the cases, 18% of these involving a misdemeanor. One third of cases were diverted. 

Male youth represented 73% of legal system referrals, and Black youth made up 42% (compared to 7% of the total population). 

The evaluation highlighted key findings about Restorative Community Pathways:

• RCP is good at meeting the basic needs of both youth who have allegedly caused harm and those who have been harmed, with 93% and 98% expressing satisfaction respectively;
• Roughly two quarters after enrollment, 80% of diverted youth and 72% of harmed parties were reported as actively engaged in the program; 
• RCP helps the people it serves meet their goals, with 69% of diverted youth and 84% of harmed parties meeting at least one of their stated goals;
• 59% of male youth diverted and 58% of female youth diverted completed the program;
• Participation is driven by trust, individualization, and creating partnership with families;
• Challenges facing the program included an expedited launch, negative media representations, skepticism, budget constraints, and lack of availability of certain services, such as affordable housing, substance use treatment, and long-term behavioral health care. .

The evaluation recommends the RCP consortium increase their collaboration and hire a consortium coordinator. It seems likely the reboot of these diversion services under the County’s umbrella will instead decrease coordination between organizations selected via the request for proposals application process.

The evaluation, citing evidence-based practices, also recommends RCP consider expanding its program eligibility criteria to include youth facing more serious charges. Again, this is exactly the opposite of what the proposed changes will accomplish.

Finally, the evaluation suggests improvements to data collection practices, including hiring an external expert for technical assistance. 

“Despite the challenges outlined above, the RCP model represents a promising and innovative approach to youth diversion—one that centers healing, community engagement, and racial equity,” the report concludes. ”With continued investment, strengthened infrastructure, and a renewed commitment to its community-led foundation, RCP has the potential to deepen its impact and serve as a national model for jurisdictions seeking to transform their approach to youth justice.”

Incomplete report

However, Impact Justice couldn’t perform an analysis of the recidivism of RCP program participants as was intended. The KCPAO refused to give Impact Justice the necessary data to conduct any analysis. 

Instead, the KCPAO solicited their own recidivism evaluation from Pörtner. When The Urbanist reached out to ask why the data hadn’t also been provided to Impact Justice, KCPAO spokesperson Douglas Wagoner said, “We wanted to be sure any report produced using the data was done so objectively and independently, and not tainted by any of the issues involving a potential conflict of interest.”

When the KCPAO learned that DCHS had contracted with Impact Justice for the evaluation, the KCPAO’s Stephanie Trollen, Operations and Restorative Programs Manager of the Juvenile Division, wrote a letter to various people in DCHS and KCPAO expressing concerns around a conflict of interest.

“I believe some members of DCHS may have met with Impact Justice and the RCP consortium when they served as consultants in the design and implementation of Restorative Community Pathways,” Trollen wrote. “Impact Justice was also very helpful when RCP first came under public scrutiny which is when they drafted the attached letter of support of RCP.” 

However, both DCHS and Impact Justice told The Urbanist that Impact Justice played no role in the design and implementation of RCP.

“The organization [Impact Justice] was selected through an intensive screening process in partnership with the County’s Procurement Office to develop this report and Impact Justice meets DCHS’ standard of objectivity,” DCHS further told The Urbanist.

Antoinette Davis, the vice president and director of the Research and Action Center at Impact Justice, told the Urbanist that writing a letter of support is a common practice in the nonprofit space.

Additionally, the research arm of Impact Justice has a firewall in operations, operating distinctly from other staff and with measures to ensure security and confidentiality. The restorative justice project is no longer a part of Impact Justice, having spun off to become its own entity.

“We’re a completely ethical team,” said Lallen Johnson, the associate director of the Research and Action Center at Impact Justice. “We are a team composed of three PhDs with training in the field of criminal justice, two individuals with training in criminal justice PhDs, another one with training in psychology. We have all received substantial ethical training regarding the study of criminal legal systems.” 

Apart from Davis, the entire research team was not  hired until March 2024, years after the design and implementation of RCP in King County. 

