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AN ORDINANCE authorizing the executive to enter into an interlocal cooperation agreement with the city of Seattle, A Regional Coalition for Housing for the Eastside of King County, which may also include either or both Snohomish county and Pierce county, to invest and participate in a transit-oriented regional equitable development initiative fund.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. King County is facing an affordable housing crisis, being one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country, with rents rising faster than the wages of moderate and lower income households throughout the county. Rents have increased most dramatically in centrally located neighborhoods with access to frequent transit, jobs and amenities.
2. When moderate income and lower income families and households are forced to move outside of centrally located communities and communities near frequent transportation corridors in search of more affordable housing, transportation costs typically increase significantly, and access to jobs, opportunities, amenities and services is significantly reduced.
3. Frequent and high speed transit, and light rail in particular, has the power to transform communities and opportunities for moderate- and lower-income households if planning is deliberate to achieve economically diverse transit-oriented communities that include affordable housing and are vibrant, healthy, walkable and service-enriched.
4. The Puget Sound regional Growing Transit Communities initiative ("GTC") from 2011 to 2014 launched the concept of a regional equitable development fund resource that can assist in the acquisition of properties near frequent and high speed transit for the preservation and development of affordable housing and other built environment community benefits. A framework concept paper for such an acquisition fund was one of the key deliverable outcomes of GTC.
5. In the GTC concept paper, a regional equitable development initiative fund was envi...

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