Seattle social housing initiative won’t make it on November ballot, still chance for next election

SEATTLE — The group behind Initiative 135 believes they have enough signatures to get its Seattle social housing initiative on the February ballot, despite facing what they’re calling a “deeply unnavigable process.”

The initiative, which concerns developing and maintaining affordable housing, would establish a public developer that would create, own and maintain public housing in Seattle.

House Our Neighbors turned in nearly 30,000 signatures in June, but I-135 failed to qualify for the November ballot as fewer than 26,442 of those were considered valid signatures.

King County Elections estimates that 80% of signatures for the average ballot initiative are typically accepted and advises that campaigns submit 20% to 30% more signatures than required.

The group is now aiming for the initiative to make the ballot for the city’s next regularly-scheduled election in February, after turning in additional signatures to the Seattle City clerk last week.

House our Neighbors said it submitted 7,543 additional signatures to the city clerk, however it later shared that the clerk had found that the group had submitted 9,468 signatures.

The group says it only needs 5,033 additional verified signatures to make the ballot, but issued a news release Tuesday expressing its frustration with the process of submitting citizens’ initiatives in Seattle after learning that over 1,000 signatures they submitted will not be accepted.

House Our Neighbors says it received incorrect information regarding by when it would need to submit the new signatures, despite receiving confirmation from the city clerk.

“There needs to be a clear way to navigate this process, especially for those who do not have the resources to keep a lawyer on retainer,” the release reads in part. “While we don’t expect legal advice from City Departments, we do believe they should believe they should be forthcoming with information at their disposal. Websites detailing processes for citizens to effect change in the law should be clearly laid out for everyone.”

King County Elections will begin validating the recently submitted signatures on Tuesday, Aug. 23.

For initiative I-135 to appear on the February ballot, the city council must also pass an ordinance or adopt a resolution authorizing King County Elections to place the initiative on the ballot at least 60 days prior to the special election on Feb. 24.

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