Housing & Human Services community discussion

Chair.

Yes.

Council Member Rank.

I think we're in unprecedented territory, so we're going to use this this time, and hopefully the award-winning Seattle Channel will accommodate us on this.

We're going to run this as a community discussion and not a formal meeting, since we're all here together.

I want to echo exactly what the chair said.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to come down.

I'm disappointed that we're unable to take action today.

Losing quorum five minutes before a meeting feels suspect.

And as the only renter as a part of this body, I think it is tremendously important that renter perspectives are heard.

And so we want to make sure we hear from you today, at the very least.

And so, Chair, I don't know if you want to take a moment to invite our appointees or prospective appointees to the table, or if we want to try and use the mics over in public comment area, I'll let that be your decision, but I just want to voice again my gratitude for everyone taking time to be here today, and we're going to make sure that everyone is heard.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you very much, Council Member Rank.

So, yeah, since we're just having a community discussion, please join us at the table.

Let's see, what would have been our first item of business?

Yes.

Feel free to sit anywhere.

Thank you, Chair Solomon and Councilmember Rank as well for having us at this community discussion.

I think maybe if it's okay with you, maybe we can start with the people in the room.

So these are people who we've submitted paperwork for the appointments for And they would just be able to speak to their bios and why they're interested in serving on the commission.

And then I think we're joined by a few people online as well.

And then I can read out any of the remaining bios for people who weren't able to make it today.

So thank you very much.

And for our edification, please introduce yourself.

And as you go around, we want to know who you are.

Thank you.

And then just to start, so I'm Laura Jenkins.

I'm with the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, and I'm the staff liaison for the renter's commission, but I'll pass it on to...

Good morning.

My name is Liz Fite.

I am a resident of District 4 in the Wedgwood neighborhood, and I'm here to give a couple of introductory thoughts for myself about being part of the commission.

So, Laura, I've prepared some things to say.

Is that okay?

Okay.

So, I'm a renter in the city.

I've personally encountered a lot of the challenges that many of us face navigating city resources.

So, you know, things like trying to adapt to rising costs and searching for support in a lot of the overwhelming systems that are in place here in Seattle.

Professionally, I work in information management, so my daily work is very much involved in simplifying complex information and making it accessible for everyone.

And this is something that I would love to focus on as part of the commission, taking all of that information out there and making it accessible for folks.

I've also had a lot of work in community outreach and civic engagement, mostly voter engagement, as well as supporting issue campaigns where I lived previously before I moved here to Seattle.

And that is something that I would love to do again here as a resident of the city.

I love being able to help others and empower folks.

So as part of this commission, much of it would be making sure people have the resources that they need and know how to use them.

So that's what I would love to focus on as part of the commission here.

Thank you.

Good morning, council members.

Thank you for hearing us anyways.

My name is Alan Francis.

I'm a resident of District 4, renter.

Professional background.

I'm Board of Directors, Seattle Housing and Resources Effort, Housing and Neighbors Education Fund.

Why am I here?

A year ago, I was able to sign a rental agreement where I live in the Roosevelt District, and that's pretty spectacular to me because it had been at least 12 years since I was able to see my name on my own rental agreement.

So, that was huge.

A little bit of background.

Let's turn to that.

So, lived experience with homelessness, disability, everyday poverty.

In 2002, I had a brief run through with the criminal justice system and mental health.

I still struggle with mental health, but I'm on medication, participating in therapy, so I'm on the other side of it.

Why am I applying for the Renters' Commission?

I want people who are often unheard for various reasons because of these struggles or because they perceive themselves not capable because of these struggles.

I want to have a seat at the table to be voices for those people and maybe along the way encourage somebody to find their voice and sit at this table tomorrow and be that voice.

So, thank you very much.

Good morning, council members.

For the record, my name is Daniel Lugo, and I use he, him pronouns and super excited to be a potential appointee for the Seattle Renters Commission.

Growing up, I didn't live in a stable home.

I eventually entered the foster care system when I was 17 years old.

But, you know, we talk about statistics where foster youth fall through the cracks and they hate the system.

But for me, thankfully, foster care saved my life.

People like you gave me an opportunity to pursue my stability.

So thank you.

The policy that you pass really does save lives.

This work is not something to take lightly.

I've been blessed with an amazing career since exiting foster care.

But I exited into homelessness when I was 20 years old.

I was nearing the age cliff for the extended foster care system, which is 21 years old, and I tried calling resource after resource for Support, but nothing came through.

So I endured homelessness until I saved up enough money to move into an apartment, and it was an affordable MFTE micro studio.

And I can say without a doubt that that micro studio, even though it was 190 square feet, saved my life.

I'm really eager to work with you all and identify solutions to lift more people out of poverty through housing.

More people in Seattle rent than own a home.

There's a lot of opportunity ahead and we're just really thankful for the two of you for being willing to collaborate and we hope that the other council members will follow suit.

So thank you very much for being a leader.

Thank you very much for standing up for renters and thank you very much for standing up for people who are housing insecure.

Thank you, Dan.

Good morning.

My name is Julissa Sanchez.

She, her, Aya pronouns.

I have been part of the Seattle Renters Commission for the past two years.

And before that, I worked at the Tenants Union as a tenants rights educator and community organizer.

And it was during the first Trump administration.

In a lot of my community, the undocumented Mexican, Latina, mixed status, community were threatened by landlords for ICE to be called on them if they kept asking for repairs.

And a lot of them received pay or vacate or a vacate and eviction notices because they kept asking for their tenant protections and rights.

And excuse me, because I am resisting through a cold, but I am here to be reinstated into the Seattle Interest Commission because Equity and accessibility to renters who English is not their first language or who may not speak English at all are often left out of a table or out of access to different resources.

And I thank you for holding this meeting today and I am Very disappointed that we did not meet quorum because we have been waiting for two years to expand the Seattle Renters Commission.

And it does seem very disrespectful.

It is very disrespectful and it seems quite suspect that, or it just shows, it just actually demonstrates So I'm quite emotional about that, but I am here because I'm fierce and I'm here because I am a strong advocate for renters as a single mom of a student at Garfield High School.

And I fight tooth and nail to stay in Capitol Hill so he can stay with his friends.

And I want to give a shout out to all single moms that are working really hard to Stay within housing.

We've been displaced from Seattle from when I was a young person at the Central District through gentrification, and now it's because the rents are too high.

So I'm here to pass the mic, quite literally, to other tenants who may not have a seat at this table.