The question of recidivism

Upon receipt of Pörtner’s report, King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion wrote, “The initial report shows a 24-month recidivism rate of 53.2% for felonies. As a result, the KCPAO is making the decision to pause felony diversion referrals to RCP pending the results of Professor Pörtner’s secondary analysis, which seeks to evaluate and compare recidivism rates for RCP vs. those of traditional prosecution.”

In his report on the RCP, Pörtner wrote, “Several significant study limitations necessitate caution in interpreting the results of this report; these include relatively small sample sizes, newness of the program, lack of a comparison group, and unique impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

Manion echoed the need for caution in her memo, but still made the decision to pause felony referrals.

In her memo, Manion referenced a report on juvenile recidivism from the Washington State Center for Court Research (WSCRR) analyzing data from 2014-2015. However, two experts in the field–Sarah Cusworth Walker, a research professor at the University of Washington’s  Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Katherine Beckett, a sociology professor at the University of Washingtion–disagree with which data from that report is most appropriate as a benchmark. 

According to the data they find more comparable, the felony recidivism rates for RCP are very similar, with 53.2% at 24 months of RCP vs 54% at 18 months in the WSCRR report. 

“Taken together, the lack of a direct comparison in the PAO analysis, along with the best available benchmark data showing comparable recidivism rates, lead us to conclude that the PAO’s decision to pause referral to the RCP is unsupported by the available data,” wrote Walker and Beckett.

Jess Rock, Collective Justice’s Grants and Contract Manager and Facilitator, also called Pörtner’s report into question.

“These figures show that in just four years, RCP’s outcomes are at least as effective as the traditional system, one that has operated for over a century with persistent inequities and traumatizing results,” Rock told The Urbanist. “Too often, innovative community-led efforts like RCP are the first to be undermined at the first sign of challenge, while the carceral system that has failed generations of young people continues unchecked. There is always room to strengthen this work, and those of us committed to healing and accountability are doing exactly that. But scrutiny should be even-handed especially when the data shows that the approach piloted by RCP has shown great success.” 

Impact Justice’s Johnson expressed another issue with Pörtner’s report: namely, that it uses police referrals to determine recidivism rates. 

“In the study of criminal justice, when we measure recidivism, we try to avoid things such as police stops or police arrests, or in this case, say, referrals on behalf of the police,” Johnson said. “And there’s a good reason for that. We know that certain communities receive more levels of policing than the others. So it doesn’t really make sense to base recidivism based on contact with the police. Consider how much variation there is in policing across neighborhoods. That’s essentially the data they reported on, which is referrals.” 

A best practice would be to instead measure recidivism based on youth with new sustained charges.

Both Davis and Johnson expressed interest in being able to perform a recidivism analysis of the RCP program based on best practices. 

Wagoner told The Urbanist that the secondary analysis by Pörtner is currently in the works, and that the KCPAO hopes to have an update in the coming months. 

King County Council to make final decision

Due to Manion’s decision to pause felony referrals to RCP, Braddock announced her intentions to cut $1.65 million from the youth diversion program for the 2026-2027 biennium, saying the other changes to youth diversion are based on recommendations from DCHS. 

King County Councilmembers Teresa Mosqueda, Jorge Barón, and Rod Dembowski have been discussing the changes during the Health, Housing, and Human Services budget panels over the last few weeks. 

Mosqueda wants to make a few changes to Braddock’s proposal: to provide additional funding to allow a smoother transition between RCP and Braddock’s proposed King County Youth Diversion and Intervention Program, making sure there is overlap between the two programs, and to remove the proposal’s restriction on the possibility of youth felony diversion. 

Matt Sanders, the Director of the King County Department of Public Defense (DPD), agrees with keeping the door open for youth felony diversion in the future. 

“King County must maximize opportunities for diversion from a youth legal system we know is harmful and disproportionately targets youth of color,” Sanders said. “Diversion programs should broaden access for the young people most in need of support, based on individual circumstances, not case type. We must invest in restorative responses that strengthen youth and communities — not categorically exclude youth charged with certain offenses.”

Vanterpool also believes in the value of youth diversion for felony cases, emphasizing that these cases generally involve kids who need more attention and help.

During the council budget panel, Dembowksi spoke more critically of RCP. 

