2019 Seattle City Council Housing and Homelessness Voters Guide

To help Seattle voters understand their choices in the upcoming City Council election, Tech 4 Housing has partnered with Resolution to End Homelessness, Seattle University’s Project on Family Homelessness, Housing Development Consortium and Solid Ground on a 2019 voter education project.

This online Voters Guide on Housing and Homelessness is based on responses to a candidate questionnaire sent to all 14 candidates. We’re pleased that 13 of 14 candidates are expected to participate in this Voters Guide. See more of our methodology here.

Many thanks to the candidates who participated, and to the voters who consider housing and homelessness a primary issue in this campaign.

Note: Because we are 501(c)(3) organizations, we are providing this information for educational purposes only and are not making endorsements. We do not endorse nor oppose any candidate.

King County Elections will mail ballots to everyone mid-October. You can return your ballot by mail (no stamp required) or at a drop box, by Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Don’t know your district? Look it up here. | Are you registered to vote? Check and update your registration here.

District 3

Kshama Sawant

https://www.kshamasawant.org

Download complete candidate response as submitted.

Question 1. Beyond making current programs more efficient, do you think we need to increase funding for housing for people experiencing homelessness? If so, where would you raise the revenue?

We need a massive expansion of publicly produced affordable social housing. In order to achieve this, we need taxes on big business to fund an expansion of social housing - publicly-owned, permanently affordable, high quality homes. We also need vacancy taxes and development impact fees to further fund social housing as a public alternative to the failed for-profit housing market.

Seattle needs to build affordable homes in the tens of thousands, not just in the hundreds. The way to fully fund such a dramatic expansion is to tax big business and the super-rich. That is why I was a proud fighter of the Amazon Tax in Seattle, and opposed its shameful repeal when seven of the nine councilmembers and the Mayor capitulated to Amazon and big business and repealed this progressive tax less than a month after it was unanimously passed.

Question 2. What are your thoughts on the City's current implementation of encampment removals? In what ways would you improve the policies?

Seattle must stop the “sweeps.” Forcibly removing unsheltered encampments is inhumane and ineffective. Without affordable places for people to go, the sweeps only move people from one street corner to the next, only with fewer belongings and greater desperation - to the tune of approximately $10 million annually in city funds.

Seattle has conducted over 1,000 sweeps, with the only tangible impact being an increase in human misery. Last fall I proposed redirecting the funds budgeted to conduct the sweeps, to instead go toward funding more affordable housing to actually reduce homelessness. Instead, Mayor Durkan has recently announced a further expansion of these sweeps, proving once more that we need more, not fewer representatives like myself who will stand with working people and the marginalized.

Question 3. The City and State have introduced several new tenant protections in recent years. Do you think more work is needed to protect tenants and combat displacement? If so, what changes would you like to see?

Yes, more work is needed. Between 2010 and 2018 average rent in the Seattle area rose 69% while inflation in the same region rose just over 20%. Seattle needs rent control, and on September 23rd I introduced legislation that can implemented the minute the State wide ban is lifted. This legislation limits rent increases to the rate of inflation, and has no loopholes for new construction or for rent control to end when an apartment is vacant. It also provides for one-to-one replacement of any affordable units demolished in redevelopment.

We need universal Economic Eviction Assistance which would require landlords to give relocation assistance to renters who are economically evicted. Currently renters are only eligible for relocation assistance if they are evicted for a demolition or remodel.

Additionally renters need portable background checks, 180 day notices for rent increases, and public defenders to represent them in eviction court.

Question 4. Homelessness and housing insecurity disproportionately affect people of color, LGBTQ communities, people with disabilities and other marginalized communities. What would you do to address these disparities?

Working people, small businesses, people of color, and LGBTQ people are being rapidly gentrified out of our city.

In the Central District. Black community members have long experienced the brunt of the affordability crisis, and been economically evicted in large numbers, as corporations make huge profits in Seattle. This is a social and moral crisis; we need to fight for a city that is affordable and welcoming to all regardless of race or income.

I have used my office in the five years I have been in City Hall to fight for and alongside working people, the marginalized, people of color and LGBTQ community members.

We need to urgently fight for rent control and social housing, both of which have proved to be a lifeline for working people and the most vulnerable in many cities throughout the world.

Question 5. How would you adjust Seattle's land use and zoning laws? In particular, what changes, if any, would you want to see in neighborhoods currently zoned exclusively for single-family housing and in multi-family neighborhoods where we're making significant investments in transit?

I support density, both for the environment, and to increase the housing supply, so I have supported upzones and legislation to make ADUs and DADUs (in-law apartments and backyard cottages) easier to get built. However, this question is usually posed in terms of providing space for private developers to flourish. In reality, the for-profit housing market has totally failed to provide affordable housing in Seattle. Upzones do not themselves increase affordable housing, because private developers build high-end units to maximize profit. We need a massive expansion of social housing for working people, and to do that we need to tax big business and the rich.

Question 6. We know that it is cheaper to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place than it is to support them to exit homelessness. What is your vision for homelessness prevention initiatives and services in our community?

The way to prevent homelessness is to make housing affordable, through a strict policy of rent control and building thousands of publicly owned, affordable homes paid for by taxing big businesses.

