#TeamTeresa Working for You!
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This is is our full team, from left to right: Aretha, Erin, Teresa, Sejal, Faride, and Tiana. We look forward to seeing you in community, working with you to craft policy in city hall, and to creating a more just, affordable and equitable Seattle for all!!
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Last week, my Council colleagues and I voted unanimously to fully implement Mandatory Housing Affordability in Seattle, and MHA was finally signed into law—ensuring that all new commercial and multifamily residential development contributes to affordable housing by either including income- and rent-restricted homes into new projects or paying a fee that will be used to create even more homes. This is a milestone policy for Seattle, and it’s the product of years of hard work, vision, and persistence by community, advocates, and leaders in Seattle—I was thrilled to cast a resounding YES vote!
Check out this video to hear what I had to say at the final City Council vote on MHA. Video still featuring CM Mosqueda.
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With the passage of MHA, we take a step to right historical wrongs caused by racist redlining, persistent exclusionary land use practices, and decades of downzoning that has made apartment buildings—like the one I live in—and other housing options like duplexes, triplexes, and rowhouses, illegal in 75% of Seattle’s residential land. This legislation isn’t just about housing units or buildings, though—it’s about making sure those homes are creating opportunities for more families and individuals to thrive in Seattle: homes near good transit, childcare, open space, schools, and grocery stores.
As important and exciting as this moment is for Seattle, we know MHA is just one piece of the puzzle to create the housing options our community needs, and the work is just beginning.
**Short pause to bask in the long-awaited passage of MHA**
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And now let’s get back to work! We need to make sure that development supports community vision and values, invest MHA fees in community-driven projects, and create policy to make sure that residents with longtime connections to communities at risk of displacement are first in line for new affordable homes.
We need to work collaboratively with our state and regional partners to address the housing affordability crisis through strategies like those identified by the Regional Affordable Housing Task Force—which the City Council endorsed las week—and state-level efforts like HB 1923 and SB 5812/HB 1797, which the City of Seattle supports because it helps create a baseline standard for progressive housing, land use, and zoning policies for Washington cities to build from.
And we need to lift up and advance the work happening in communities on the front lines of the housing affordability and displacement crises. More on that below!
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Lunch and Learn: Affordable Housing and Anti-Displacement Strategies
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On March 21st, I was excited to be joined by leaders from Puget Sound Sage, Black Community Impact Alliance, Rainier Beach Action Coalition, HomeSight, Housing Development Consortium, and Washington CAN for a lunch and learn on affordable housing and anti-displacement strategies. It was a packed house—which speaks to the importance of this issue in Seattle and eagerness to learn more about how we can work to fight displacement among advocates, community members, elected officials, and agency staff.
Our expert speakers gave insights on the importance of housing, zoning, tenant protections, prioritizing funding for community-driven development, and not only getting ahold of land (which can be a challenge in Seattle’s real estate market) but also building the systems that promote access and partnership to create equitable development.
We heard about the importance of creating affordable housing options in high opportunity neighborhoods, and we learned of the hurdles to housing stability tenants face when eviction and debt—which disproportionately impact people of color and women—lead to displacement from the city or being pushed into homelessness.
We saw fantastic examples of development that drives self-determination, equity, cultural diversity, and site control for community—including the Rainier Beach Food Innovation District, Othello Square, and the Liberty Bank Building which was just celebrated with a ribbon cutting—congrats to all of the wonderful partners and community members involved!
I’m so grateful to these panelists for their critical work to lift the vision and power of communities to stay and thrive in Seattle. I look forward to working together with community partners to advance these strategies.
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The next phase of the Seattle Squeeze has begun, with bus routes (seven in total) that previously used the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel shifting permanently to surface streets as of Saturday, March 23rd. The transition of buses from the tunnel to surface streets will accommodate the Washington State Convention Center Construction and Link light rail expansion to the Eastside. About 800 more buses will travel daily on downtown streets and about 37,600 daily riders will be affected.
The City and County have partnered on efforts to keep buses and riders moving, including creating a new transit pathway on 5th and 6th Avenues, expanding bus-only hours on Third Avenue, and establishing all-door boarding along the Third Avenue corridor and along Westlake Avenue North—which means you can tap your ORCA card and board any bus door.
Here’s what you can do to maneuver the Squeeze:
- Find out if the new bus transitions impact your route here.
- Try something new! The Squeeze can be an opportunity to explore different ways of getting around, like biking, walking, car- or vanpooling—or scooting! If you can, shift your travel time to avoid rush hour. Visit http://www.seattle.gov/traffic for ideas & updates.
- Check out the Seattle Squeeze factsheet and share with your co-workers, community members, employees, and on social media.
You can find more information on this phase of the Seattle Squeeze in English, Amharic, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English, Korean, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese here.
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Community Tours: Highlights and Upcoming Events
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We’ve been having a great time enjoying the sunshine while out in community on our #CommunityFridays! We wrapped up our District 3 tours last week in Capitol Hill, where we met with the Capitol Hill Eco District to talk about the intersection of arts and housing—two of our favorite things! They took us around Cal Anderson Park—which in case you didn’t know was named after Washington’s first openly gay legislator! I look forward to the continued work to create housing through a community lens that fuses arts and performance space.
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From Left to Right: CM Mosqueda in D3 at Pratt Fine Arts Center Park, Central Area Senior Center, and with Capital Hill Housing leaders at the Cap Hill Light Rail station which will have over 200 units of affordable housing!
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We also spent time in Seattle’s historic Central District and got to tour the Pratt Fine Arts Center and the Central Area Senior Center, two beloved community institutions. The Senior Center is a pillar in the Central District community, a space for our elders to gather, socialize, learn new skills, and have fun! I want to thank everyone who came to our office hours at the Golden Wheat Bakery which is a Latinx family-owned-and-operated small business on Cherry Street. If you haven’t been there already, you MUST go and try their delicious tamales!
Next month catch us in D4 at our office hours in Maple Leaf at Café Javasti from 12:00 – 2:30 on Friday April 5th!
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Hope to see you in community!
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Teresa Mosqueda
Seattle City Council Councilmember, Position 8
teresa.mosqueda@seattle.gov
206-684-8806
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