Seattle City Council Select Budget Committee approves 2025-2026 budget proposal, sends it to final Council vote

Today, the City Council's Select Budget Committee, chaired by CouncilmemberDan Strauss (District 6), approved the City's 2025-2026 budget package, sending it to the full Council for a final scheduled vote on Thursday, Nov. 21.

The budget proposal would make the biggest investment in affordable housing in Seattle's history - more than $340 million in 2025. It would also make important investments in public safety, affordability, and other critical services.

What's included in the budget proposal?

In addition to the funding included in Mayor Bruce Harrell's proposed budget, the Council's proposal includes, but is not limited to:

Helping people stay housed

• Increasing rental assistance by $7.1 million to help people avoid eviction (HSD-001-A, HSD-041-A-1)
• Increasing investments to the Homeownership Capital Production Program by $3.4 million in 2026 (OH-002-A)
• Restoring funding for tenant services by $710,000 (SDCI-002-A)
• Requesting that the Office of Housing explore using bonding, similar to King County's recent Workforce Housing proposal, to fund affordable housing (OH-004S-A)

Investing in shelter and homelessness services

• Funding the creation of new, non-congregate shelters with built-in services to help people get off the street and into housing (HSD-002-A-2)
• Restoring investments in legal services for homeless youth (HSD-003-A-2)
• Helping to preserve transitional housing programs (HSD-006-A-1)

Strengthening public health and safety

• Investing in additional treatment for people experiencing substance use disorder (HSD-026-B)
• Increasing investments in community-based safety programs like We Deliver Care, with an emphasis in the Chinatown-International District (HSD-017-A-2)
• Hiring firefighters faster by increasing resources to get recruits through the exam process (CIV-001-A-1)
• Answering 911 calls faster by hiring four new 911 Emergency Communication Dispatchers (CARE-001-A-2)
• Increasing funding for community safety coordinators throughout the City (DON-002-A-1, DON-004-A-1)
• Funding the creation of a new community safety hub (HSD-016-A-2)

Addressing unaffordability

• Increasing investments in food banks and meal programs by $3 million (HSD-004-B-1, HSD-001-A-1, and HSD-010-B-1)
• Expanding access to childcare for working-class families, getting them off the waitlist and into the Seattle's Child Care Assistance Program (DEEL-001-A)
• Restoring funding to support services for people trying to access public assistance (HSD-022-A) and free tax preparation services (HSD-005-A)

Reducing and delaying layoffs

• Reducing the number of proposed layoffs of City staff and delaying layoffs for the remaining positions by six months to create a stronger transition
• Restoring full funding for original programming and staff positions at the Seattle Channel (more info)

And much, much more.

* Information in parentheses denotes the Council Budget Action number

What's next

The Seattle City Council will take a final vote on all budget legislation on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. The meeting will be held at Seattle City Hall and streamed live via Seattle Channel.

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