Seattle City Council 2/22/22

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Councilmember Nelson.

Present.

Councilmember Peterson.

Present.

Councilmember Sawant.

Present.

Councilmember Strauss.

Present.

Council President Juarez.

Present.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Let the record reflect that Councilmember Morales is excused from today's meeting.

So presentations, council members, I have a proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month.

Before I present the proclamation, council member signatures will need to be affixed to it.

Are there any questions on the proclamation language from the clerk before the clerk does the roll call?

Seeing or hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like to have their names affixed to the proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month.

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Aye.

Councilmember Nelson?

Aye.

Councilmember Peterson?

Aye.

Councilmember Sawant?

Yes.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

All in favor?

Thank you.

I will now present the proclamation and then open the floor for comments from council members.

After council members' comments, we will suspend the rules to allow our guests to accept the proclamation and provide comments.

Are there any comments from my colleagues?

All right.

Not hearing or seeing none.

I will suspend the rules, if there's no objection, and I will allow our guests to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended.

Colleagues, as you know, February is Black History Month.

This year, my office worked with the Urban League of the Metropolitans of Seattle to draft this proclamation, which my office circulated last week.

This year, we sought to honor the life of Representative John Lewis by issuing a proclamation that brings special attention to the coordinated effort across our country to deny communities of color, and specifically black communities, their constitutional rights to vote.

Organizations like the Urban League, which make a concerted effort to increase the voter turnout of black communities, are vital to our democracy.

Michelle Merriweather, CEO of the Urban League of the Metropolitan Seattle.

Welcome to the Seattle City Council meeting.

You are recognized to provide remarks to the City Council and the viewing public.

Michelle, there you are.

Hello.

Hi.

So good to be with you all today.

Thank you so much for having me and for the proclamation and not only recognizing the work of the Urban League locally but nationally, as well as the labor, sacrifice and resilience of those whom shoulders I stand on and side by side with in this fight for justice and economic parity.

As we know, there are no other people who have had to have a law passed to give them the right to vote.

There is no other people that have been stolen from their homeland, forced to labor on foreign land, separated from their family, and very few others who had their culture copied, monetized, and sold with little or no profit of their own.

I also know of no other people with the beauty, resilience, and brilliance of Black people.

These are the people that have made feasts out of scraps, tools out of trash, and art of a beat of a drum, have ascended from slaves and survived and now serve as leaders in this great city and across the country.

We even lead, while as tired as we are, the fight for our brothers and sisters who are being incarcerated and exiting incarceration to have their rights restored.

And even while those that are being still incarcerated, hunted, and in many cities across this country denied the right to vote, we still persist until we have parity.

And so I thank you for this honor and this recognition and for standing with us in this fight.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the names of whom in this great city have led this work.

And I give honor to both living and going to be with the ancestors.

So I share their names here, just as honor and recognition and as with Councilman John Lewis.

I recognize Edwin Pratt, Bertha Pitts Campbell, Sam Smith, Dr. Mona Humphreys Bailey, Mayor Norm Rice, Elmer Dixon, Eddie Rye, Dorothy Hollingsworth, and Mayor Bruce Harrell.

Again, I thank you so much for the proclamation and for your work.

And I thank you in advance for the work yet to be done to ensure that we do not forget our not so distant past.

And we work together to build our beloved city where Black people from all walks of life have access to a pathway of health, wealth, and well-being.

Thank you.

Michelle, thank you so much.

I know we've worked together in the past.

It's good to see you.

Certainly on the John Lewis Bridge, which we're very proud of, up in the mighty D5.

Very excited about that.

And hopefully we will name more places in our great city, north of the Ship Canal, to not only honor our African American brothers and sisters, but our indigenous folks as well.

and our Asian community as well.

Is there anything else that are, you know, one person you didn't say, you have to say is Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, my hero who ran for president and who also struggled with MS like myself.

Is there anyone that would like to ask Michelle or make any comments before I close this out?

Oh, Council Member Strauss, do you have your hand up?

No?

No, just saying thank you.

Oh, you're saying thank you.

OK.

That's it.

I didn't think we needed to take the mic, but here we are.

Thank you, Michelle, for coming before us and with your words that you shared with us.

Deeply meaningful.

And I still have Sam Smith's fig tree that I'm looking at right now.

Just calling those folks out by name is really meaningful.

Thank you.

Yeah, Michelle, thank you for doing that.

Thank you for saying their name.

I think people forget, especially some of these youngins, about how we all got here.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay.

So with that, so I don't see anyone else, any hands.

So we want to thank you.

With that, we will move on.

So I'm Michelle.

So next on our agenda is the approval of the agenda.

There's no objection.

The agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Now we will move on to the approval of the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please read the items that are included on the today's consent calendar?