“What I am interested in is having a break from the old existing program, which I don’t believe has demonstrated fidelity to the principles of transparency, accountability and appropriate use of public funds in all respects,” Dembowski said. “I also believe that there needs to be a paradigm shift in the philosophy of this program.”

Dembowski would like to have council approval of what the new model for youth diversion looks like. 

Barón is concerned kids might fall through the cracks during a transition and wants the new diversion program to have clearly stated goals.

“I feel like we as a community have not necessarily always been in agreement as to exactly what we’re trying to achieve here,” Barón said. “Is it just reduce recidivism? Is it actually focus on the youth and providing support? I think there’s a combination of factors there. But how do we measure success?”

The option of preserving RCP instead of replacing it has not been discussed.

The King County budget is scheduled for final approval by the council on the morning of November 18, with opportunities for public comment on November 12 and 13. 

Meanwhile, RCP is looking into the possibility of turning their Downtown Renton team into a new organization so they can apply through DCHS’s RFP process in a few months. This would give them a chance to continue working with the youth and community they’re serving. 

“I do think that we are on the cutting edge of a new normal for the United States,” Vanterpool said. “So I hope that we can continue to explore these innovative and groundbreaking programs and continue to support them as a community.”

The post King County Looks to Replace Program Diverting Youth from Jail first appeared on The Urbanist.

The fledgling proposal quickly became a major election plank for Zahilay after he announced a King County Executive bid in December. Under affordability accomplishments, Zahilay’s campaign website touts that he “championed the Regional Workforce Housing Initiative, directing King County to invest $1 billion in publicly-owned, rent-restricted housing for essential workers.”

Zahilay is the frontrunner after finishing 14 points ahead of King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci in August primary results. He will now go head-to-head with Balducci in the November general election to lead Washington’s largest county. (The Urbanist’s elections committee, on which I serve with 13 other members, has endorsed Balducci.)

While the candidate is gaining momentum, his housing initiative appears to be losing it. Despite the King County Council receiving the report in late June, the report’s findings did not get a public airing until late September, just as the council headed into two months of budget deliberations.

King County has around $9 billion in capacity to issue bonds that it historically hasn’t tapped into, generally only issuing bonds when it has dedicated a specific revenue source available to pay them back. In contrast, Zahilay’s proposal was specifically touted as self-sustaining.

“I am proposing legislation that will establish a $1 billion Regional Workforce Housing Initiative, a bold and sustainable approach to increasing our housing supply without necessarily relying on new regressive taxes,” Zahilay wrote in an op-ed in The Urbanist explaining his proposal. “King County has approximately $9 billion in untapped debt capacity, some of which we can use without jeopardizing our financial health. By issuing bonds, we can borrow billions of dollars from banks at relatively great interest rates, then use these funds to construct thousands of permanently affordable housing units specifically designed for essential workers. The rental income generated from these units would then be used to pay down the loan, making the initiative self-sustaining and more affordable over time.”

But such a plan likely won’t move forward until the County identifies a new funding source to pair with its bonding capacity, the report states — a tall order given the constraints that exist on King County’s ability to raise revenue and the need to address existing structural budget gaps driven by inflation, population growth, and Trump’s deep budget cuts. In its first five years, the sample plan developed by the Executive’s office estimated an additional $158 million in new revenue would be needed to sustain $1 billion in bonds, with most of that money simply going to pay debt service on those bonds.

“This Plan finds that County bond financing can provide relative benefit to workforce housing but is not sufficient on its own to meaningfully address the gap between development and operating costs and the income from rents or home sales affordable to workforce households. Therefore, the County will need to provide additional support for workforce housing projects to ensure these regional affordable housing needs are met. To utilize $1 billion in County bonds as envisioned in the Motion, new revenue authority in addition to bond authority is necessary.”

Zahilay’s proposal mirrored Seattle’s new social housing developer, targeting middle-income residents who would be able to pay high enough rents to be able to sustain the program’s operational needs. But Seattle’s newest housing authority does have access to a dedicated revenue source, with voters signing onto a new high-earner payroll tax that is expected to generate around $50 million per year.

The report looked at other bond-financed housing programs in places like Maryland’s Montgomery County, Denver, and the state of Oregon to discover potential barriers to implementing such a program at King County. The primary takeaway? King County lacks a flexible revenue source to be able to cover unexpected losses.

