Seattle Mayor Harrell Signs 2026 Budget Into Law: $8.9 Billion Total With a Record $349.5 Million for Affordable Housing
SEATTLE, King County, Washington — Mayor Bruce Harrell signed the City of Seattle's 2026 budget into law this week, totaling $8.9 billion in appropriations overall and $2.0 billion toward General Fund priorities. The budget passed the City Council unanimously last week, the first unanimous city budget since 2013.
The final budget preserves the mayor's key priorities: a record $349.5 million investment in affordable housing; $228.5 million for homelessness response, maintaining shelter capacity and adding help for people living in vehicles; and $53.2 million for food access, doubling the Fresh Bucks program and adding funding for food banks, meal programs and farmers markets.
On education, the budget renews the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) levy, investing $1.3 billion over six years to double access to affordable childcare, expand youth mental health supports in schools and provide tuition-free college for public school graduates. It also includes Proposition 2, a Business and Occupation tax rewrite expected to raise about $81 million in new revenue while reducing taxes paid by 90 percent of Seattle's small and medium-sized businesses.
For public safety, the budget provides $26 million to keep up with record police hiring — more than 150 officers hired so far this year, with 170 expected by year's end — and $9.5 million to double the CARE department's community crisis responders and add 911 dispatchers. A $27.6 million investment plan safeguards services threatened by federal funding cuts, including shelter and housing vouchers, meal programs and rental assistance, and the budget fully preserves the city's Rainy Day Fund. Immigrant and refugee services receive $10.8 million, including legal supports and Know Your Rights trainings.
Mayor Harrell said the budget is an affirmation of Seattle's values at a time when federal uncertainty makes local leadership more important than ever, and includes the largest investment in affordable housing in the city's history. Councilmember Dan Strauss, chair of the Select Budget Committee, said the budget makes record-high investments in housing, affordability and public safety and led to the first unanimous budget in over a decade.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Seattle 市政厅外景。Seattle City Council 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。 / Seattle City Hall. Photo by Seattle City Council, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