Madam Clerk.

Items on the consent calendar, minutes of February 8th and February 15th, 2022, and the instruction and referral calendar.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Are there any items any council member would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

Not seeing or hearing any comments, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the consent calendar?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The consent calendar is adopted.

Council President Juarez, if you don't mind, my apologies.

Would you also direct us to please add your signature to the minutes that we just adopted, please?

Yes, I am now directing the clerk to please affix my signature to the, was it the consent calendar or what was the other one?

The minutes of February 8th and the 20th and 15th.

The minutes of February 8th and February 15th, I apologize.

Did not see that in my script.

Nope, okay.

So with that, Madam Clerk, can I move, can I go forward?

Please do.

Thank you.

We're going to move into public comments.

My understanding before I read this script on what some of the directions are, Madam Clerk, I understand we have 84 people signed up.

Madam Clerk?

Yes, we do.

Okay.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and read the script.

And what I'm anticipating then is that we will go for one hour.

from the time that I finish reading this part and then the clerk reads the instructions.

So colleagues at this time we will open the remote public comment period for the items on the city council agenda introduction referral calendar and the council's work program.

It remains the strong intent of the City Council to have remote public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

However, as a reminder, the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

Currently, as I shared, we have 84 speakers.

And if there's no objection, the public comment period will be extended to, let's see, whatever it is an hour from now.

What is that?

What?

318. So we'll be extended to 318 to allow for the speakers.

And if there's more speakers, then we will of course move to, I'm probably not inclined to do that, but we'll see when we get there.

Our city clerk will moderate this general public comment period and I will now hand it off to Madam Clerk.

Public comment period for this meeting is for one hour and each speaker will be given one minute to speak.

Speakers are called upon in the order in which they are registered to provide public comment on the council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number used for this registration and using the meeting phone number ID and passcode that was emailed to them upon confirmation.

This is different than the general meeting listen line call-in information.

Again, each speaker will be called upon by name and in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

If you have not yet registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of the public comment period by going to the council's website.

The public link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once a speaker's name is called, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone and an automatic prompt of you have been unmuted will be the speaker's cue that it is their turn to speak and they must press star six to begin speaking.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item you're addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda.

The introduction and referral calendar or the council's work program.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.

Once you hear the chime we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.

If speakers do not end their comment at the end of the allotted time provided the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment we ask that you please disconnect from the line and if you plan to continue following this meeting please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options listed on the agenda.

The public comment is now open and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Please remember to hit star 6 once you've heard that you have been unmuted.

The first speaker is Margo Stewart and she will be followed by Kate Rubin.

Margo.

Hi my name.

Hello.

My name is Margo.

I'm a renter and worker on First Hill and I was homeless while working full time last year.

If we're seriously looking to address the issues of housing homelessness and crime that working people face in our city, the absolute worst thing we can do right now would be to throw thousands of ordinary people onto the street because they can't afford rent during a crisis and are going into rental debt through no choice of their own.

There are 132,000 households in the Seattle area behind on rent, and 90% of those evicted would become homeless.

The council must vote yes on Council Member Sawant's resolution to extend the moratorium.

And it's absolutely shameful that no other council members have come forward in support of the resolution at this point.

The moratorium is the only thing keeping thousands of renters housed right now.

And I think, once again, the question presented is really simple to the Council of Democrats.

Will you stand by while thousands of our neighbors are put out on the streets and made homeless during a pandemic?

Or will you side with renters fighting to survive?

Or are you going to protect the profits of big business and developers?

Because I can promise you from experience I once somebody becomes homeless it is exponentially harder for them to find footing again.

You just recognize February as Black History Month.

Will you.

The next speaker is Kate Rubin followed by Michael Malini.

Kate.

Hello.

My name is Kate Rubin.

I'm the organizing director of B Seattle and a renter living in District 2. I'm calling you to I'm calling today to urge supporting the extending extending the eviction moratorium.

I know that landlords have been mobilizing to fight this.

At the committee meeting on Friday three different people spoke about the same case of illegal occupying.

There is a reason that they all keep sharing the same couple of stories.

They're trying to create a false narrative about who's impacted.

A vast majority of renters who are behind their rent are behind because we have not recovered from this massive crisis.

And BIPOC communities are at the highest risk of eviction, displacement, and homelessness.

No one wants to fall into debt, but missing just a few days of work when you live paycheck to paycheck, like many of the city's essential workers, can be devastating.

Public health is currently listing their level of community transmission as high.

I personally caught COVID last month, and while I still haven't recovered, I consider myself wildly lucky.

I hear from people every day who have to choose between working while sick and contagious or falling behind on rent.

Renters should not have to shoulder the burden of a global pandemic.

Please prioritize the health and safety of our communities over landlord profits and extend.