“King County’s lack of flexible taxing authority presents challenges to being able to take a similar risk exposed program to those detailed below,” the report notes before describing those programs. “The cap on property taxes results in a lack of sufficient authority over the General Fund to adjust revenues if a project needs to be bailed out and doesn’t have sufficient revenue to pay for the debt service.”

Oregon’s Metro Council went to the voters for $652 million in general obligation bonds to fund affordable housing projects across a three-county area in 2019, but that program is funded by a dedicated property tax levy in the same way that Seattle’s housing levy is. King County consistently goes to the voters for approval on levies to keep specific funding streams intact, including this year with a regional fingerprint identification levy, a parks levy, and a Medic One/EMS levy this fall, but has not to date proposed a dedicated housing levy.

Until such time as the state offers more revenue tools to counties, sending a property tax levy to voters would appear to be the most straightforward path to stand up a county housing initiative. Zahilay has stopped short of proposing such a step, but Balducci has expressed interest in launching that conversation. In fact, she was already making that point last October when the county council greenlit the study.

“We heard it said that this is a way to provide a lot more financing for housing without any additional taxes,” Balducci said at the time. “I don’t know that that’s the case. I think we may find at the end of the day that we need new funding tools. And I’m here to say I’m not afraid of that. We should have that conversation about the need for new funding tools. And if we do have that conversation, bonding against a dedicated housing revenue stream could be an extraordinarily powerful combination.”

King County already uses bonding to fund affordable housing, via the Transit-Oriented Development and Health Through Housing programs. This year, the county’s Housing Finance Program (HFP) made $38 million in funding available for non-profit housing providers across King County, with project awards set to be made early next year.

At a September 23 discussion of the workforce housing report hosted in the council’s Committee of the Whole, which Balducci chairs, Zahilay framed the workforce housing report as a positive step exactly in line with what his expectations for the motion were.

“I think the report did exactly what we asked it to do,” Zahilay said. “It showed us clearly what’s feasible, what’s not, where the gaps are, what the risks are, and what it would take to make a workforce housing initiative work. And I think it’s not surprising that in this high-cost, high interest rate environment, that we learned that bonding alone doesn’t fully close the gap, but I think the model does work if paired with external sources. I think they mentioned external revenue sources, and that’s important information. And it means that this idea can be alive and very much worth pursuing as new revenue sources become available or or existing ones like the hotel motel tax become healthier in the future.”

On the other hand, Balducci painted the report’s results as more sobering.

“There were a lot of expert partners at the table who gave their input into this, and it found, not unsurprisingly, that they would not recommend a large bonding program without an associated revenue source,” Balducci said. “So it truly is no free lunch. Like, surprise: we have rediscovered the maxim. There are no other programs that they identified that do something similar without subsidies. There are no other models that were identified where rents were able to fully cover the cost recovery for capital construction or acquisition, including principal and interest. And there’s a reason for that, because there’s no free lunch.”

Zahilay’s office told The Urbanist that he’ll be prioritizing other issues ahead of the workforce housing initiative in the county’s biennial budget, which the council is considering now.

“In this budget, our immediate focus is on protecting core services and addressing urgent shortfalls across housing, health, and public safety. That said, the Regional Workforce Housing Initiative remains part of my long-term housing strategy,” Zahilay’s office said through spokesperson Rosa Mai. “The report makes clear that bonds alone aren’t enough right now and that a dedicated revenue source is needed to make the numbers work. Because that dedicated revenue source is not currently available, that means we have to be strategic about timing. In the meantime, I am committed to keeping the groundwork alive: confirming the legal basis for workforce housing bonds, exploring pilot programs like acquisition and conversion loans, and looking at updates to the credit enhancement program.”

Why didn’t the report get a hearing earlier? Zahilay’s office told The Urbanist that it was up to Budget Committee Chair Rod Dembowski to schedule such a discussion, and that other issues had taken precedence ahead of the workforce housing initiative. Dembowski, who officially announced his endorsement of Zahilay last week, had appeared next to him at the announcement of the workforce housing initiative last September.

