The energy was palpable Monday night as tenants and activists marched through the streets of Lower Queen Anne towards the Seattle Housing Authority Building.
Protestors packed the Board of Commissioners meeting demanding the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA), take the so-called “Stepping Forward” program off the table.
If passed, the new initiative will raise rents by over 400% in the next five years for “work-able” tenants. Estimates project that tenants will have to make between $16-$20 per hour to keep up with the rising costs. Families who are unable to meet the increasing financial demands could face eviction.
Currently, SHA rent prices are determined by household income, ensuring that no more than 30% of tenants’ incomes are spent on housing costs. Yet, the Stepping Forward program would make rent unaffordable for over 7,000 households.
Though the proposed plan incorporates “job training” and ESL classes, it fails to address the underlying structural barriers that low-income families face in gaining reliable employment. Many SHA households have poor access to childcare, educational opportunities and are subject to institutional discrimination when trying to find a job.
According to Tenants Union organizer, Denechia Powell, SHA efforts to educate tenants about the policy have been sorely lacking. Though a quarter of SHA residents are immigrants, there has been little targeted outreach to these groups in particular.
Demonstration attendee, Dr. Gary Perry, expressed his disgust with SHA’s plan and its recent partnerships with powerful developers like Vulcan. “The gentrification we see happening today is more aggressive, [now] public entities are allowing developers to have a land grab.”
Though SHA has framed this policy change as an opportunity to “provide more people access to safe, decent and affordable housing”, in reality, this policy will result in the continued gentrification of Seattle, and displacement of low-income residents.
While the Board decided not to vote on Stepping Forward until early 2015, tenants and activists are committed to continuing to hold these “public servants” accountable.
Ariel Hart is a graduate student at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and an anti-racist activist.
Elizabeth Bathory: noblewoman, beauty, and one of the most prolific serial killers in history. Known as a vampire, she earned the nickname “Blood Countess” by murdering between 100 and 650 young girls (accounts give varying figures) and bathing in their blood. Continue reading Review: Blood Countess→
TAF Academy’s STEM Expo Pitch Event on November 13, 2014 ended with a pitch from a tenth grade student of color. She proposed a convention bringing together tech companies, gamers, bioengineers, and anyone else who might be interested to lay foundations for the ethics of transhumanism. Huh? What? What did she just say? What is transhumanism? And how is it a tenth grader knows and I don’t? Continue reading Technology Access Foundation: Education Done Right→
It takes a village to raise a child, but just because that child grows up doesn’t mean the village is off the hook. Adults who are rude act that way because we rarely challenge them on it. We as a society need to stop letting these people slide. Join me in enforcing these basic social contracts: Continue reading Humor Sauce: It Takes a Village→
The Seahawks, coming off 3 successive wins, face an equally hot team later this morning in the Kansas City Chiefs- winners of their last four games. The former AFC West foes are near mirror images of each other. Both feature elite level running backs who drive the engines of their offenses, and suffocating defenses that are built to play close games. Today will be a nail biter that comes down to the wire.