Thank you for your listeners.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Imandisa Subira.

I have been a community activist in Seattle for 30 years.

I sit on the foundation board for Shoreline Community College.

I'm also an advisor for their performance art and film department.

Part of the reason why I am so excited to be a part of the commission and was excited when I was appointed like a year and a half ago And have basically had to just sit in meetings and not be able to participate, not be able to bring my skills to the table, not be able to bring my wisdom to the table.

And as a filmmaker and a storyteller, professional storyteller, not being able to tell the stories of the renters in our city.

I look at things as a complete whole perspective, and I know and understand that I find it quite disingenuous that we have a stadium called Climate Pledge Arena, but there is no commitment to building this affordable housing with safe and sustainable equipment and building materials so that people do not get sick in these buildings.

And then they become a burden on our Medicaid system.

So there is a lot of things that need to be considered, not just the renter, but looking at them as a holistic person and in a holistic environment.

And I also have a perspective because I used to be a property management person in Compton, California.

And I have been an activist all around the country.

And I feel that any place that has the audacity to name themselves after Martin Luther King Jr.

County, that they should be focused on vision.

And the only way that you can build a vision is with community and community working together with the politicians who I feel that we have a lot of treasures and we have a lot of wonderful community members and community resources that we could be tapping into, but for the politicians, not necessarily Understanding that we're here to help and that we want to build community and that we want to build a vision that's worthy of the reason that we built the Space Needle in the first place is to be a beacon and an example for the entire country.

Thank you.

Can we move to online Sally?

Hi, I'm Sally Kinney.

This will be my first tenure with the Seattle Renters Commission.

As background, I grew up in California quite a long years ago in an area, Monterey County, that was the growing capital of the country.

And it was also at that time home to people from Mexico and further south who lived in Salinas, the area of Salinas.

and worked in the fields and I went to school with their children and I saw the living conditions there.

This was before Cesar Chavez and before any concern of the greater community about the living situations of people who worked to They helped us get our food.

They lived in shacks out in the fields run by the growers.

No electricity, no plumbing.

Children were often sick.

So when I was very young, I had an environment, I grew up in an environment where People's living situations were really pretty bad, except for those of us who didn't have to work in the fields and had office jobs.

Our parents had office jobs.

There were also people who had come families who had come from Arkansas and Oklahoma.

They lived in shacks right on the Salinas River and were flooded just about every year.

Then I moved to Sacramento and started working full time after high school.

No money for college because of our family's divorce situation.

And then moved up to Seattle and My daughter, my first child, was diagnosed as being autistic and had other medical situations.

So I have been her advocate since she was born and worried about housing for her when she got older.

And she is luckily now in a good housing situation, a wonderful organization.

However, many of her people in her situation are not living in good situations.

They are still in the care of their aging parents who are worried about what's going to happen with their children when they go.

So I've and I've been working for the last 20 years with organizations that are concerned with homelessness because that has been my focus.

That is the end point of not having a place to live is literally on the streets.

I live in Lake City in District five and I was a founding member of the Lake City Task Force on Homelessness about almost 20 years ago.

I am a former board member of the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness and other organizations and am currently on the board of Camp United We Stand, an authorized encampment in cycles between Seattle and the North King County area.

We don't have any support from political entities.

No, no, the county and no, none of the municipalities that we move around to fund us.

So we are we board members are basically the organizers and the Fiduciaries and everything for our camp, and I see people coming into the camp from all sorts of backgrounds who have fallen into homelessness and are trying very hard to get out.

Very, very concerned now because we are not going to have any help from the federal government.

We essentially are it.

The city, the state and other municipalities in Washington state are under the gun both for providing resources at a time when their budgets are really Really a lot, very strained.

So I want to work with the Commission to try to, in Seattle at least, try to keep people housed, keep renters housed, because the renters are the ones who are in danger.

And to bring this city to recognize that that may be the most important thing that we can do here now is to keep people housed, keep them off the street and make it easier for renters to continue being renters.

And I thank you for listening to us today.

And I am really eager to work with the Commission on this kind of sad situation.

Thanks.

Thank you, Sally.

Kate.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Kate Rubin.

I am one of the interim co-chairs of the Seattle Renters Commission, one of five people who have been holding this commission down for the last 18 months.

I'm also somebody who works with renters.

In my daily work at B Seattle, we do renter education and organizing and empower renters to get more civically involved because we are being systemically shut out of City Hall, which today feels like just such a perfect example of that, of how our voices really do not matter to those in power.

I also want to say that I live in District 2 and I'm a voter and I'm actively engaged and seeing my city council member yet again be disrespected and shut out of doing the work of a council member and not being able to move the things that their constituents value forward.

In a very intentional way, and I'm sorry, I'm feeling very angry.

I'm angry about all of this.

Because there's so few of us, the renters commission has taken up way more of my time than any unpaid commission appointment ever should.

But I do feel an obligation to Seattle renters to hold it down, I guess.

And I was so looking forward to having a fully a fully seated commission where we could Work together and try to move policy forward or move ideas forward and really just get creative because we're dealing with a small team.

The people remaining had very similar backgrounds and life experiences.

And it takes a diverse group of different people with different perspectives, different backgrounds, different neighborhoods to really represent the spectrum of renters.

And it looks like that's not going to happen today, might not happen in the near future.

And this is just really hard.

This is really hard in my work.

We're funded by the City of Seattle.

They cut funding for tenant services, not just from my job, but across the board by 40 percent.

And renters are really, really struggling.

I personally, I'm doing okay now because I am employed, but I have to live with a roommate.

And if either of us were to lose our jobs, we would be in dire straits.

My family is going through a lot of turmoil and they are all stably housed currently, but my parents are aging.

My younger brother had to move in with them after kind of a series of disasters and probably will not be able to move out anytime soon.

It's really scary to think about what the future holds, especially considering all of the things that are happening at a national level and all of the ways that working class people are being attacked.

They're attacking our trans neighbors and our immigrant and refugee neighbors and really Anyone who might be different or might be an easy target.

So, thank you for inviting me to this table today.

I wish it were under better circumstances.

Male Speaker 1- Lydia.

And after Lydia, Lauren, you said that we have some folks that are not able to join us that you want to speak about.

Okay.

So, in the interest of time, I know that we do have a Someone who has something to present, who does have a hard stop.

So, we want to make sure we get to that.

So, if you could just take a couple of moments to tell us about you and your interest in being on the Commission, and then we'll move on to the information about those who are not here.