“The timing of budget committee briefings is set by the Budget Chair. My understanding is that when the report was completed this summer, the budget committee was focused on urgent items such as Harborview, MIDD [the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency sales tax hike], and Crisis Care Centers,” Zahilay’s office said. “Since the workforce housing plan did not have immediate deadlines, it was reasonable to prioritize limited committee and staff time for those time-sensitive items and schedule the workforce housing discussion for budget season.”

On top of a busy council calendar, both candidates are navigating a county executive race that, as a contest between two Democrats, could be decided by which way the county’s Republican voters swing. Rather than new taxing initiatives, both candidates have been emphasizing messages of budget discipline and fiscal prudence since the primary.

Regardless of which candidate prevails in next month’s election, it remains very unclear what the future of the workforce initiative will be, given that similar funding challenges are likely to persist for the foreseeable future.

The post Buried Report Throws Cold Water on Zahilay’s Billion-Dollar Housing Bond Proposal first appeared on The Urbanist.

Ultimately, the Council achieved that minimum requirement on Tuesday, but some councilmembers pushed for a broader discussion of reducing fees, rather than simply rebalancing them. Councilmembers passed a set of amendments that fully exempted affordable housing projects and capped the per-unit fees on multifamily buildings at $5,000.

The amount of funding that the County’s school impact fees can provide is likely small, since they are tied to one-time housing permits and dependent on builder interest. Once fees and other building costs get so high that they jeopardize project financials and scare off investors, homebuilders simply don’t build.

Unincorporated areas, where the County Council has jurisdiction and 10% of the county population resides, has seen scant building activity in recent years. Over the last decade, builders have produced about 300 multifamily units and 2,300 single family homes in unincorporated King County, according to County staff.

Within cities, especially King County’s largest, housing activity is much more robust. Seattle has added more than 70,000 homes since 2017. Seattle does not have impact fees for schools or transportation, though the city’s Mandatory Housing Affordability requirement does work much like an impact fee for affordable housing.

Opponents worry impact fees are a NIMBY tool

Some housing advocates have pushed to rein in impact fees because they view them as a backdoor mechanism to obstruct housing, allowing not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) activists a potent tool to block housing while appearing to have a noble cause. Federal Way has been the poster child for excessive impact fees; it levies a $20,086 impact fee on each new apartment constructed within its borders, while charging much less for each new single family home. The new state law going into effect will force Federal Way to revise that practice, it would appear.

For example, Federal Way famously imposed impact fees of $20,086 per units on multifamily units, while levying much lower fees on new single family homes. Pretty clearly seemed intent on reducing apartment development. www.theurbanist.org/2019/05/21/o…

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— The Urbanist (@theurbanist.org) August 26, 2025 at 2:38 PM

Amy Enbysk, press secretary for King County Executive Shannon Braddock, said the Executive’s goal was to comply while maintaining the funding source for local school districts.

“This Ordinance was drafted in response to legislation recently passed by the State (SB5258), which requires counties to change how impact fees are calculated, with the goal that smaller residences would have a lower impact fee than larger residences,” Enbysk said.

As the proposal advanced, Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda pushed for a broader analysis of the impact on builders, addressing the risk of blocking housing construction. Ultimately, Mosqueda viewed the proposal as falling short of the mark and she proposed three amendments intended to reduce that risk.

“When the proposal was presented in the Land Use Committee in July, I was concerned that there was no analysis of how the impact fee proposal would impact the feasibility of badly-needed housing in the County. My concern was that, without proper calibration, fees could actually disincentivize the building of more family sized multifamily units in particular,” Mosqueda wrote in her newsletter. “This is especially concerning given that school districts are reporting decreased enrollment as families are being pushed out of our communities due to a lack of affordable and family-sized units across the region. When there aren’t enough options for families to live in our communities, they leave (often leaving the state altogether), and schools suffer along with our community as a whole.”

Some housing advocates are worried impact fees would stunt homebuilding and are ill-timed. @cmtmosqueda.bsky.social has proposed guardrails: -Amendment 2: caps fees on family-sized units -Amendment 3: exempts affordable housing projects -Amendment 4: expands reqs around housing impacts analysis

— The Urbanist (@theurbanist.org) August 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM

Mosqueda’s amendments garnered support from organized labor and builders, including LIUNA, Seattle Building Trades, MLK Labor, Housing Development Consortium, McCullough Hill Leary, School Board Members, Habitat for Humanity, and the White Center CDA.

