Group and Individual Topics

Group Topic: Affordable Housing

According to an article published by the Queen Anne and Magnolia news, the average apartment in the Seattle area costs about $1,400 a month. Now throw an attractive neighborhood like Queen Anne into the mix and things quickly become even less affordable.

So how unaffordable are Queen Anne apartments? Apartment Therapy recommends people spend 30 percent of their income on housing each month — a fairly standard percentage. This means if someone makes $72,000 a year, they should spend $1,800 on housing. Of 30 one-bedroom apartments listed for rent in Queen Anne recently, the average rent was approximately $1,650 per month. Some came in at much more, at $2,500 a month, and some were considerably less, at $850 a month. Using the Apartment Therapy’s conversion method, that means a tenant would need to make about $65,000 a year to live in an average Queen Anne apartment.

However, in 2014 Bellwether Housing propsoed a new, affordable option for people in the Queen Anne area. The company is a local nonprofit that focuses on affordable-housing development and its mission is to develop apartments to serve Seattle’s low- and moderate-income working class. These apartments are not "free-to-all" and Bellwether tenants must prove that they can afford the unit. They advertise that the required income range for these apartments is between $30,000 and $50,000.

By including more affordable housing options, these diversely priced living situations make for a healthy and diverse economy and community in the Queen Anne neighborhood. Affordable solutions would get people out of the suburbs and living in the neighborhoods where they work.

(all statistics aquired from Queen Anne & Magnolia News, City Living Seattle)

Local History

The community of Queen Anne is one of Seattle's oldest residential neighborhoods and first settled by Pioneer settler Thomas Mercer first called Eden Hill. The beautiful natural features of the Puget Sound that surround Queen Anne have both encouraged and restrained the development of the neighborhood. Waterways allowed for industrial development within the early years but the steep topography of the hill made it more difficult to develop higher up. Instead, the hill then became attractive as a residential suburb due to its spectacular views and closeness to the city. The Queen Anne hill was linked to seattle public transit in that late 1880s. Soon after, streetcars lines fostered rapid industrial and residential construction eventually creating many multiple family homes, business buildings, shopping centers and resturants. Queen Anne's character has been shaped by its human resources and physical features. Progressive, well-educated famalies make the hill thier home and have left a legacy of community activism and pushing for improvements in the preservation of Queen Annes vibrant and beautiful sense of place.

Health Care

There are many health care options within Queen Anne. The most popular healthcare center in the area is called Queen Anne Healthcare. This center is a rehabilitation nursing home. It is ranked well and has good reviews. They are a pretty large facility, containing 130 beds for patients. They also accept both Medicaid and Medicare which is a really important factor. They are not part of a continuing care retirement community, they focus more on short-stay rehabilitation. Having such a good rehabilitation nursing home helps to contribute to a higher life expectancy within the neighborhood of Queen Anne. The average life expectancy is 84.1 compared to the average of King County which is 81.5. Queen Anne also has a higher life expectancy than others because it is considered to be a wealthier neighborhood.

Demographics

Who lives here? As shown in the demographic charts from Point2 Homes, the majority of residents have a bachelor's degree, are in their mid 30’s, and 73% Identify as Caucasian or white. (Race and ethnicity in lower Queen Anne, statistical atlas) On the website the average income of each household is around $93,086 a year and the sales tax rate is at an increasing 8.6%. In Queen Anne while increasing, the population of women and men are split with the amount of women being 22,008 and men being 20,828. While the dominant race in Queen Anne is considered “white” with 73% of people identifying according to the statistical atlas, 11.2% are Asian, 5.4% mixed, 4.8% Latinx, .04% Black, and 1.8% identifies as “other”.

Culture

In the blooming neighborhood of Queen Anne located in the center of Seattle's Downtown area, there is the upper and lower areas of Queen Anne, from the yearly filled festivals and events held at the Seattle Center where there is the Space Needle, the Seattle Children's Theater where there's a wide variety of plays like the children’s Nutcracker, Diary of Anne Frank etc the Science Museum where they hold annual laser light shows and the Key Arena where they hold events from musical concerts, to talk shows and also events targeted towards celebrating children as well. This place is full of art, education, tourism and entertainment of all kinds. The people are widely diverse in spectrum's from traditional dance styles, hip-hop and there are buildings which hold different ethnic styles of dance. There's a wide range of restaurants and small town cafes hidden in nooks and corners. Although mostly full of high-rises and markets on every corner there is always a surprise waiting to be found, just like the rolling pin wall of the neighborhood Sugar Bakery.