Lydia Felty, I use she, her pronouns, and I'm the current Commission co-chair alongside Kate.

I'm a resident of Capitol Hill and District 3 and a lifelong renter.

I currently work in police stewardship in the nonprofit sector.

Before that, I was a high school teacher.

So I'm working with lots of folks from different places, age groups, circumstances.

And I've been on the Renters Commission for about two years now.

I was originally appointed as a GetEngaged member, and now I'm a standard mayoral appointee.

One of the big things I wanted to point out or mention today is that Kate and I have been interim co-chairs for a year now.

When our past co-chairs, when their tenure ended, we were deciding on new co-chairs, but there were only five of us and we had several pending commissioners, so it didn't feel right for us to select as such a small group who would be the co-chairs before these pending commissioners were And we're able to fill in those roles.

And so we just, about a month ago, I think, celebrated our one year anniversary of being co-chairs with still the same five commissioners on board.

And the note that one is moving for grad school soon.

So we're about to be down to four.

And we've had, like, I think, for example, Imendisa, who's here, I checked the records.

has been waiting.

We recommended E for appointment in November of 2023. My colleagues and hopeful colleagues have shared so many salient points, and I just echo every bit of anger and frustration and passion.

And as we come up, I know we're short on time, so cut me off if you need to, but as we come up on the one-year anniversary too of a letter that our commission sent to City Council, I wanted to just read a couple of notes from it.

So this was sent on August 4th, 2024. We are ready to demand immediate action from the Housing and Human Services Committee regarding the long overdue appointments to the Seattle Renters Commission.

Despite our request since the beginning of the year, 2024, the committee chair has yet to review commissioner appointments, add reviewing commissioner appointments to the meeting agendas.

This action is unacceptable and undermines the representation of more than half of Seattle's population who are renters.

Our commission currently has only five commissioners of the mandated 15. This is not just a logistical issue but a clear neglect of duty that disempowers renters.

The lack of black commissioners on the SRC is especially concerning given Seattle's history of redlining and rapid gentrification and displacement of historically black neighborhoods.

The current composition of the SRC feels to reflect the diversity of our city and perpetuates systemic inequities.

I'll editorialize for a moment to add in the reminder of the current climate state and truly national state of emergency that we're in and how much more important all of these things our work is and putting policies in place supporting renters because we know that we have more renters coming or we've already had more renters coming.

Our role includes advising the City Council on issues and policies affected to renters, such as housing affordability, transportation access, land use, public health and economic development.

The Council's lack of engagement shows a misguided view that the SRC is a formality that can be ignored rather than a valuable collaborator in addressing these critical issues for our community.

This dismissive stance is detrimental to the effective governance of our city.

The Housing and Human Services Committee must prioritize the appointment of new commissioners immediately and address any future appointments promptly to ensure this situation does not repeat.

The ongoing neglect not only hampers our work, but also insults the communities we aim to serve.

And I'll just close with the thanks for our gratitude that we are all here, that we were finally put on the agenda, I think is noteworthy.

And just again echoing the disappointment, the anger, the frustration, and particularly I think for me thinking about people who I'm sure took time off work, took time out of their day, are physically at City Council or at City Hall in person on a Wednesday morning only to have the meeting delayed and delayed and cancelled and now kind of back into this limbo of not knowing when or whether appointments will be made.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Lauren.

Thank you, Chair.

And I just want to say thank you to all of the potential appointees who are here in person, online, who joined, and thank you for sharing your stories and being here.

And I'll just read through.

There's six remaining appointees.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's six remaining appointees that I'll just read out their bios and I'll name them.

And just let me know at any point if you need to move on to the next portion.

But again, I'm Laura Jenkins.

I'm the staff liaison for the Renters Commission, and I work in the Department of Neighborhoods.

So first off, we have Adora Blue.

Adora Blue is a renter living in Pinehurst.

She was raised in a wealthy neighborhood in SoCal and moved to Seattle in 2014, where she subsequently experienced renting in a large variety of areas and arrangements.

She became involved in housing activism in 2020 via Rent Strike 2020 and COVID-19-inspired mutual aid efforts.

unhoused support in particular, and eventually joined the board of directors at Be Seattle, a local housing justice nonprofit.

More recently, she has started multiple efforts to help other trans people fleeing from persecution in other states when they moved to Washington, and specifically Seattle, leading to creating a couch network to provide temporary housing to relocate trans folks who often would otherwise end up unhoused.

Trans people are an especially housing insecure population due to the prevalence of losing access to family homes and the family support that would often allow for career development.

It is also the biggest obstacle that makes Seattle a hard place to move to for disadvantaged people.

ADORA wants to reduce barriers and make Seattle not just safe, but also accessible to trans people.

Disabled people and other groups currently being forced to flee their homes due to a regressive government.

Next up is Casey Burton.

Casey, as an experienced landlord tenant law attorney, Casey Burton would like to join the commission to contribute her legal skills and actively shape policies that protect tenants' rights and ensure fair housing practices.

By participating in the commission, Casey can advocate for stronger legal protections, help identify gaps in current laws, and offer expert legal insight on issues like eviction prevention and other standards.

Joining the commission also provides her the opportunity to collaborate with community leaders, stakeholders, and other legal professionals to create a more equitable housing environment for renters.

Next is Angela O'Brien.

Angela O'Brien was raised in Seattle and is passionate about social justice, driven by a deep belief in fairness and equality.

With a background in affordable housing and grassroots organizing, she brings a unique perspective to addressing social justice by advocating and educating.

Her commitment to positive change is demonstrated through organizing community outreach programs and influencing policy change.

As a case manager for Goodwill, she is dedicated to future goals related to education and creating a more just and equitable world for all.

Karen Taylor is a disabled renter in the Beacon Hill area, living on a fixed income from SSDI.

In her 20 years as a renter, she has dealt with various issues such as lack of accessible units, having to spend 70% of her income on rent, and the constant need to find new roommates to afford a place to live in the city.

She rents from a small landlord and is passionate about renter's protections, including renters who rent from landlords who manage only a small number of properties and extending to subletters.

She is an active member of the Transit Writers Union, fighting for progressive taxation, a living wage for all, and renter protections.

She imagines a world where everyone who needs them has accessible units and can afford to live on their own if they so choose.

Samuel Wolfson.

Sam has lived in Seattle his entire life and saw firsthand the explosion of growth that came with the city's newfound position as a hub for technology.

As someone who loves Seattle and wants to see it thrive, he personally understands the importance of making housing in our city affordable, welcoming, and plentiful for the increasingly large number of people who want to live here.

