Good afternoon.
And this is Council Member Juarez making trouble here.
The Shama and Debra show.
This is a regularly scheduled meeting of the Human Services Equitable Development and Renter's Rights Committee of the Seattle City Council.
The time is 2 or 3 p.m.
on June 11th, 2019. Where's my phone?
Yeah, where is it?
Huh.
Hey, Nick.
Yeah?
Uh...
and I'm joined by Council Member Juarez, thank you.
We have a short meeting today, the two items on the agenda are both appointments to the Seattle Renters Commission, so we will take them up together.
This will be the first time appointment to the Seattle Renters Commission for both Our nominees, Dina Brasio and Mac McGregor, although should we mention Mac has previously served as the co-chair of the LGBTQ Commission and we are extremely delighted to have him back in the City of Seattle fold in the Renters Commission.
I also wanted to take this opportunity as the chair of the renters rights committee to announce that our Seattle needs rent control petition just over this last weekend has received over 525 signatures from people around the city.
I would mention that the biggest chunk of signatures, over 325, we got from the Volunteer Park Pride Festival.
And so, clearly, you know, the question of rents being unaffordable is a very major one for the LGBTQ community.
And so, I think that's something that somebody like Mac can also bring in, and I'm sure we'll love to hear from you about how the question of, LGBTQ rights also is related to renters' rights.
And this is a real demonstration, I think, that people are looking for bold policy solutions on the questions of skyrocketing rent.
And if you're watching this and if you want to send us your story about how rents rising has affected your life and what you would like to see, please feel free to write to my office.
And before we bring our Presenters to the table, we do have public comment.
Nick Jones from my office is staffing the meeting.
So, Nick, if you can read the names who are signed up.
There is currently no one signed up for public comment.
No one signed up for public comment.
Is anybody here who would like to speak in public comment?
I would.
The whole meeting is public comment as far as you're concerned, Council Member Morris.
You're welcome to speak any time.
So since we don't have anybody signed up, we'll close the public comment and we will invite our people to the table, so please join us.
Do we have a Department of Neighborhoods staff member?
Please come.
Oh, okay.
Oh, you're both here.
Diane and Mac.
Good.
Oh, do we have been saying it wrong?
I'm sorry.
No, no, it's okay.
Yeah, I thought it was Dina, so I was checking.
My therapist says Deanna, so I don't.
So if you could have just one sentence, introductions from everyone, and I'm sure you would like to introduce the topic, but just for the record, if you could go around.
My name is Dina Bracho, and I'm a tenant educator and advocate with the Tenants Union.
My name is Mac McGregor, and I'm an LGBTQ activist and diversity educator.
I'm Shaquan Smith from the Department of Neighborhoods, working with the Europe Works for Choice Initiative.
Thank you.
And Shaquan, did you want to introduce this?
Oh, I'm actually a little bit new to everything.
I just found out about the candidates project the other day.
I'm glad your honesty is appreciated.
Here's your stuff if you want it.
I'll do it for you.
Want me to do it for you?
No, I'm just kidding.
So these are two appointees for the Renters Commission.
And that's honestly all I know.
OK, no problem.
Thank you for being here, though.
I really appreciate you being here from the Department of Neighborhoods.
And I think that at this point, then we would just turn it over to both of you.
I know both of you personally and we've worked with both the Tenants Union and with MAC on many issues.
So maybe you could just talk about what you would bring to the Renters Commission and also just the issues you're working on related to renters' rights.
Okay, yes, I am on the board of LGBTQ allyship, which is the only LGBTQ nonprofit in the area that focuses on housing, affordability, and housing rights for LGBTQ people.
So I do that work, and I've worked with you on move-in fees.
I was a part of that movement.
that legislation.
And as we know, the LGBTQ community faces specific obstacles when it comes to this because of the obstacles in employment, especially the transgender and gender nonconforming part of the community, which has great disparities in employment.
