We fought hard against the establishment’s business-as-usual budget Dear People’s Budget activists and community members: Congratulations to everyone for a successful People’s Budget struggle on many fronts!  On Monday, Nov. 25, the City Council adopted a 2020 budget. We need to celebrate what has been won, while at the same time refusing to accept a […]

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 […]

My staff have produced this FAQ to explain why you should join fight to Build 1,000 new affordable homes for Seattle’s poor and working class families and individuals. Sign the petition, then come rally with us for the Council’s first vote on the budget! The vote will take place Tuesday or Wednesday, November 15 or 16 at 9:30 […]

Recently, the Mayor and his staff have said that the City cannot allocate the $160 million in Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) funding that was previously attached to the development of a new North Police Precinct building to affordable housing. They’re wrong. On September 22, 2016, the Legislative Department’s Central Staff published a memo (summary here) which explains, at […]

On Friday, November 23, 2015, the Seattle City Council cast our final votes on the 2016 budget. The People’s Budget movement won a number of progressive budget victories, and I was proud to vote in favor of them. But, even with these progressive amendments, the final budget package remained woefully inadequate. As a workers’ representative that was elected on a pledge to […]

On Monday, September 28, 2015, Mayor Murray presented his version of the budget for 2016. Once again, it falls far short of what working people need. Check out my response, and join me at City Hall on October 27 for a People’s Budget Town Hall to build the movement for a budget that reflects the needs of ordinary […]

On Friday, November 14th, the Seattle City Council introduced amendments to the Mayor’s 2015-2016 budget. Multiple progressive amendments were passed, including my amendments to raise all City workers to $15/hour next year, fund a year-round women’s homeless shelter, and provide critical services to transitional homeless encampments. However, the positive amendments introduced by the City Council […]

Last Friday, we scored a handful of budget victories that will improve the lives of low wage workers, homeless people, and women in Seattle. Faced with a status quo budget that caters to big business and the super-wealthy, ordinary people had to fight for every dollar. Our victories would not have been possible without the […]

A decade after the City declared its intention to end homelessness, the number of people living without shelter in Seattle continues to grow. Encampments such as Seattle’s Tent Cities are a critical stop-gap measure for those who have been pushed into the streets by rising rents and stagnating wages. But the City government has mostly […]