And then last up, we have Andrew.

Andrew Ashiofu is a dedicated advocate for equity, public health, and housing justice with deep roots in Seattle's community organizing and civic engagement.

As a renter and longtime leader in LGBTQ plus advocacy, they have consistently worked to elevate the voices of marginalized communities across the city.

From serving on the Seattle LGBTQ plus commission to leading statewide efforts through the Washington Stonewall Democrats, Andrew has championed inclusive policies that address the intersections of housing, healthcare, and racial justice.

Their passion for housing stems from both personal experience and their professional work supporting vulnerable populations.

Andrew believes housing is a human right, and they are committed to advancing policies that protect tenants, prevent displacement, and create truly affordable and accessible housing for all.

They seek to serve on the Seattle Renters Commission to bring their lived experience, policy insight, and unwavering advocacy to the table, ensuring renters are not only heard, but empowered in shaping the future of the city.

So those are all of the remaining appointees who weren't able to make it.

I did want to note, Andrew was here at City Hall, but ended up leaving after some of the delays, but made an attempt to be here as well.

Yes, I did see him in the room.

Okay, thank you.

And again, thank you for presenting on those folks.

Council Member Rink, do you have any comments?

Thank you, Chair.

As was mentioned, the renters commission has not had appointments in about a year and a half.

It is my working understanding that no other commission has experienced this profound of a challenge when it comes to appointments by this body.

And I want to say on behalf of this body, I want to apologize to each of you, both for everyone who's come in person, but also for those who are tuning in online.

I want to apologize to each of you on behalf of this body for not being able to move forward today.

This is so disrespectful.

It's hard for me to read this as anything other than intentional suppression of representation, key representation.

Seattle is a majority renter city.

I am the only member of this body that is a renter.

We are the majority and renters are much more likely to be displaced and experience homelessness.

And working people are being displaced from this city every day as we fail to address the affordability crisis.

We've been in a state of emergency on homelessness for years.

We're losing federal resources for housing and human services.

I know we're going to hear a presentation today on some of the federal resources coming in, but we can't take action today.

That was critical action that we needed.

That is $30 million that we haven't lost yet, that members of this body continue to state that they're so concerned about losing federal funding.

And now we're the ones throwing this into some jeopardy.

And I want to remind folks that for anyone who is tuned in right now, maybe tuned in mid-committee, this isn't a committee meeting anymore.

This is just a community meeting.

It is council members' chartered responsibility to be at these meetings.

This is literally our job.

So I find it deeply frustrating that people took time to leave their jobs in the middle of the day, yet not every member of this committee could show up to do theirs.

So I know we're on a time crunch.

We missed critical time and I'm mindful that we have some time constraints.

I want to continue the conversation with each of you to make sure that we are fully understanding and fully understanding the challenges that renters are experiencing at this time.

You have my commitment that we're going to make sure that we see through these appointments and there is no additional delay.

But with that said, Chair, I have to just close by expressing my deep frustration with the situation we find ourselves in today and my call on our colleagues to do better.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Council Member Rink.

I, too, also want to apologize that we are not able to move forward on advancing your names at this time.

I apologize for you taking the time out of your day to come down here to be frustrated.

And I want to echo that we need to do better.

So I want to thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for willing to give of your time to do this work voluntarily.

It says a lot about your character that you're willing to give your time, your energy, your effort to Advocate for folks and not get paid for it.

So thank you for that.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you for your sacrifice.

Thank you for being here today.

And again, I apologize to you that we are not able to move forward at this time.

So with that, please, I hope you have enjoyed the rest of your day.

Thank you so much for being here.

But I just wanted to add one more quick note of thanks, kind of onto that, the end of that list.

Just calling out Laura Jenkins, our city liaison, for her incredible work.

It is really due to Laura that, especially at a capacity of five commissioners, the renters commission is able to still get things done.

So just wanted to give a huge shout out to Laura for being here, for all of her really hard work, and also for representing the pending commissioners who weren't able to make it today.

Thanks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura deserves that.

You deserve that applause.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Our next person who has a time constraint, if we could have you come up, please.

We have just one more appointment.

Oh, one more appointment?

Okay.

So the other appointee who's Can the other prospective appointee come forward, please?

Good morning, Councilmember Rank, Councilmember Salomon.

My name is Janet Stafford.

I am with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.

I am commissioned staff.

In our office, we house four commissions, specifically the Seattle Disability Commission.

Who has been very active in the last 15 years advocating for disability justice.

Today, we have with us a recommended commissioner, Scott Nelson, who has been an active member for the last few months.

He is with us, and I'd like to just pass it on to him to share some brief words.

Thank you.

Scott Nelson, Thank you.

Hi.

Thank you very much.

First off, I'd just like to say infinite solidarity with the renters commission folks.

There's a reason why housing and human services are paired together.

Disability, homelessness, questions of how we assist people in hard times, they are intrinsically linked, so I wanted to respect that.

My name is Scott Nelson, no relation.

I use he, him, his pronouns, and I work for the city of Seattle.

I'm not the Scott Nelson with two Ts in the fire department, also no relation.

I work in Seattle Parks and Recreation at Garfield Community Center and on the Big Day of Play project.

Grew up in South Tacoma on Pac Ave.

And for the last five years, I've lived in District 2 in the CID as a carless renter.

I'm also someone who lives with and has many, many loved ones who have disabilities.

I've been nominated to the Seattle Disability Commission, which is an incredible honor, and I seek to be confirmed so that I may leverage my data science and community service background, as well as my unique positionality as a City of Seattle employee, to assist the Commission to amplify its efforts in the realms of advocacy, transportation, and employment.

I believe deeply that how we include, create access points, and provide positive rights to our disabled family and neighbors is a key indicator for how society is going as a whole.

As a young person, it's sometimes hard not to be cynical or think that we're cooked, but myself and many other young folks who I encourage to apply to the Disability Commission can't stop fighting anyways.

That's why I'd like to be a part of this fantastic commission with incredibly experienced and passionate commission members, supported by such a wonderful person as Janet Stafford here.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Any questions for our potential commissioner or comments?

Thank you for being here.

I'm sorry.

I appreciate your service to our commission.

And I suppose just a general question, how are you hoping to see council engage with the commission?

Ideally, what does that relationship look like and how can we do better?

I think in general, I would like to see a lot more affirmative steps taken in the realm of creating access and in the legislation that City Council puts forward.

