<
https://shelterforce.org/2025/04/21/how-social-housing-won-in-seattle-despite-a-flood-of-big-tech-money/>
"In the days before a recent ballot referendum in Seattle that would determine
the future of social housing in the city, large tech companies spent big.
Amazon and Microsoft, both of which are headquartered in the Seattle
metropolitan area, each donated $100,000, and opponents of a tax to fund social
housing spent a combined $780,000 in the lead-up to the Feb. 11 vote. Despite
this, the vote on a corporate tax to fund the city’s social housing authority
won big, with 63 percent of voters supporting it.
In 2023, voters had already resoundingly approved the social housing authority,
agreeing that a new entity would be created to acquire and construct
mixed-income housing and keep it permanently affordable and under the city’s
ownership.
But this February, voters were asked to return to the polls to determine how to
fund the authority—or whether it would be funded at all. The first question on
the ballot asked if voters approved of funding the new authority using payroll
taxes. Next, voters had to choose whether they wanted a new 5 percent payroll
tax on individual compensation above $1,000,000, paid by companies, or to use
an existing payroll tax that mostly funds affordable housing. The new tax could
bring in $52 million of funding each year for social housing. The second option
would appropriate $10 million a year for five years that had already been set
aside.
The city’s big tech companies had no interest in paying a new tax. In addition
to contributions from Amazon and Microsoft, Seattle’s Chamber of Commerce
donated $40,000 and T-Mobile donated $20,000 to derail an additional tax on
companies.
But according to Tiffani McCoy of House Our Neighbors, a Seattle nonprofit that
has been one of the lead supporters of the social housing authority, the influx
of spending actually hurt Big Tech’s case.
“Frankly, Amazon donating was a godsend for us,” McCoy says. “We capitalized on
the fact that Amazon and Microsoft were dumping in $100,000, and we made clear
to voters that these corporations don’t want you to have social housing.”
McCoy says that the campaign to fund the social housing authority with a
corporate tax sent mailers, paid for digital advertising, and made social media
posts that played up the tech companies’ donations. Supporters also held a
rally in front of Amazon’s Seattle headquarters.
“There’s a lot of resentment towards tech billionaires who are part of the
Trump regime here in Seattle,” she says."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-chestnut-tree-hybrid-nyc/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
