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Public commenter faults city housing rules and MHA allocations; urges incentives for for‑profit developers
Summary
A remote speaker criticized restrictions on for‑profit developers, argued that nonprofit access to large sums disadvantaged housing production, and called for changes to the city’s approach to the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program.
David Haines, a remote public commenter during the March 4 Seattle City Council meeting, criticized past city policies that he said limited for‑profit developer incentives and contended those restrictions reduced the supply of higher‑quality, higher‑density housing.
Haines said progressive policy changes had "put restrictions on for profit developers, denying them higher levels in housing buildings and commercial multi use buildings, denying more enjoyable livable amenities, and then disincentivize them to even bother building." He argued that when foundations of buildings are expensive, taller buildings are needed to make projects financially feasible and to generate revenue that can support affordable units.
Haines also criticized how the city’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) in his view required developers to pay into a fee fund and asserted that access to large sums — he cited figures in the neighborhood of $1.3 billion — had been granted to nonprofits he described as politically connected. He said many nonprofits are "not qualified to build first world quality homes," and urged changes to incentive structures to encourage for‑profit builders to produce higher‑quality, transit‑oriented housing.
The statements were part of public comment; councilmembers did not respond to Haines’ remarks during the meeting and no action or referral was recorded.