And so this, my wife and I are renters in the area, and so we definitely understand the challenges, and our rent continues to rise every year.
So I want to do everything I can to help represent the community and put forth protections for renters, because almost 76% of the LGBTQ community in Seattle are renters.
So it's very important work.
And of course, I also want to represent our allies who are not LGBTQ themselves.
But also struggling.
Yes, also struggling, yes.
Yeah, so in my day job, I work with the Tenants Union, and one of my primary job functions is I'm on our renter's rights hotline, so I talk with folks most days of the week from Seattle, also outside of Seattle, about what issues they are dealing with in their rental housing and trying to help them navigate the sort of patchwork of protections that we have between like the city and the state laws and also like just, you know, it's a...
It's not a comprehensive tenants' rights framework that people are dealing with and having to interact with.
And so it can be confusing.
And so that's something I think a lot about, about where our laws are falling short.
I think a lot about it because I have to explain it to people when they're not covered.
And so I think bringing that to the Renter's Commission is something I'm really excited about.
And then also, you know, I've just Through that work, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what are better ways we could be structuring our rental housing situation so that people are able to have the safety and security that they are entitled to by being people.
May I add something else?
When I was co-chair of the LGBT Commission, there was, during that time, the Office of Civil Rights was doing some studies on apartment buildings here and finding out which apartment buildings were discriminating against people that were people of color, people with disabilities, and they were going to do one for LGBTQ people as well.
And one of the things I would like to do on this is follow up on that because that was a while ago and see what's been done since and what, you know, new studies might need to be done to see where we are on those issues.
Right.
And I'm glad you also mentioned people with disabilities because it is the unaffordability of housing is affecting people with disabilities in a particularly sharp way.
Definitely.
And I think so, I think the Renters Commission, the LGBTQ Commission, and the Commission of People with Disabilities actually, I think are, in many ways, are sort of...
Can work together on these things, yes.
Yes, exactly.
Definitely.
And Dina, would you like to share a few things about how the boot camps that we've been doing are going?
We've organized a series of renters' rights boot camps throughout the city, many of them actually on Capitol Hill and Central District, but also one in West Seattle.
And one of them was hosted at Wild Rose.
And you helped with it.
I was just going to say that.
And that has really been taken up by the, you know, done by B-Seattle and the Tenants Union.
And in collaboration with my office.
But if you would like to share, Dina, what you've learned from renters.
And also, if Mac, you want to add to that.
I should add, you have not been in D5.
We would love to organize a boot camp in DeKalb.
Could we make that happen together?
Yes.
I'm not always good at the map.
Where exactly is this?
I am.
Yeah, I understand.
No, but we would love to.
And in fact, it has come up in our discussions.
Because D5 now is 51% renters.
And you're the northeast corner of the city, right?
Oh, wow.
You don't know?
I'm so sorry.
Wow.
D5, the north end.
Yeah.
So we actually, the tenants union actually has a weekly clinic in your district that we operate out of the north line.
North Helpline Food Bank with Kelly Brown.
Yeah, exactly.
So we're actually in your district every week Yeah, I don't think we've had I'm not thinking of any workshops we've had up there in the Recent past but we do We have a standing appointment Yeah, I mean I think Through doing those boot camps and our other renters' presentations, I think the predominant thing I always take away from it is how people are always surprised.
And sometimes it's pleasant that they're surprised that there are these protections that they were unaware of.
And sometimes it is less than pleasant, where they are surprised that there's not better protections.
And I think it's always curious to see which way the room will go with those.
But everyone is always super excited to have been able to increase their knowledge, and that I think people In some ways, it's like a self-selecting group.
The people who go out to those boot camps are the people who are interested in learning more and understand why they want to learn more.
But I think it's usually a pretty positive response, and that's nice.
I think, you know, we addressed a big issue that people have talked to me about and that my wife and I dealt with, the move-in fees, which can be astronomical when you're talking first, last, and a security deposit, and a pet deposit, and good grief, you know.
