Housing is a human right. As a former refugee who has personally experienced some of the most difficult forms of homlessness and housing instability imaginable - including growing up in King County Housing Authority public housing, I know first hand the central and stabilizing role that public investment in housing can have for individuals, families, and communities.

Study after study has shown that the primary driver of homelessness in our region is that housing rent is going up faster than incomes, without lowest-income neighbors (<30%AMI) experiencing the biggest shortage of affordable housing options. Recent reports have stated that we need to build AT MINIMUM 37,000 units of housing that is affordable to those at the lowest end of the income scale in order to stably house everyone in the County that are either currently homeless or at risk of homelessness.

I will prioritize:

• Funding humane, non-congregate shelters in innovative spaces such as vacant hotels so that encampment outreach workers have real and safe resources to offer those living on the streets.
• Funding permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless people and creating the conditions for more affordable housing for workers:
  • According to recent counts there are almost 7,000 chronically homeless people in King County. There is no reason that in one of the wealthiest counties in the United States that we should not be able to build 7,000 units of permanent supportive housing for all of these individuals. According to the Third Door Coalition, doing so would cost about $1.7 Billion and as councilmember I would support their broad funding plan which raises this money through the combined efforts of city, county, state, and private investments.
• A Housing First approach that centers urgent solutions that approach the scale of the problem.
• Transit-oriented development to make it easier to build multifamilly housing.
• Renter and tenant protections to prevent evictions:
  • Evictions are a leading cause homelessness with BIPOC households evicted at much higher rates than white households. When state and local pandemic eviction moratoriums eventually come to an end, we must do everything we can to ensure a new eviction tsunami does not add yet another level of homelessness to the houselessness emergency we already had. We must work to build on the amazing recent statewide victories won by tenants rights advocates by working to implement “just-cause eviction” protections and rights to legal counsel for tenants in eviction courts.
• Building AT MINIMUM 37,000 units of housing that is affordable to those at the lowest end of the income scale in order to stably house everyone in the County that are either currently homeless or at risk of homelessness.
  • 6500 of these need to be Permanent Supportive Housing that is appropriate for chronically homeless individuals with the most intensive support needs. Third Door’s analysis puts the price tag at about $2 billion to effectively end chronic homelessness in King County, and I would support
• Exploring every possible progressive revenue option allowed by law and challenging laws that don’t suit our needs (aka state income tax and rent stabilization restrictions). I would demand the County’s inter-governmental lobbyists fight for progressive revenue options at the state level at every opportunity. And I will prioritize new revenue for affordable housing and homelessness services.
• Building on the recently passed “Health through Housing” initiative that provides funds for the conversion of hotels to supportive housing.
• Supporting the new Regional Homelessness Authority to ensure all municipalities within the County are doing all they can to provide services and resources to those in need.
• Decriminalizing homelessness and stopping the unjust sweeps that punish people for systemic failures and make their situations worse.

Rising rents, housing costs, and scarcity of affordable housing are primary concerns of residents in King County’s District 5. Skyrocketing rents are the primary driver of gentrification and displacement, and King County has not done nearly enough to use the powers and levers it has to provide sufficient affordable housing. Households of color are disproportionately rent-burdened, putting us in the position every month of making choices between paying the rent or buying food, paying the rent or visiting the doctor, paying the rent or making the car payment. I have known these struggles, and this will be one of my top goals as King County Councilmember.