Our next speaker is Michael Mullaney.

Hello my name is Michael Mullaney.

I'm a renter in District 3 and calling on the council to vote yes on Council Member Sawant's resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not over.

There are thousands of people facing eviction who are unable to access the rental assistance program, and evicting these people will only exacerbate the housing crisis our city already faces.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Daniel Kavanagh.

Hi, my name's Dan.

I'm a renter in Fertill and an organizer with Socialist Alternative.

I'm here in support of Council Member Sawant's proposal to extend the eviction moratorium.

And recent census data shows that over 130,000 Seattle-area renters are behind on rent.

If the moratorium lapses, thousands of renters would immediately face eviction and the threat of homelessness.

And back in December, all eight Democrats on the City Council voted to repeal hazard pay for essential workers right as Omicron was taking off.

Council Member Sawant was the only one who did not vote to repeal it.

And this vote has not aged well.

It's become deeply unpopular.

And now council members like Mosqueda are twisting themselves into knots, trying to explain away their votes.

But the truth is plain as day.

Mosqueda and the Council of Democrats voted to strip workers of their pay right as Omicron was surging.

So my message to the council members today is that working people will see through your excuses.

Your constituents will remember your vote today as you choosing whether or not to make thousands of people homeless to protect the profits of corporate landlords.

Extend the moratorium.

Our next speaker is Brett Frank Looney.

Good afternoon.

For the record Brett Frank Looney 3rd Generation Minority Housing Provider in District 2 and 3. I appreciate the info from Ms. Merriweather.

How befitting this is Black History Month.

My grandfather was a Black man from Detroit with nothing to his name when he acquired his hard-earned property that my 90-year-old Black grandmother my mother and now I work to preserve.

I'm calling in today and pleading with you to not extend the eviction moratorium.

The tenant advocates who we hear from today will once again try and push a narrative that a wave of evictions will come.

This is not the case.

Our goal is to protect those renters who have been paying, but to take ownership from the bad actors who can but choose not to pay, as well as the violent people who harm our communities.

This moratorium allows those who have recovered or never faced financial hardship to refuse to pay rent or even communicate.

This is simply theft.

Look at the data, not anecdotes.

According to SCCI 10 percent of rental housing registration has been lost in the past eight months.

Your decision will impact this moving forward.

Extending the moratorium will only further decrease rental stock and ultimately hurt those who need housing the most.

Please end the moratorium and distribute rental assistance.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Sasha Summer.

Hi.

Hi my name is Sasha.

I'm a renter in the Central District and a Seattle Central student.

I'm calling in today to say that every city council member should vote in favor of Council Member Sawant's resolution to extend the eviction moratorium to the end of the COVID emergency.

Over one hundred and thirty two thousand Seattle area renters are behind on rent.

To allow the eviction of thousands is inhumane and unacceptable.

Rental assistance is not enough to address this.

In 2021. 46,000 households applied for assistance and only 17,000 received any.

This vote comes down to should thousands of working people lose their homes and many become homeless for the sake of corporate landlord profits?

Council members' votes today will show whose side you are on.

I will say I'm disappointed in Council Member Morales for not even bothering to show up for such an important vote.

This moratorium is just the beginning of what we need.

We also need to fight for rent control and to build high-quality, permanently affordable social housing by expanding the Amazon tax.

Our next speaker is Camille Gix.

Hi my name is Camille Gix.

I am a resident of Capitol Hill and a member of the Real Change Advocacy Team and I'm calling in to urge council members to council members to support Council Member Sawant's resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

I spent a large portion of my Sunday across from City Hall standing in solidarity with our unhoused neighbors who even in this freezing weather are being forcibly relocated with almost nowhere to go.

It is unconscionable that while the city continues to conduct harmful and pointless sweeps, it is simultaneously proposing to end this moratorium.

This action would certainly lead to countless others being forced into living outside.

If the mayor and members of the council truly believed in their various campaign promises of housing first and addressing homelessness, you would do everything in your power to prevent furthering of this crisis.

You have the power to stop this by voting yes to extend the eviction moratorium.

Our next speaker is Nishan Burns.

Hi, my name is Nishan Burns.

I'm a renter in District 4, and I wanted to speak in support of the proposed legislation to extend the eviction moratorium.

First of all, I want to recognize that the council members just unanimously voted in support of a proclamation that this month is Black History Month.

And I want to bring to your attention that 71 percent of households who apply for rental assistance in King County are black.

And studies universally agree that evictions evict black people and other people of color enormously disproportionately compared to white people.

So for the council members to not extend the eviction moratorium, thereby effectively encoding yet another facet of structural racism into law, would be just despicable.

And who would ending the eviction moratorium serve?

only the most evicting landlords who are these faceless, compassionless, predatory corporate landlords.

