Report-Back from Local Progress

New Funding for Affordable Housing!

Last week, I was very excited to bring legislation to the HHEWR Committee, in partnership with Councilmember Herbold and Mayor Durkan, that would enable Seattle to act on a brand new revenue opportunity for affordable housing that was passed by the state legislation earlier this year – around $50 million to build and support affordable housing. This was made possible by the passage of HB 1406, sponsored by Representatives Nicole Macri and June Robinson, this last legislative session that allows local jurisdictions in Washington to collect a portion of existing sales tax revenue to create affordable housing for their communities. This doesn't require a new tax—it simply allows cities and counties to access a portion of sales tax already being collected to create affordable housing.
 
This legislation (passed out of the HHEWR Committee last week—woohoo!) will allow Seattle to move ahead and begin collecting much-needed affordable housing funds this year. The 2019 Point-in-Time Count found that there were at least 11,199 people experiencing homelessness in Seattle/King County—and that’s a conservative estimate—and homeless deaths have more than doubled in the past four years to nearly 200 deaths in 2018 – and we know that is an undercount. We also know what works to solve homelessness: permanent supportive housing. Thanks to our state partners, Seattle now has the option to retain a portion of sales tax dollars to provide us with local funds that we can leverage against state and federal dollars to create more homes for our neighborhoods experiencing homelessness. Thank you to Representatives Macri and Robinson for championing this new local resource!

Art is Labor and Labor is an Art (& Science)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to present the newly formed Art Workers Union with a proclamation dedicating Monday, August 5th, 2019 to the union. The Art Workers Union, formed by security staff at the Frye Art Museum earlier this year, is our city and our state’s first museum union.  At a time when workers’ rights and unions are under attack nationally, the dedication and courage of these workers to take a stand for workplace voice and benefits is commendable. 
 
Workers at the Frye Art Museum have shared with me their love of the museum, their work, and their colleagues.  But, they’ve also shared that they face high medical bills, are forced to live further and further away, and don’t feel like they have a voice at their workplace. The workers are in the middle of contract bargaining, and on behalf of the City Council and Mayor Durkan, we were honored to present them with the proclamation. 

As you know, the domestic workers bill of rights that many of us worked so hard to pass last year, is now in effect in Seattle!  One of the groups that helped us draft the bill, Hand in Hand, now has a survey for people who have nannies, cleaners, attendants, gardeners and others in their home who may be impacted by the legislation. Hand-in-hand commits to keep your information confidential unless you choose to share your name and email, but your responses will be invaluable as we plan educational programming. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights!

Last week, #TeamTeresa was also in New York with a team of Seattle homelessness advocates and members of local government to gain insights and new ideas on how to provide permanent supportive housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness, and to share best practices from Seattle.
 
As cities across the country work to address the interconnected crises of housing and homelessness, it’s critical that we draw from each other’s solutions—and New York has long been a leader in its commitment to permanent supportive housing. This trip provided a chance to learn alongside our local partners from organizations working to provide human-centered supportive housing in New York, and to share policy ideas and on-the-ground expertise from Seattle. Each city has its own unique characteristics and opportunities, but together we can elevate this issue as a challenge that defies the boundaries of any individual city.

The mass shootings in Ohio and Texas that took place over the weekend have once again shown the horrific consequences of U.S. inaction on gun violence. As Evergreen State College Professor Larry Mosqueda (and my dad!) writes in his review of Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment by Roxanne Dunbar-Oritz, mass shootings (defined as 4 or more persons shot, killed, or injured at one time) happen on nearly a daily basis in the U.S.—largely due to a gun culture that exists among a few Americans and has been fanned by erroneous constitutional arguments espoused by groups like the NRA. Opponents of restrictions on firearms frequently cite a portion of the second amendment as the primary reason guns should not be regulated: “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” As he notes, these arguments are wrong and based on an inaccurate and incomplete interpretation of the constitution. The full second amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The militias this amendment refers to—as Dunbar-Oritz outlines in her book—were actually slave patrols sanctioned by the U.S. government. The second amendment never had anything to do with hunting, or protection against the government, as opponents to gun relations argue.
 
Let’s remember this history as we demand strong regulations on firearms across the country, much like we have adopted in Seattle and Washington State—and we cannot use the Second Amendment as an excuse for inaction while we lose more lives and loved ones to gun violence. We are sending more than thoughts and prayers to the innocent victims across the country, we are standing in solidarity and demanding action from our Congressional members to get these guns out of our community.

In Solidarity,