I think we ended up having to come up with something like $7,000 to move into our house.
And I remember your public testimony at that time.
Yeah, it was just crazy.
So, and we were trying to stay within an area where our son wouldn't have to bus more than an hour to his school.
And there was really nothing else, you know, at the time.
And we didn't have that legislation at the time, so we had to come up with it.
So we had to borrow from family and do all kinds of things to come up with that, you know, quickly.
So I'm glad we've done something to help with that.
And now, you know, I think we need to work on extending, which people are already working on extending the notice before rent is raised, because 30 days is definitely not enough for people to arrange in their lives, right?
And we also, I believe we need rent control because it's just out of control right now.
So many people that I know are having to move to outlying areas around the city because they can't afford the rent within the city and yet they have to drive into work every day.
And a lot of them, as we know, are essential workers like teachers and firemen and people that we need to be able to be here and then not being forced to look for jobs elsewhere.
because it's too much of a struggle to drive in this traffic to get into work.
Absolutely.
Yes, please.
Yes.
Mac, I have a question for you, and I don't want to put you on the spot.
I was looking at your resume, and it seems like you've worked for like 13 volunteer organizations, pretty amazing stuff.
One of them is Ingersoll, who we're working with.
This is a little bit different than what you're here for, Darren, the renters issue.
But one of the things that we've been working with the LGBT community is how people have been weaponizing the First Amendment right and people's right to religion.
And we've been following the cases with the ACLU, Ingersoll, Gender Justice League on refusing to provide any kind of medical care, including dental, based on their First Amendment right to religion, right?
And we've been seeing that that has been being held up in courts across this country.
And this administration has rolled back a lot of those issues.
Are you seeing any of that dovetailing with renters issues as well as these other kind of medical issues?
Because I'm asking a more broader question than what you're here for today because of your resume and your experience.
Yeah, I am seeing that, not in Seattle exactly, but I am seeing that in other areas and there's Right now there's a lot of fear and panic in the community, especially the trans community because this administration is specifically targeting us.
And so I'm seeing a great deal of fear, people worried about whether they're going to have health care, people worried about whether they're going to be refused housing and services.
due to their identity, which, you know, we do have protections in our state.
We're very lucky to have that.
I'm from the South.
I wouldn't move back for anything, you know, because I appreciate the protections that we have here, but this is where people need to understand the importance of local politics.
Right.
Right.
And we just need to keep working to protect the marginalized parts of our community that this administration seems to be targeting over and over.
Whether it's people of color or Muslims or, you know, we can go on and on, right?
The LGBTQ community.
And the statistics we're seeing now that is really disturbing for us, we just had, and Council Member Sawant was there, We did, in our committee last week, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
In the Washington study and the Canadian study, there was a huge portion dedicated to two-spirit LGBTQ, highest level of trans folks being killed.
That are going unreported, unnoticed, and in Indian country as well.
And that's concerning me, too, and that's like another piece of legislation.
Well, we're looking at the medical piece, but that's another piece to have more.
I know, again, I don't want to put you on the spot, because I know we hear about renters' rights, but obviously you do everything, so.
I wish I had a clone someday.
I wish I had a clone some days.
And, you know, it's something that we have to address because we have a large indigenous community here that we need to protect.
And obviously, you know, they need our protection because they're, again, like the trans community, a small part of the community, you know, that doesn't have a lot of money and things like that as well to fight for themselves.
So we have to fight for them.
And so, yeah, I think that that is so important.
And, you know, trans, Well, hate crimes on trans people have been rising around the United States, around LGBTQ people in general, and here hate crimes have doubled recently, you know, around LGBTQ issues because of the gentrification that it's been going on.
It's been growing so fast.
So, you know, I'm a big believer in education, not not more policing around that, although we also need to educate the police around these marginalized parts of the community, which I've been a part of.
I helped educate SPD on how to handle the, you know, deal with the transgender community.
But we need to educate people.
