by Andrew Engelson
(This article originally appeared in The Stranger and has been reprinted with permission.)
Washington State Representative Adam Smith is something of a Congressional wallflower. Unlike Seattle’s other representative, Pramila Jayapal, Smith doesn’t often draw the national spotlight, and he’s not what you’d call a liberal dynamo — though his progressive record continues to please voters in the diverse 9th Congressional District, which ranges from South Seattle to the Eastside and down the I-5 corridor to Federal Way.
But, like Jayapal, the quietly diligent congressman who’s held his seat since 1997 does have a knack for keeping federal dollars flowing into his district. Earlier in July, Smith announced he’d secured more than $8 million in federal funds for community-led efforts in the FY 2022 House Appropriations Bill.
That means 10 local projects — many of them focused on housing, homeless services, youth, and racial equity — will get a substantial boost in the coming year. Among those funded is the Africatown Community Land Trust (ACLT) Keiro project, a longtime resource for Asian American elders in the Central District that has found a second life providing shelter to families with children who are experiencing homelessness. With help from the new $1 million in federal funds, ACLT hopes to boost services and eventually purchase the site.
“Immediately upon receiving these funds,” Wyking Garrett of ACLT said in an email, “ACLT will be able to provide 150 beds to homeless and unsheltered individuals. We hope that many of the homeless residents that are housed at Keiro temporarily will become permanent residents when we open our doors. These residents will be supported by wraparound services. At the time of completion, Keiro will provide 285 units of permanently affordable rental housing that is much needed in Seattle — a city that is suffering the dual crises of a lack of affordable housing and homelessness.”
Continue reading Rep. Adam Smith Rakes In Federal Bucks for Local Projects