This Thanksgiving Day, 2016, I sent the following letter to President Obama, calling on him again to end the police violence in Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline project. November 24, 2016 President Obama, Today, as millions of people in the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving in the warmth of their family homes, the courageous indigenous Americans standing […]

On Monday, November 22, 2016, the Seattle City Council cast our final votes on the 2017 budget. Once again, the People’s Budget movement won a number of progressive budget victories. Most notably, our Build 1,000 Homes Coalition was able to wrest $29 million in bonds for affordable housing — funding that many Councilmembers had sworn they would never […]

Dear fellow housing justices advocates, Congratulations to you all! Our affordable housing movement scored a major victory yesterday! We forced the City Council to approve $29 million for affordable housing in the 2017-2018 Seattle budget.  Let’s be clear: We won this because we built our Coalition and a movement. We made it impossible for corporate […]

Thank you for calling councilmembers today! Our coalition thanks Councilmember Mike O’Brien, who has signed on to the budget proposal to Build 1,000 Homes. While it can feel intimidating to make these calls, this kind of advocacy can have a large impact on councilmembers’ decisions to support or oppose legislation, especially when done as an […]

Dear fellow housing justice advocates, Thank you so much for all of your great work on the Build 1,000 Homes campaign! In the last two weeks, our coalition of 65-plus organizations has called, emailed, and met with City Councilmembers to urge them to Build 1,000 Homes. We have succeeded in showing the Council that there […]

Washington State has the most regressive tax system in the entire nation. Every year, my fellow City Councilmembers lament the failure of the state legislature to put in place progressive taxes to fund basic needs like education, affordable housing, healthcare, and social services. While I fully agree, Councilmembers have a responsibility to fight for every […]