We need to make sure that we have protections so that this stuff can't continue because a lot of times these crimes They go unreported because these people in the community, you know, don't, they fear the authorities to report them.
So we maybe need to think about other ways they can report rather than directly to the police because they're afraid of the police.
So there's some work we could do around that.
Can you do like a bootcamp that like Dinah's doing?
I think we should.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
you know, and have like a hotline they can call.
Yeah, absolutely.
And in fact, that's part of what we were discussing at the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls discussion in Council Member Juarez's committee about how significantly underreported these these issues are.
And for all the alarming numbers that we do already have of missing and murdered indigenous women, actually more than that have gone missing or have faced worse fate.
Right.
I think the issue that where you have the, I always hate it when people use this word, where the intersectionality of renters and some of the issues we're talking about that LGBT people are facing nationally is, And we call it the decolonizing of data.
What we don't have is the same thing for the LGBT community in the data from our city departments, in our police department, where people can identify as that, and then they can be reported.
Because without that, and we've learned this the hard way in Indian country, It isn't enough to just take the word of the police officer or maybe the person that's providing medical care in a hospital or maybe the landlord, but it's also from that community.
That was the big piece.
That's why the numbers got up to 1,200 or higher in the Canadian one, because for the first time, they start going to those communities and saying, you tell us who's missing.
Yes.
And legitimizing that this is, we know who are, when our daughters are missing and our wives and our, you know, but they weren't listening.
Right.
So I think I'm kind of seeing the same parallels in the LGBT community that that data isn't being collected or, um, being, um, they're not coming to your community and saying who's being hurt, who's being missing, who's being denied.
No one's doing that.
That's what I'm saying.
I mean, we have a lot of LGBTQ people on the streets, right?
And especially our LGBTQ youth, which of young people on the streets, 25 and under, they say 40% are LGBTQ.
And they're a lot higher risk of sexual assault.
So, yeah, none of that has been counted.
Nobody has been coming to the community and asking those questions.
So maybe we need to do that ourselves, you know?
Well, that's what we did.
Yeah, exactly.
It's just like, you know, they're trying to erase us from the census as well.
They don't want us to be counted.
So we're going to have to take that in our own hands, I think.
But that's not a census question.
No, it isn't, but I'm just saying overall, because you know, that's what gets communities help is those numbers, right?
I like how they ask the race question, but they don't, I found that always interesting that they want to know your race.
Yeah.
Did you know that?
They always ask me.
Really?
Yeah.
And I don't want to, I say other and they go, we need to know.
At one time the census guy said, well, I know you're not white because you know, he's looking at me.
I think our discussion has covered how all these questions are
Mac, you mentioned rent control.
Of course, as you both know, the Renters Commission has already unanimously amongst themselves voted on the fact that Seattle does need rent control.
In fact, the thing that we have brought forward from my office is exactly what, it's sort of coincidentally, it's sort of, you know, clearly we were not the only ones thinking about it.
So even though there's a state ban actually to make progress on, you know, to have really built momentum to repeal the state ban, we have to start something here.
So we're talking about an ordinance that says a very strong citywide rent control free of corporate loopholes, but that will go into effect the moment the state ban is lifted.
And it was really just gratifying to see the Renters Commission also saying that.
And as you said, also talking about 180 day notice for eviction and Also, sorry, for rent increases and also the economic evictions assistance, meaning if people are forced to move because their rents went up dramatically, then they need some sort of coverage from the landlord, assistance from the landlord.
$2,000 that I heard somewhere around, it was on KOW or something talking about $2,000 to help people relocate.
Well, there are some relocationists, obviously, so in some ways this is the economic evictions assistance would sort of cover the ground that hasn't been covered, like there are loopholes, so to say.
I don't know that they were intended as loopholes, but they're loopholes in the law.
So basically, the law that we're talking about would say that if you are a renter within a certain income limit and your rent went up by more than 10%, and if you were forced to move because of that as opposed to some personal reasons, then your landlord would owe you three months rent.