County caps impact fees at $5,000 per unit

State lawmakers’ goal with SB 5258 appears to have been preventing undue burdens on multifamily builders. Some jurisdiction heap more impact fees on apartments than single family homes, or apply the same fees to small efficiencies, microhousing, or backyard cottages as units many times larger.

On the other hand, Mosqueda pointed to scarcity of multi-bedroom apartments as another policy issue worthy of addressing. As a result, she pushed an amendment capping fees on multi-bedroom multifamily units.

Councilmember Rod Dembowski proposed to expand that $5,000 cap to all multifamily units. Mosqueda and most of her colleagues backed that change. One exception was Councilmember Claudia Balducci, who argued for a fuller analysis and engagement process with school officials before advancing a cap on fees. Balducci ultimately voted for the underlying bill.

With the fee restructure and cap and affordable housing exemption, Dembowski argued the legislation marked one of the rare times in his 12 years on the County Council that they were lessening obstacles to permitting housing rather than adding them.

“The high cost of housing is driven in part by the high cost to build it. Excessive impact fees, many approaching $20,000 per unit, unreasonably increase housing costs and reduce access. I have raised these concerns for years, and so was happy to join with Councilmember Mosqueda to address this issue by revising the impact fee formula,” Dembowski said in a statement. “The new formula strikes a reasonable balance that ensures new development helps cover the cost of new schools, while recognizing that fees cannot be so burdensome that housing is not accessible and affordable. This bold action sends a strong signal that King County is serious about taking action to implement the recommendations in the Regional Affordable Housing Task Force Report and cut the cost to build new homes.” 

Through her spokesperson, Braddock declined to back the amendments outright, indicating the Executive Office would evaluate them caps and exemptions in partnership with school districts and builders.

“We look forward to working with both schools and housing providers through the evaluation process, including reviewing caps and exemptions,” Enbysk said.

School districts face varied problems

Unincorporated areas largely fall in eastern King County in exurban districts like Councilmember Sarah Perry’s District 3 and Councilmember Reagan Dunn’s District 9. Washington State’s growth management framework would encourage tapping the brakes on growth in these exurban areas. However, some unincorporated urban areas also exist, such as White Center in Mosqueda’s District 8 and Skyway in Council Chair Girmay Zahilay’s District 2.

The problems facing school districts also vary across King County. Some suburban school districts are overcapacity, having failed to expand enough to serve their local growth spurt. On the other hand, some urban school districts like Seattle Public Schools is under-enrolled, as family sizes have shrank since postwar peaks and a growing number of parents have placed their kids in private schools.

“Snoqualmie Valley School District is 35% overcapacity. North Shore, which I share with Councilmember Dembowski, is overcapacity and expected to be significantly overcapacity,” Perry said. “But that is not true for Seattle. That is not true for other school districts.”

Time will tell whether the impact fee legislation can be any help for schools grappling with too much enrollment, whether by slowing down growth or raking in fees or some combination of the two. Impact fees can only be used to expand school facilities, not to pay for maintenance or operations in existing schools.

Balducci offered the opinion that impact fee legislation was too around the margins to swing the calculus much either way for either builders or school district administrators.

“I also understand that the impacts are probably fairly minimal on both sides of the aisle,” Balducci said Tuesday. “The schools lose a minimal amount of fees . […] And the cut to the cost of funding housing are minimal. I mean, I think we’re talking about a few thousand dollars for a construction project that’s going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Going forward, Balducci suggested an approach where impact fees are deployed in school districts that are significantly overcapacity, while other areas perhaps avoid them.

“I would absolutely support a coordinated approach going forward, to try to find a way to strike this balance between impact fees that support school districts — not like the ones in my district — like the ones in Councilmember Perry’s district, that are bursting at the seams,” Balducci said. “They’re the ones that really need to build. They already have more kids than they can then they can support. And so if we incentivize more kids coming there, that’s not the answer to their particular problem.”

The post King County Restructures School Impact Fees to Comply with State Law first appeared on The Urbanist.