Has anyone noticed the rapid pace with which Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley and Madison areas have been gentrified?
As a real estate agent in the greater Seattle area, I have been watching older homes being bought by individuals and developers. These homes are then either modernized to luxury standards or, razed to make way for several new homes.
I have seen some superb, classic homes, sold for pennies on the dollar because the owner did not have the resources to maintain the home. I once had an elder client who told me he bought the home over 40 years ago and at that time, he used to lie awake at nights, wondering how he would pay the $130 per month mortgage.
I met an elderly gentleman one day who told me he bought his home in the arboretum- Madison area for $5,000, using the last of his savings. Now, he continued regretfully, he is going to have to sell the home because he just cannot afford the taxes on the higher valuations of his home.
Another lady rejected my offer to have her fallen chimney repaired for free (she could not afford the repairs) because she thought it was another scheme to try and get her out of her Montlake home; too many people had been trying to get her to sell her home.
Where would these people move? There would be nothing for them unless they moved miles and miles south, far removed from access to transport, shopping and any remaining friends who may still be alive.
The common denominator for all these people is that they are retired Blacks. In those days, they could barely afford their homes in the far outskirts of town, and life is getting unbearable for them as their home values have risen from $5,000, 40 years ago, to about $700,000 today.
The problem is also true for those who bought their homes as recently as 10-15 years ago; these people are not poor... yet. Nor are they retired, but their property taxes are putting more and more pressure on them.
To be sure, the state has some programs for some property tax relief for fixed-income people as well as the disabled, but it does not come close to helping them.
Diversity now means, having people who are far richer than the preceding residents. Gone are the days of having well-to-do living next door to less well-to-do, but very dignified, people of color.
I seldom see the neat, older folks with their clouded eyes and well-worked hands, walking slowly on the sidewalks of Beacon Hill, Montlake or Madison areas. Does anyone care where they were forced to go to?
It would be nice if the state legislators passed a law that would freeze tax levels at the price the house was purchased or re-financed. This way, everybody would be paying a tax on the original, real value of the house instead of having a squadron of people whose only jobs are to re-assess the values of homes every so many years. Then the county goes on a charade of listing the new value at a lower base than current market value so the owner does not complain too much.
This way, not only would we have a more accurate tax base, but long established residents would be given the respect they deserve for living in their homes, and nobody would have to suffer the burden of paying 100 percent more in taxes within a few years.
The state could make it retroactive by saying anyone who has, so far, lived in their homes for longer than 10 years, would have a tax rollback to the earlier base (but not a refund).
If something drastic is not done fast, we will have a fully-"gentrified" South Seattle.
Some would call it a civilized form of ethnic cleansing.