Oftentimes, when we think about disability access, we think about it in a very reactive or legalistic sense.

We think about ADA compliance, and we think about it with that compliance framework.

But just talking about it as things that people have the right to, talking about the rights that people have to access, When it comes to transportation or when it comes to jobs, people with disabilities, they have the same right to it as anyone else does.

And when we think about how we legislate that or how we distribute resources, I think thinking about it in those terms as opposed to we'll be legally punished if we don't do this, I think that would go a long way towards people's conception of what a good society is.

I really appreciate that and I think it's important to note that the disability community is a community that anyone can become a member of.

And darn near everyone does.

It's a multifaceted spectrum, and it's something that happens sort of as an inevitability of aging and of existing in a society, especially where a lot of folks don't have health insurance.

A lot of folks lack safe access to transit.

And so, you know, while we celebrate disability as a unique and intrinsic part of who people are.

There's a lot of trauma and tragedy that comes with unexpected disability and that comes with the really, really bad things that can just suddenly happen to each and every one of us.

Can I also just add one quick note?

Scott will be our seventh member on the board once appointed.

So, it is a small group of folks.

And we do have newly appointed co-chairs who have already done a meet and greet with a council member.

And I'm just going to shout out that I know that they want to continue that effort this year.

So, I'm sure that they would love to meet with all of you.

Thanks.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for being here again.

Apologies for the delay.

I mean, you've been here the entire time.

And apologies that we are not able to vote on your nomination to proceed forward to full council.

It will happen.

So again, thank you for your willingness to volunteer and step up.

Again, it does say a lot.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Who do we have next?

Oh, yes.

So, next in our community meeting is talking about the HUD action plan.

Do you all have a hard stop?

Female Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155?

Female Speaker 1-1155.

Female Speaker 1-1155?

Female Speaker 1-1155.

Female Speaker 1-1155?

Female Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Male Speaker 1-1155.

Ready?

Yes.

Good morning, Councilmember Salomon, Councilmember Rank.

I'm Ann Gorman.

I work for the City Human Services Department, and I'm here to talk today about HSD's 2025 Annual Action Plan.

Just to be upfront about this, recognizing the nature of today's meeting, What I will be presenting does have some references to council legislation and council process.

Those are descriptive.

I'm just telling the story of how we got to where we are today.

We are here today because councils vote to approve this plan will allow HSD to meet a submission deadline to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, and that deadline is August 16th.

Last December, HSD presented on the draft 2025 Annual Action Plan to Council and held a public hearing.

That draft plan included estimated funding allocations from HUD.

We received our final funding allocations from HUD in May, and we have prepared legislation approving the 2025 Annual Action Plan before we submit the plan as required by that August deadline.

And in this sense, the annual action plan can be seen as a spending plan.

I'm here today to share HSD's spending plan for 2025 HSD grant funding.

Thank you.

So what we'll do today, we will review the development of the Annual Action Plan, touch on some key milestones and dates leading up to the City's 2025 Annual Action Plan submittal to HUD, and we'll give a high-level overview of projects that these HUD grants support.

And then I'll open it up to two questions.

Allocations in the 2025 Annual Action Plan reflect established funding goals and priorities that were documented in the 2024 to 2028 Consolidated Plan, and that plan and the goals therein were adopted by the City Council in October of 2023. The City Council also approved this year's planned allocations as part of the 2025 budget process.

The legislation that we have prepared and will later bring to Council matches the two previously adopted plans with actual 2025 dollars made available to the City through the federal budget process.

Those are the May allocations that I referenced earlier.

HSD is the grantee on behalf of the City of Seattle for this funding, and HSD coordinates the development of the annual spending plan that's required for these four formula grants administered in HUD.

We'll talk about each of those grant programs later in the presentation.

Timeline on this slide reflects a standard process that HSD undertakes to fulfill the requirements of participating in these four HUD grant programs.

And these are the key dates leading up to plan completion and submittal to HUD.

by the August 16th statutory deadline.

As I mentioned, HSD will seek Council approval of the annual action plan to make this deadline and receive the 2025 grant funds.

The City's 2024-2028 Consolidated Plan is the framework for the 2025 Annual Action Plan, and it has five key policy priorities, which were adopted when the five-year plan was ratified in 2023. And I will just read those into the record.

Those goals are to increase services and prevent people from experiencing homelessness, to address the needs of people impacted by mental health and substance use, which is important in light of the opioid and fentanyl abuse crisis, to improve equitable access to community infrastructure and recreation opportunities, To increase economic development and job retraining opportunities for low and moderate income households and those disadvantaged in recovering from recent economic instability.

And finally, to increase affordable housing options.

And related to these priorities, the 2025 Annual Action Plan reflects significant capital facilities investments to address the opioid and fentanyl crisis.

That investment is also consistent with Mayor Harrell's priorities.

This slide shows the difference in allocations received in 2024 and 2025 for the four programs that I referenced a few slides back.

Again, all of these programs are administered by HUD.

The programs are the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, Home Investment Partnerships, HOPWA, and Emergency Solutions Grant.

And I'll just briefly define each of them for your reference.

The CDBG program improves the economic, social and physical environment to enhance the quality of life for low and moderate income residents.

The Home Investment Partnership provides grant funding that supports affordable housing for low and moderate income families.

HOPWA is the only federal program dedicated to the housing needs of people living with AIDS, excuse me, HIV and AIDS.

Emergency solutions grants assist people with quickly regaining stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and or homelessness.

And generally, the 2025 amounts reflect approximately a 1 percent difference from the 2024 award.

HSD does not anticipate that this difference will have any significant programmatic impacts.

The slight exception is the ESG funding, where we see a 4 percent reduction from the 2024 allocation.

And this funding is used to fund rapid rehousing, which is a category where we typically see underspend.

So again, no anticipated impact from this slight reduction from the 2024 levels.

Minor fluctuations like this are typical, and just overall, nationally, Congress appropriated less to the ESG program this year.

And speaking of Congress, I will highlight that CDBG has a long history of bipartisan support, as is reflected in these allocations, which do not differ significantly from 2024 levels.

In alignment with the mid-year supplemental legislation that is shortly before Council, this table shows how HSD is allocating CDBG funding, the first of those four grant programs, in the City's 2024 Annual Action Plan.

And the top part of this table shows the City's intent to allocate the 2025 CDBG grant awards Totaling $8.9 million across various projects.

And the bottom part of the table shows $13.8 million in remaining balance of CDBG dollars from previous funding years as well as their intended allocations.

