MHA DEIS Issues for District 1 Last week I encouraged you to get your comments on the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) Citywide Rezone Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) into the Office of Planning and Community Development before the Monday 8/8 deadline.  I hope that you did.  I also let you know that I was working […]

Part II: Displacement in the MHA Draft Environmental Impact Statement Last month in my blog post, I wrote a “Part 1” article describing my disappointment in a recent Displacement Risk Analysis being done as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Citywide Rezones that are part of implementing a Mandatory Housing […]

Budget Wrap Up I’ve been writing to you weekly since September with updates on the deliberations on the proposed 2017-2018 budget.  This will be my last budget update of the year because on Monday, the City Council adopted the 2017 City of Seattle budget and 2017-2022 Capital Improvement Plan. As part of the biennial budget […]

Comprehensive Plan 2035 Community Involvement On Monday the Council approved the 2035 Comprehensive Plan update. In committee, the Council approved amendments I sponsored relating to Seattle Public Utilities, Arts, Economic Development and Growth, and then this week in Full Council amendments I sponsored to the Community Involvement element were also approved. I worked with neighborhood […]

Council Passes Source of Income Legislation On Monday the Full Council unanimously voted in support of an important new comprehensive tenants’ rights bill. The legislation proposed by the Mayor was a Source of Income Discrimination protection bill enacting recommendations from the Mayor’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda task force.  The legislation that was passed Monday […]

Resolution on HUD Guidance Regarding Criminal Records On Monday, 6/13/16, the Full Council unanimously voted to pass Resolution 31669. This Resolution will inform landlords of their legal obligations under the Fair Housing Act to consider as tenants people with arrests or criminal records, who have been cleared of a crime or served their time. Access […]

Perennial Issues of Housing Discrimination and Fair Housing are Ripe for Reform Race and socio-economic factors must not be used to prevent people from securing safe, healthy affordable housing. Yet, that is exactly what is happening. On Monday, May 2, 2016, the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) filed 23 director’s charges of illegal discrimination […]