Community Preference
Community Preference is a housing development policy designed to help address displacement, provide access to opportunity, and promote racial equity in Seattle’s neighborhoods most at risk.
What does the City's community preference policy do?
Community Preference prioritizes housing opportunities for residents at risk of displacement or those seeking to return to neighborhoods they have ties to.
How does Community Preference help renters or homeowners?
Community Preference helps renters or homeowners by giving priority for housing opportunities to people with ties to a neighborhood, helping them stay in or return to their community and reducing displacement. Developers usually do an initial outreach to community before they start planning for developments in neighborhoods. You can advocate for developers to use Community Preference in your neighborhood.
How do developers use Community Preference?
Developers use Community Preference by creating housing plans that prioritize applicants with ties to neighborhoods at risk of displacement, following guidelines to ensure fair and transparent implementation.
Does Seattle require developers to use community preference?
Community Preference is an optional policy that developers can use to support residents at risk of displacement or those seeking to return to their communities or move to communities with more opportunities.
Community Preference is a policy designed to:
- Help address displacement.
- Provide access to opportunity.
- Promote racial equity in Seattle’s neighborhoods most at risk.
We created this policy to make it easier for people to access opportunities. It’s designed for people who are experiencing:
- Significant pressure from rapidly increasing property values.
- Rising rents.
- Systemic inequities that have historically marginalized specific communities.
Community Preference also aims to:
- Increase housing choice.
- Ensure people can decide where to live.
- Allow individuals to remain in, move to, or return to the communities that matter most to them.
By implementing Community Preference, housing developers can provide displaced residents or those at risk of being uprooted an opportunity to remain in their neighborhoods or provide housing choice in neighborhoods. It also creates pathways for those who have already been displaced to return to the communities they’ve long called home.
This policy is part of Seattle’s effort to advance racial equity, housing choice, address existing disparities, and ensure inclusive and sustainable neighborhoods. It aligns with the City’s commitment to promoting fair housing and undoing discriminatory practices that have led to unequal access to housing and wealth-building opportunities.
Seattle’s history includes practices like redlining, racial covenants, and discriminatory lending, which segregated communities and limited Black, Indigenous, and other people of color to specific neighborhoods. These harmful actions, often supported by government policies, led to displacement, economic inequality, and lasting harm to these communities.
One clear example is the Central District, which was once a vibrant hub for Seattle’s Black community, particularly in the 20th century. However, economic pressures, rising property values, and discriminatory practices forced many residents and businesses out of the area. Today, many individuals and families from the Central District have relocated to South Seattle or suburban areas like Renton and Kent due to displacement.
Community Preference seeks to mitigate the negative impacts of displacement by helping long-standing residents stay in or return to these historically significant neighborhoods – it also means that people affected by displacement have a choice in where they live. It aims to prevent further fragmentation of communities and ensure a more equitable future for Seattle residents.
Community Preference offers several benefits for Seattle’s residents and communities.
- Stabilizes neighborhoods at risk of displacement. By prioritizing existing residents, it prevents further uprooting of families and preserves community connections.
- Supports racial equity. It focuses on addressing the unequal impacts of current and historical discriminatory practices that disproportionately affect communities of color.
- Fosters diversity and inclusion. By enabling displaced residents to return, the policy helps maintain the cultural and social fabric of Seattle’s neighborhoods.
- Provides opportunity. For individuals and families affected by displacement, it gives access to affordable housing near work, schools, and vital resources.
Steps to Implement Community Preference
Affordable housing developers who want to implement Community Preference must follow specific guidelines to ensure the policy is applied transparently and equitably. Below are the steps to get started.
- Focus on High-Risk Areas. Community Preference can be implemented in high-risk of displacement areas, which are identified in a geographic boundary map provided by the City of Seattle.
- Prepare a Community Preference Plan. Developers should submit a detailed plan to the Seattle Office of Housing. The plan must describe how the preference will be applied to prospective tenants or homebuyers. You can use the Community Preference Plan Template provided by the City.
- Provide Supporting Documentation. Ensure your application includes a management plan and any necessary documentation to verify eligibility for applicants.
- Follow Fair Housing Laws. The implementation of Community Preference must comply with federal, state, and local fair housing laws. Ensure your policies are inclusive and do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, disability, or other protected characteristics.
The City of Seattle provides resources to help developers successfully implement Community Preference. These include the Community Preference Guideline, which outlines best practices, and downloadable geographic maps to identify eligible areas.
By adopting Community Preference, developers play a crucial role in strengthening Seattle’s neighborhoods and advancing the city’s racial equity and housing affordability goals.
- Pre-2015: Community organizations, like the Black Community Impact Alliance, began advocating for policies to address displacement and gentrification, particularly in the Central District.
- 2015: Community-based organizations, including Interim CDA and El Centro de la Raza, approached the City for support on a Community Preference policy.
- 2017: Seattle City Council issued Resolution 31769, seeking recommendations for a Community Preference policy for City-funded housing.
- 2018: The Race and Social Equity Taskforce and Equitable Development Initiative Advisory Board called for City Council support of the policy.
- 2019: Mayor Durkan issued Executive Order 2019-02, establishing a permissive Community Preference policy for affordable housing in high-risk displacement areas. The Office of Housing (OH) and Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) were tasked with implementing the policy to address displacement and advance racial equity.
- 2020: The City of Seattle released the Community Preference Guideline, outlining recommended practices for developers to implement the policy.
Explore the following resources to learn more about the history of housing policies, displacement, and efforts to promote equity in Seattle:
- Racial Restrictive Covenants - Neighborhood-by-neighborhood restrictions in King County, provided by the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, University of Washington.
- Seattle 2035 - Growth and Equity Analysis - A document analyzing growth and equity in Seattle, focused on displacement and planning impacts.
- The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein - A detailed history of how government policies enforced segregation in American cities, including Seattle.
- Redlining and Divestment in Central Seattle - A 1975 report by the Central Seattle Community Council Federation examining how banking practices harmed neighborhoods.
- Seattle Magazine Article - "Inye Wokoma's Last Stand" - This article highlights one man's efforts to preserve Seattle’s Central District community.
- A Central Vision (2018) - A video project by Inye Wokoma and the Office of Planning and Community Development about the cultural and social shifts in Seattle’s Central District.
- Seattle's Central District, 1990-2006 - Research by Henry McGee, published in Urban Lawyer, discussing the impacts of integration and displacement on the Central District.
- Executive Order 2017-13 - Details on Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative to address racial inequities and promote inclusion.
- The Urbanist Article - "Community Resident Preference Policy and the Fight Against Displacement" - A deep-dive into the creation and impact of Seattle’s Community Preference Policy.
- Redlining and Divestment in Central Seattle - A 1975 report by the Central Seattle Community Council Federation examining how banking practices harmed neighborhoods.