So it's not rent control, but that kind of law is totally legal even with the rent control ban.
So again, the purpose is to go towards rent control, but to build momentum towards that.
Are you going to be teeing up any more debates on rent control?
We'd be happy to.
I'd be happy to.
Yes.
I'm not asking.
I'm just wondering.
Yeah.
Do you want to go right here?
No, no.
I would love for you to join the discussion.
And we want the debates because we know there are questions out there.
We want opportunities to clarify.
I'm definitely looking for debates.
I'm happy if Jeff Bezos wants to debate.
That does not surprise me.
Or the CEO of Vulcan or Lake Union Partners wants to debate.
We're happy to organize debates.
In fact, we gave the question of rent control a big bump when former Council Member Nick Licata and I debated
I saw that.
I watched it.
Republican Senator Matt Manuel.
I watched it.
I was on KUW with Mr. Matt Miller one time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nick and I actually talked about that when I had him on my radio show.
Oh, yeah.
Oh.
He was on your show, too?
Yes.
I think the debates can be quite clarifying, and so we would welcome any opportunities to debate, and I'm happy if you have any suggestions on who we should debate.
Especially now that you have, what, did you say 51% of renters in your district?
Yeah, we should have a debate in District 5. Yeah, really?
Okay, we'll think about that.
It shifted though, because it was 51% homeowner, then now it's 51% resident.
In fact, this is a demographic shift throughout metropolitan areas.
It's more cities are becoming more renters.
In fact, more cities have become now majority renters.
Right, well the home prices here, most of us can't do the American Dream thing anymore and buy a house here, so yeah.
Yeah, I don't think this generation sees the American Dream in the way, I don't know how old you are, but my generation did.
I'm 54. Well, I'm older than you, so remember what the American Dream used to be, you go to college, you buy a house, you start building walls, own a car.
That's not accessible to most young people.
Exactly.
Yeah, that was my idea.
Oh, now you're going to chime in, okay.
No, it's true.
For the majority of people, it's not accessible.
I have a 28 and a 25-year-old that live in the city, so I understand.
Yeah.
I have a son getting ready to graduate from high school, and he thinks he's going to be able to save enough money to move out with his friends this summer.
And my wife and I are going, yeah, we'll see.
We hope so, but you know.
We hope so.
Things are hard, yeah.
Yeah, guess again.
They don't leave.
I'm just waiting to know that.
I know.
They keep coming back for stuff.
Yeah, right now it's the old joke of, please hurry up and move out while you still know everything, right?
Because he's at that age.
Right.
And then just one other thing I wanted to mention before I move the appointments is the move-in fee payment plan that, Mack, you were talking about, that you were part of, the Tenants Union, Washington Community Action Network, played a huge role.
Council Member Juarez, you were in the committee when we were discussing that.
And the Seattle Education Association, the Public School Teachers Union, also was a big part of that.
Just wanted to mention that it was upheld in the King County Superior Court last autumn, so this is really quite heartening.
So if you have no objections, I would like to move appointment 01368 for a vote.
Second.
Thank you.
All in favor, say aye.
Aye.
And then move appointment 01369. Second.
Thank you.
All in favor.
Aye.
Thank you.
So both appointments, Dina and Mac, your appointments are moving to city council meeting on Monday.
You don't have to attend, but I've no doubt it will be approved.
And if you have any questions, let me know.
And if anyone has any questions, let me know.
What time is that?
2 o'clock.
Thank you both so much for being here.
And I'm sorry I won't be there Monday.
So hopefully I'll see you again.
Hopefully we'll do some kind of boot camp up in D5, back up at North Helpline with Kelly Brown and all those folks.
It was nice meeting you again.
Yes, good to see you as well.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Siobhan.
No, no, it's okay.
I'm glad you came, though.
Yeah, appreciate it.
You're welcome again in the committee.
We'll see you again.
Meeting adjourned.