In the meantime there are already thousands of homeless people in need of housing. As an interim solution, tiny house villages have proven to be one of the most effective ways to transition people out of homelessness. My Council Committee, the Select Committee on Homelessness has discussed this with residents of Seattle’s tiny house villages. They talked about how a tiny house can be a very good interim solution, providing safety, security, and privacy. They have communal washers, dryers, and kitchens. Caseworkers help residents find jobs, services and housing. Residents democratically manage their own communities, which is essential for human dignity and also allows people to begin to overcome the trauma, isolation, and alienation of unsheltered life.

Egan Orion

https://www.eganforseattle.org

Download complete candidate response as submitted. Some answers truncated here for being over 150 word limit.

Question 1. Beyond making current programs more efficient, do you think we need to increase funding for housing for people experiencing homelessness? If so, where would you raise the revenue?

Given the magnitude of this challenge, the City very likely will require more financial resources to meet our goals. However, before we pursue raising those funds, we need to do a complete review of our current methods, programs, and services to get a better understanding of what homelessness strategies are actually effective and which aren’t working. After this thorough review, we will work with all community stakeholders to build a new, comprehensive plan to address homelessness with measurable targets and achievable objectives.

In terms of new revenue sources, we can no longer put the burden on working families, the middle class, and seniors on a fixed income. Working within the constraints of Washington’s tax code is difficult—as our City Council has discovered on more than one occasion—but there are many progressive revenue sources (perhaps more soon depending on what happens with the high earners income tax at the…

Question 2. What are your thoughts on the City's current implementation of encampment removals? In what ways would you improve the policies?

Encampment removals that sweep people from one location to another without providing needed shelter and resources are inhumane and ineffective. We have a responsibility to compassionately get people off the street with access to needed care which means we have to have a safe, low-barrier solution for housing or sheltering all those people, with ready access to job training, mental health care, addiction services, and supportive help from social workers to help people get back on their feet. Most of the time, jail hinders, doesn’t help this effort. I reject policies that criminalize homelessness and place people in a cycle of jail and poverty. The approach we’ve taken for so long now has only made the problem worse. Let’s support our unsheltered neighbors and give them a second chance, a door—not a bed—and give them the bridge of supportive housing they need to find stability and eventually, opportunity…

Question 3. The City and State have introduced several new tenant protections in recent years. Do you think more work is needed to protect tenants and combat displacement? If so, what changes would you like to see?

Displacement continues in our most vulnerable neighborhoods, so of course we need to be doing more. I have a plan to create an emergency fund for renters to help them bridge a job loss or family crisis because it’s much less expensive to keep people in the housing they have and much less traumatic for renters. The city should also establish legal support for renters to help them compete against powerful property management companies. Finally, as the state supreme court potentially makes changes to our highly regressive tax system, we need to be ready to implement any changes as quickly as possible so we can shift the burden away from low-income voters and onto those who can best afford it.

Question 4. Homelessness and housing insecurity disproportionately affect people of color, LGBTQ communities, people with disabilities and other marginalized communities. What would you do to address these disparities?

We need to invest in the future of all our youth and ensure that every child, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status, has the opportunity to thrive. Too often, communities without a lot of avenues for opportunity—whether it stems from systemic barriers in place because of their race, gender, gender identity or expression, sexuality, impairment, or economic status—are the ones most heavily impacted by homelessness and housing discrimination. We need to support youth by providing access to counselors and mentors, apprenticeship programs, youth employment, arts programs, and other opportunities that have been shown to lead to more economic opportunity as well as provide protections against housing discrimination.

We should create new apprenticeship programs and bolster existing ones so that students from all communities get a head start on tech jobs, green jobs, trades work, and other living wage union jobs after high school, their AA degree, or…

Question 5. How would you adjust Seattle's land use and zoning laws? In particular, what changes, if any, would you want to see in neighborhoods currently zoned exclusively for single-family housing and in multi-family neighborhoods where we're making significant investments in transit?

The MHA Upzone and Backyard Cottage legislation passed by the council promises to produce much-needed affordable housing, but we need to be doing more. Currently, in areas not zoned for single-family houses, only townhouses and large apartment or condo buildings are being built, but we also need “light density” options to fill the missing middle of housing like small multi-family buildings with single floor living for ADA accessibility and for seniors to age in place.

I will amend the MHA Upzone to ensure that the percentage of affordable housing is sufficient for the city’s needs with a special focus on upzoning around transit hubs, schools, hospitals, other community resources and cultural hubs. I will require more developer buy-in on replacing sidewalks and streets in front of large developments, so we don’t see a brand-new building and next to it transportation infrastructure that’s falling apart.

Question 6. We know that it is cheaper to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place than it is to support them to exit homelessness. What is your vision for homelessness prevention initiatives and services in our community?

The best way to end homelessness is to prevent it in the first place, and that includes keeping residents in their homes, whenever possible. Often renters are living month-to-month and one financial emergency or rent increase may put them at risk for eviction. A reasonable expansion of tenant’s rights, such as increasing the required notice of eviction and a three month notice on any rent increases and limiting those increases to 7% per year plus inflation on buildings 15 years or older and 15% a year on buildings 5-15 years old as well as included incident fees and insurance, would increase housing security without infringing on a landlord’s ability to manage their property.

We must also provide financial assistance for renters to help bridge an emergency and offer robust legal support so they can compete on an even playing field with landlords, especially in Seattle’s expensive and volatile housing market…