Affordability Portal

Project Overview:

The Affordability Portal aims to improve how residents navigate and enroll in City of Seattle financial assistance programs that lower the cost of living. The Affordability Portal includes a benefits calculator on the City's website that indicates potential eligibility and savings.  This calculator is useful for both benefit seekers and informal navigators such as case workers and family members who support them. 

The Affordability Portal also seeks to cut down on the time and paperwork required to sign-up for programs.  Currently, residents submit information such as pay stubs to verify eligibility for each program offering.  This next project will prototype a verification tool that enables City of Seattle program staff to verify eligibility of residents who have already submitted information to another City of Seattle program.  

Project Background:

Seattle is in an unprecedented period of change and growth. Our economy is prospering and attracting new people from across the country for jobs and opportunity, but for many, this is a difficult time. With Seattle rents increasing, more people are getting pushed out of the City. The City offers many benefit programs that can ease costs for qualifying households. However, many residents, City staff, and service providers do not know what benefits the City offers and are deterred by complex and varied application processes. The Affordability Portal seeks to increase program enrollment by first centralizing City benefits into one website to make them easy to find.

The portal itself seeks to increase access to information and access to City programs, thereby increasing enrollment.

Project Team:

• Expedia
• Tableau
• F5
• Innovation & Performance
• Seattle IT

Contact: Leah Tivoli, leah.tivoli@seattle.gov