This data is in alignment with the draft 2025 annual action plan that was passed by Council last December.

And you can see here, as I mentioned earlier, one of the significant changes in 2025 is increased investments in opioid treatment facilities.

The last slide was largely specific to CDBG funding, and this slide is intended to show the planned uses of funding from the other three HUD grant programs.

The first row does reference the CDBG revolving loan fund.

We present that on this page because it is a different and specific use of CDBG.

For technical reasons, it is a better fit here.

Both this slide and the previous one are consistent with the policy priorities that Council approved in the five-year consolidated plan, and importantly, they reflect opportunities to spend down grant funding in a maximally timely manner.

These grant allocations have a timeliness of expenditure requirement that we are very, very attentive to.

Just to say it one more time, the statutory deadline for HSD to submit the 2025 Annual Action Plan to HUD is August 16th, and I noted that we will seek Council approval to submit the plan and subsequently be able to access the funding and support these bodies of work.

That's all I have for you today.

Happy to entertain any questions.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Thank you for being here.

Council Member Brink, do you have any questions?

Sorry, could you go over?

You mentioned that Congress had lowered the ESG amount for this year.

Could you just repeat that information?

Sure.

Thank you.

And I don't know if lowered is the term of art for what occurred.

It was a lower appropriation.

And there can be various reasons for that.

There's always competition for this type of grant funding.

From HSD's perspective, I don't believe we're aware of any policy concern at this time.

And again, these fluctuations, even this 4 percent, are not unexpected, just based on year-to-year variance.

So, understanding with that, thank you for breaking that down, so understanding we're not seeing significant changes here based on last year's allocation.

That is correct, yes.

Good to hear.

And I understand the county convenes the Joint Recommendations Committee, and I'm wondering our level of involvement in that body.

I know that's a great way to understand also what may some of our other neighboring cities and understanding their CDBG allocations and similarly what their allocations with HUD look like.

And I know that table includes a multitude of ILAs and partnerships.

How are we engaging with also understanding what our regional partners may be experiencing as it relates to their allocations?

I do not staff that body of work.

I would love to get some more information and follow up with you.

Great.

Thank you.

That concludes my questions.

My bottom line question is, what's our timeline?

Well, first, what happens if the council Doesn't vote in time on this.

Then if HSD is not able to submit its application to HUD on or by August 16th, then they're...

I don't want to say we lose access to the funding because I'm not sure that's the case, but there is a risk that we are not able to access the funding that has been allocated to us across these grant programs.

So August 16th is your deadline to submit to the feds.

HSD's deadline, yes.

Okay.

What is the Council's deadline to act so that you can meet your deadline?

I am not prepared to answer that question right now.

I think that's a conversation that HSD and those who support the Council need to have to ensure that since we weren't able to potentially vote this annual action plan out of committee today, That there is a path to that taking place.

And I know that conversations are being had.

Yeah, because the last thing I want is to see 16 plus mil left on the table because we didn't do something in a timely fashion.

Just saying.

I appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

So, that's why, yeah, if we could just do some, you know, quick follow-up.

I mean, you know, if necessary, until a full chair can be seated, if me as vice chair can call this special meeting, just to do that, I'll do it.

It seems that there could be at least a couple creative options that could support HSD's A submittal of an approved annual action plan by August 16th.

Okay.

And again, since we're just having a community meeting, does this, because it's HSD and because we're talking about HUD, does it have to go through the Housing and Human Services Committee?

I see your clerk shaking his head.

I don't believe it needs to go through the Housing and Human Services Committee, no.

It needs a vote by the full council.

Okay, so it needs a vote by the full council, but I'm trying to think about, does it need to go to another committee before it can get to the full council?

I don't believe so, no.

Okay.

Again, a couple of creative solutions that we could consider.

Well, let's get creative.

Okay, cool.

I have no further questions for you.

Council Member Brink, anything further?

No, just would echo your sentiments.

Want to make sure that this is not delayed for any other reason and fully support any legislative path that gets this done on time.

And I want to thank you for your work on this, Ms. Gorman.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate the support.

Okay.

Thank you.

And again, thank you for sticking with us today, just sticking it out and hanging in through all the time delays.

And again, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Goodbye.

All right.

Great.

Who we got next?

Okay.

You know, to quote the great philosopher, Marshawn Lynch, what's next?

Good morning.

Good morning, council members.

Would you like us to do introductions?

Yes, please.

Please introduce yourselves for our community meeting.

Chris DeVias, mayor's office.

I'm Laura Beck from FAS Consumer Protection Division.

And Tracy Rastlow from your council central staff.

Good.

Thanks.

So, we are here this morning to talk to you about legislation that the mayor transmitted down to the City Council to regulate predatory homebuying practices, and we have a deck that we're prepared to walk through with you today.

So, I'm happy to just dive in.

So, let me start by talking about what is predatory home buying.

It is when homeowners receive unsolicited offers, often for cash, for sellers to buy their homes that are not currently on the market and not listed.

So, this will involve getting calls, letters, postcards, text messages from various sellers suggesting they are interested in buying someone's home.

The folks most at risk for these types of practices are vulnerable homeowners, often the elderly and financially distressed, and there's a strong intersection With race, especially Black legacy homeowners who have been most at risk for these types of practices.

It often involves heavy-handed pressure tactics, and the end result can be someone selling their home for below market value, which means they might be getting less for their home than they would otherwise if they had listed it on the market.

So, why are we tackling this issue now?

I just want to provide some context.

There is a major update to the comprehensive plan going on, a lot of concerns that come with zoning about displacement pressures, and in that context, we heard from some of the community About concerns about predatory home buying practices, and perhaps those might heat up when the HB 1110 legislation takes effect, which the interim did this just a couple months ago.

So, we too are concerned about that, especially now that you can add more homes to what was traditionally a single-family parcel, and asked the Innovation and Performance team to do a review of our anti-displacement practices in the city.

We have many programs in place, but the Innovation and Performance team identified various ways we could improve Upon our current programming, and the end result of that is an executive order that we issued to improve the efficacy of our anti-displacement programs and also fill in some of the gaps.

And one of the gaps that was identified was regulating predatory home buying practices.

So, Mayor Harrell did ask our Finance and Administration Department, where the Consumer Protection Bureau sits in the city, to develop legislation to regulate these practices.

So that's just a little bit of the context about how this legislation came to be.

High-level overview, just the legislation obligates potential buyers to disclose certain information to homeowners about their rights.

