HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? City Councilor Kshama Sawant lives here on her take home salary of $38,000 a year. Presumably she has a friendly bank or is using money from her separated husband. No one living on that amount could afford a house like this. Sawant is insistent on rent control which, of course would not affect well to do Seattle newbies who like she and her husband who are able to use their salaries from Microsoft to buy a housr .
“(Mayor Murry’s Housing Affordability Committee) has agreed on a list of 60 affordability and livability strategies, but with two weeks to go they haven’t figured out financing. Linkage fees look as though they will fly, but how high? City-backed bonds are in the mix. However, anybody who thinks voters will go for doubling the Housing Levy in 2016 along with ST3, and following the gargantuan $930M Move Seattle and the King County Kids First levy this November isn’t recognizing voter fatigue. If we double the Housing Levy, we run the risk of getting zilch. We’ll be lucky to renew it straight across.”
According to Zillow, Sawant bought it last summer for $345,000 — which is low end for Seattle — and it’s now worth $547,000.