EVERETT, Wash. — A debate over allowing certain types of multi-family low-income housing in some Everett neighborhoods took center stage at a city council meeting on Wednesday.
The Council passed a measure to ban supportive housing in communities of single-family homes.
The debate has been going on for months and centers on a unique project near Sequoia High School.
Housing Hope, a non-profit, wants to build low-income apartments for several families on a three-acre field owned by the Everett School District. The surrounding neighborhood is zoned for single-family homes.
With some 1,400 homeless students in Everett, the district agreed to lease its land to Housing Hope.
Some neighbors worried that, along with eliminating their park, the development would ruin the character of their neighborhood, as well as increase traffic.
Supporters of Wednesday’s vote argued that if the city wants to put multi-family low-income housing in neighborhoods, that process should play out through re-zoning.
They also point out that single-family low-income housing is still allowed in single-family home neighborhoods. Supportive housing is still allowed in neighborhoods zoned for higher-density housing, such as apartments.