It provides an out for homeowners to cancel a purchase contract after they sign it.

And then it also gives the city the ability to find businesses or individuals who do not comply with the new regulations and establishes a private right of action.

So, I'm going to just keep going if there aren't any questions with a little bit more detail about what's in the legislation, but feel free to ask me as I go or happy to take them afterwards.

So, in terms of the details, the proposed regulations require that potential Buyers of these homes, when they're engaging with homeowners, need to provide various disclosure information to homeowners about their rights prior to signing a purchase contract as well as when a purchase contract goes to be signed.

So, at least five days in advance of signing a purchase contract, The potential buyer must provide written notice to the owner of the home about how to assess their fair market value of their home.

It outlines the owner's right to appraisal, which the potential buyer must pay for.

It highlights the owner's right to hire a real estate agent and seek legal counsel and any other information that the director of FAS deems appropriate.

When it comes to the purchase contract, the purchase contract itself must include a separate disclosure document with all of the information I just covered, and also specify that the homeowner has a right to cancel the purchase contract without penalty.

And presumably that will include detail about how long they have.

To consider purchasing the contract, which I'll get into in a moment.

And then the disclosure notice will also include contact information for reporting violations to the city.

So after signing the purchase contract, the owner can hire an appraiser even up to 10 days after signing the contract.

And the owner can also cancel the purchase contract within 10 business days after receiving an appraisal.

And then the owner can also cancel the purchase contract 10 days after execution of the contract if no appraisal is sought.

So there's various time periods in the legislation that talk about when and how that homeowner can cancel the contract with no penalty to the homeowner.

So, that provides a buffer in the event the homeowner has, you know, seller's remorse or learns that their home is actually worth more money.

It just provides additional protection for the homeowner.

And our legislation actually closely aligns with legislation that was recently passed by the state.

When we started to first look at this issue, the state legislation was not on our radar.

I think the state, for similar reasons, with all the legislation coming out of the state with zoning legislation, I also wanted to take a look at these predatory home buying practices, and our city attorney's office recommended that we try to align with the state as much as possible to avoid confusion and duplication of efforts.

So, it was at that point we kind of pivoted away from some of the other ideas we were exploring and took a look at the state legislation.

And I just want to highlight the ways in which the city legislation goes above and beyond sort of the state legislation.

First of all, it imposes more stringent fines on violators.

It provides homeowners more time following the execution of the purchase contract to obtain an appraisal and cancel the contract.

It has stronger documentation requirements to make sure that the disclosure statements to the homeowners are actually being received.

And then it establishes that homeowners have a private right of action if the buyer fails to comply with the city ordinance.

So, those are all the ways in which our legislation, while trying to adhere to the intent of the state legislation, we decided to increase some of the protections for homeowners as well.

And, you know, we don't at this point have a good handle on the extent of this problem, but this is another way for the city to start documenting the extent to which These practices are occurring, and people are having issues with this practice.

So, we're looking forward to being able to track this more closely, and if, you know, additional protections are needed in the future, we will be in a position then to determine that.

So, with that, I want to turn it over to FAS to talk about implementation.

Hi, good morning.

So, for the implementation steps for FAS, there's a couple ways that we've kind of looked at it.

As Christa mentioned, we do not have a handle on how often this is happening.

So, the first thing that we would be doing is updating any website information.

That would be including The Consumer Protection FAS website for the information for the actual buyers, the wholesalers, and for the residents, homeowners, about how this legislation would impact them, how to report complaints, and how to obtain additional information.

One of the things that we're looking at as far as outreach and education, the businesses, since we don't know if they're all in Seattle, if they're in the state or throughout the country, would be through mail and phone contacts and information that we receive from residents in the city of Seattle about who they might have been contacted for selling their home.

For the other areas that we were looking at is to provide information cards at public locations Where the public are served, such as community centers, the clinics, libraries, neighborhood service centers, and areas where we're really seeing the changes in the development within a neighborhood where these homes might be more likely to be Gone to from the wholesalers for sailing purposes as those areas expand.

We would additionally use the language access that's available for the high-level languages these would be translated in, as we think that's really important for the neighborhoods to understand their rights, to understand where they can receive services and more information.

And then the training would also be for our license and standards inspectors, as well as to meet with and work with the Customer Service Bureau, as they may initially be getting those calls from customers with questions, so they could do it online or get those concerns to the Consumer Protection Bureau to do an investigation.

Can you go to the next slide?

Oh, sorry, is this it?

Okay.

So, as far as the enforcement for this is, a complaint would be received by Consumer Protection, like I said, either online, in person, or through the Customer Service Bureau phone.

It would be assigned to an inspector, and after that, the inspector would do their inspection to see if all of the protocol was followed.

The inspector would notify both parties of the outcome of that investigation.

And if it is deemed that there was a violation, then a citation would be issued to the wholesale business.

The first violation for noncompliance is $7,500.

The second violation would be $10,000 if that happened within the first 12-month period.

So, citations can be appealed to the hearing examiner, and those would be, they would have 10 days to do that.

So, that is our plan at this time.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Chair Greg Musil- Let me just do a quick check.

Since we're having this conversation, it's not a meeting, not a council meeting, Council Member Rink, how long can you stick around for the conversation?

Oh, I'm available.

Okay, cool.

All right.

Cool.

Thanks.

Tracy, do you have anything to add?

So, the only thing that I would add is just maybe a question to the executive.

So, in the fiscal note, it talks about how you will use an existing staff person to staff this effort in 2025. Nothing about how this gets staffed in 2026. And so, wondering that how you are planning to approach that.

And then the only other comment I had was because there's a slight difference between what the state is now going to be implementing as of January of 2026 and what the city is going to be implementing in terms of just these slight differences, just making sure that we adequately inform people of what the city's requirements are versus what the state is, because we do have more stringent requirements in terms of this additional notice and the time periods are slightly different than what the state.

So just making sure that people really fully understand the city has Provisions that are stricter than the state and making sure that people understand who are involved in this body of work or might be about those differences and the need to comply with the city requirements.

Yeah, at this point, the consumer protection feels that we have enough inspectors that we can absorb any kind of complaints that are coming in.

And the role of the strategic advisor myself probably wouldn't be beyond the end of 2025. So, 2026, we are anticipating that we'll be able to absorb any work that comes along with that.

What we'd like to do at the end of 2025 is kind of look and see what kind of numbers we're seeing, as there's a lot of unknowns about what impacts homeowners are seeing about this.

