Election 2009
(2009-10-20)
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The last housing levy helped build the Croft Homes in the Deldridge neighborhood.
"When the trees blow in the wind, it looks like the rolling sea," she said. The city skyline she sees from her 10th floor perch "glistens like gold in the sunset."
Smith's one bedroom unit in Meridian Manor near Northgate is filled with the brushes, colored pencils and paint she uses to make her art.
Smith is 70 years old and lives on Social Security. She pays just $144 a month for her subsidized apartment.
Her story is one of the success stories Proposition 1 supporters point to. Eunice Smith's apartment was saved from a condo conversion with money from the affordable-housing levy which passed 7 years ago.
Anna Markee, spokeswoman for the housing levy, says providing seniors, the disabled and low income families with homes is fundamental to solving other social problems.
"It's difficult for a child .to succeed in school if they're moving around constantly in search of affordable rent or if they have no place to go at night," she said.
The $145 million dollar levy would cost the average Seattle homeowner about $65 dollars a year.
Critics of the levy are questioning the size of it. They point out it exceeds the rate of inflation when compared with the $86 million levy approved 7 years ago.
Link to Housing Levy website © Copyright 2012, KPLU
