The Bullitt House is available
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and wife Rama Duwaji on moving day
This week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani moved into Gracie Mansion, the city’s 1799-built Manhattan mayoral residence overlooking Hells Gate.
In Seattle, as Mayor — and Capitol Hill renter — Katie Wilson sets about her goals of creating more housing for more types of people in the city, shouldn’t she also get her own place.
“While the mayor is certainly interested in publicly-owned, permanently affordable, mixed-income housing, I don’t think she’s looking to acquire public property for her own residence,” a Wilson spokesperson tells CHS.
An argument can be made. Wilson, her husband, and their two-year-old continue to rent on Capitol Hill. CHS talked with Wilson about apartment living headed into the election.
“Obviously, now I have a daughter, so raising a daughter in an apartment building, it’s really important to us to have parks nearby,” Wilson told CHS headed into the election. “We spend a lot of time at Miller and Volunteer Park and some of the others. So, it’s a great neighborhood.”
Wilson said headed into the election she was uncertain if her apartment life would continue to be an option given the needs around security and the potential impact to her neighbors of having an elected official on the block.
Former Mayor Bruce Harrell resided at his 6,000-square-foot Seward Park home during his term.
Meanwhile, affordability and challenges around home ownership in Seattle remain at crisis levels.
In New York, Gracie Mansion has served as the official residence of the mayor since 1942 while also hosting events and gatherings. The mansion is funded through a public-private partnership mixing taxpayer money with private donations.
The mayor does not pay rent to live at Gracie Mansion. It is considered an “official residence” and, in some regards, a requirement of the job. While mayors like Michael Bloomberg opted not to reside at the mansion, Mamdani has said his decision to move into the mansion was driven by New York City Police security concerns.
Mamdani is giving up this NYC rent-stabilized apartment for the new address.
(Image: City of Seattle)
While Wilson is likely reluctant to attract what surely would be a wave of right-wing outcry if she pursued the creation of a similar mayoral residence as part of her housing plans, it could fit into a few of her early efforts.
The initiative which created the Seattle Social Housing Developer is primarily a rental-based model but does leave some room for alternative ownership like a Limited Equity Cooperative or Mutual Housing.
Even in a renter-based development, who is to say one of the first Seattle Social Housing projects shouldn’t have a residence set aside for the city’s mayor?
The Seattle Social Housing Developer says the organization is on track for inking its first project this year.
Meanwhile, a few opportunities around Capitol Hill would mean Mayor Wilson and her family would not need to leave the neighborhood.
Can we interest you in an historic A-frame in the middle of a city park, Mayor Wilson?
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