As somebody who lives in the city of Seattle, I know that I'd probably get 15 to 20 solicitations a month, so that is one way that I am looking to see Where these solicitations are coming from, how to inform them, is it through certain neighborhoods?

So, that's what we'd like to do at the end of 2025, but at this point we don't anticipate any financial need to support this work.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Yeah, I get a lot of those solicitations as well, and they go straight in the trash.

So, I'm noticing that there's a press release this morning about this from the mayor's office.

So, we're talking about the same thing, right?

Yeah.

Okay, cool.

What action, if any, do you need the council to take?

Well, we have transmitted legislation.

So, in order for these to go into effect, we would need council to vote on the legislation at some point.

Okay.

And is there a timeline by which that needs to be done?

Well, it's...

Other than sooner rather than later.

I mean, preferably before your budget process starts and when I understand council does not take up any additional legislation, so...

Okay.

Again, just trying to figure out timing, you know, given How did they shake that in order to, you know, get things rolling and getting in place?

You know, it's not like the HUD thing where we have, like, you know, we got a drop-dead date for the HUD thing.

Just wondering if there's a drop-dead date for this other than do it before we start doing budget stuff.

No.

This is, you know, our preference is that it just get adopted before budget.

Okay, cool.

Council Member Rink, any questions or comments?

Just an overarching comment.

I'm pleased that this is coming before us.

I think this has been an issue I've continued to hear about in community and one that I know a number of folks have felt a little bit.

Hopeless isn't the right word, but just kind of out of sorts, like what is something we can do about this issue?

So understanding, as I heard in the presentation, it's hard to measure the scale of the issue.

This seems like a good initial first step for us to be able to start collecting that information and understanding the pervasiveness of it, common tactics, maybe who some of these folks are.

So understanding that this is a first step and we'll continue to learn as we are able to get some of this information.

I am curious about, as we move Move forward how we will plan to further engage some of our existing commissions from impacted communities or some of the key stakeholder groups in community that might have a good understanding.

I'm thinking about Legacy Black Homeowners Group, the Mayor's Council for African American Elders, and other appropriate commissions as well.

I would assume that part of that education would be part of what FAS is doing, but as part of the executive order on anti-displacement, we also have a whole section on better coordination and communication among departments to get the word out generally about the many anti-displacement programs that the city is funding.

What we learned through the review of our work is that a lot of folks are not familiar with some of these programs, so we want to make sure That we do a better job with connecting people who need these programs most, are aware of them, and that people in community are aware of them.

So, those who are working with vulnerable populations can help get out the word about the many programs.

And this will now be added to the list, assuming council passes this legislation, of things we can be on the lookout for in helping to mitigate displacement concerns.

And I'm wondering if there's kind of building on that point just in terms of getting the word out, if there's opportunities for us to just tie this information to some of our existing other social programs with groups that may be more so impacted by this.

So, if there's opportunities for folks who may be enrolled in the utility discount program to also receive this information.

I'm just thinking about existing channels that we can just kind of attach this information to to get the word out.

And paired with that, if we've thought about as well maybe connecting with the county about, you know, there's an exemption for property taxes for seniors, if we can partner to see if we can use their channels to make sure that folks who are accessing that program also know about this.

Yes, those are all great ideas.

And while we have not yet received sort of a proposal from our staff on how to sort of take advantage of these existing channels to try to communicate and work with the community better on getting this information out, I'm happy to come back to the City Council and talk about what our communication plan is once we pull it together.

But I think some of that work is happening now and really appreciate Some of your ideas.

I think those are sort of consistent with where we're going with some of this stuff.

Great.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Those are all my questions and comments.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Again, it brings to mind that A few weeks back, it was June, right?

We did the Anti-Displacement Resource Fair at the Rainier Beach Community Center, basically educating folks about what resources already exist to help them stay in their homes, whether it's utility discounts, home repair, low-cost or no-cost loans.

And a lot of the providers that were there, from Black Legacy Homeowners to United Way to Habitat for Humanity, And including our own city departments, a lot of folks didn't know what each other provided.

So, it was actually an educational experience for the people who were tabling to find out who else does what to help people stay in their homes.

Because I think about, you know, when we had the atmospheric river, you know, a couple years ago, and I had flooding in my basement.

And the price tag for that added up in terms of mitigation and doing all the fixes and the whole bit.

Fortunately, I had access to my deferred comp that I could dip into to offset those costs.

But I think about the neighbor two doors down from me who's in her 90s.

If she had experienced the same thing, she'd have to sell because she doesn't have 30,000 liquid, right?

That's where I'm looking at, you know, these predatory folks to say, hey, we know you had an issue.

You know, we'll give you X amount of dollars for your house and the house is actually worth three or four times more.

You know, that's the kind of thing we definitely want to, you know, squash.

So glad this is coming forward.

Looking forward to it being voted on.

So anything else to add?

I would suggest that your colleagues would be aware about this proposal because Councilmember Wu had actually proposed looking at a program of some sort and this is square in response to what she was thinking.

So your colleagues might be amenable to an expedited process for this legislation given that they would have some awareness of this issue and have been supportive during the last budget process to exploring this potential and now proposed solution to that problem.

Okay, cool.

And when we're actually in committee, we'll talk about process and how things move forward.

But, you know, as we're just having a conversation, Want to think how we can move things forward.

So thank you.

Thank you for being here.

And thank you for gutting it out.

Appreciate you being here.

So hey, I guess our community conversation is

You have time to go to lunch.

I want to take a moment to thank you for leading us through this process today.

I want to personally thank you.

You are serving as chair of this committee on an interim basis.

Going above and beyond today, you're not just doing your job.

You're doing an extra job.

And you didn't have to have a community meeting today.

We could have just said quorum's not here.

We're going to just call it another time.

But you shared the value that I share, which is that people should be heard and we should make sure that this material comes before committee today, community today, and is recorded for the public to be able to see.

So I want to thank you for your leadership in navigating this.

It means a lot to me, and I think it meant a lot to the people who came before us today.

And with that being said, again, we're here performing our chartered responsibilities, which is to be in committee and doing this work.

But where is the council president?

And where is Councilmember Saka?

I would love to know.

I think the people would love to know.

And on that note, I want to thank you again.

I want to thank the team as well for coming today to perform or to provide this information to us.

But I have a lot of questions coming out of this meeting as well and not about the legislation.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

And again, thank you all for being here.

Like I said, go get lunch.

I don't know if there's really nothing to close out because it's not an official committee meeting.

Seattle Channel, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Seattle Channel.