So are you going to side with the renters of color whose history you just voted to commemorate?

Or are you going to sacrifice them for corporate profits?

The next speaker is Charlotte Thistle.

And Charlotte, please hit star six.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

I'm a single mother and homeowner in District 2. There are small property owners in Seattle who've been providing free housing to others for two years while still paying the mortgage, taxes, utilities, and insurance.

Some of these people are elders living on just Social Security or meager pensions.

This cannot continue.

It's impossible.

These people are not banks.

They are human beings.

If the city wants to guarantee housing to people experiencing hardship, that is a cost that must be borne by the whole of society.

A small handful of mom-and-pop property owners cannot carry this weight alone.

Furthermore, the eviction moratorium is so carelessly written, it has allowed opportunists to upend the lives of ordinary homeowners who aren't even landlords.

These people have a right to their day in court.

But the moratorium denies people access to the justice system and that is a denial of justice itself.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Hannah Swoboda.

And Hannah please select star 6. Okay, we will come back to Hannah.

The next speaker is Marilyn Yim.

Marilyn?

Hi, my name is Marilyn Yim, and I am not a corporate landlord.

Renters have significant protections, including the winter eviction ban and school year eviction ban, a six-month eviction protection extended by city council, rights of free attorneys, payment plans required by the state, required mediation to eviction, rental assistance provided by every level of government, and many permanent changes to law as well.

Neither the city nor the state has ever required the renter to claim a hardship, let alone establish or prove one.

The eviction moratorium prevents sellers or owners from gaining occupancy over their own home, protects nuisance behaviors, making other renters feel unsafe in their own homes.

It denies justice and due process, punishing good tenants in favor of malicious ones.

There has been no eviction tsunami anywhere that moratoria have been listed.

In fact, evictions in Washington state are 40% lower than they were pre-pandemic.

The two-year moratorium comes at the great cost of pushing small mom-and-pop housing providers out of the rental market, which has already been established by the city's own data.

We need to transition back to normal, enact the many existing protections for tenants, and ending the city's eviction moratorium is one huge step toward that goal.

Thank you for hearing us, and vote no on Sawant's resolution.

And our next speaker looks like Hannah Swoboda is available.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Great.

Hi, my name is Hannah Swoboda and I'm a renter in District 3. The COVID crisis is far from over.

Omicron just brought us the highest surge in COVID cases that we've ever seen in the US.

So it's completely unacceptable to end the eviction moratorium now when it would spell a wave of thousands of evictions.

That's why I'm calling on the City Council to vote yes on Council Member Sawant's resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

This is the only thing keeping so many struggling renters in their homes as rental prices skyrocket in the city.

Rents were already too high, and last year alone, the price of the average two-bedroom in Seattle went up by 27%.

Seattle's homelessness crisis is already among the worst in the country, and evicting more people now is just gas on the fire.

We have to reject this false narrative being peddled by corporate landlords masquerading as small mom and pop landlords.

Renters are not using this moratorium to abuse the system.

The moratorium still requires that renters pay all of the background that they accumulate when they're not able to pay.

And that can quickly amount to tens of thousands of dollars in rental debt.

City Council.

The next speaker is Corey Brewer.

Thank you.

If you've noticed, you're not hearing from corporate interests on this issue.

You're hearing from local small mom and pops.

These are your constituents.

It's important to note that multiple other layers of nonpayment protection already extend well beyond the end of this moratorium, which at this point on its own does little more than protect bad behavior.

And we've also not heard any statistics about other cities around the country where the expiration of a moratorium led to a wave of evictions.

Last week, we saw a panel of speakers who many of them lamented the us versus them nature of the landlord-tenant relationship, and I wholeheartedly agree with that.

The irony here is that you can look squarely at their ringleader as the person encouraging that environment, as she has zero interest in collaboration.

We also heard from Council Member Sawant Stafford-Tedford-Doan explaining how the sell-off of rental houses is a good thing because it increases home ownership, but he must not realize that the average home in Seattle sells for more than a million dollars.

This is hardly the one-for-one trade-off picture that he tries to paint, where the loss of...

The next speaker is Sonia Ponath.

Hi, I'm Sonia Ponath.

I'm a working mom and a small landlord, and we should extend this ban on evictions.

They really are bad for everyone.

We just voted to raise property taxes in this area by quite a bit, and for sure, corporate landlords will pass on to the renters.

And just so you know, the previous speaker, Cory Brewer, is actually a VP for Windermere.

They are a huge, the hugest local regional real estate corporation in the Western US.

It's also important for listeners to know that there are plenty of resources for landlords, but there aren't for renters.

The eviction moratorium does not prevent evictions in the case of life-threatening situations, and the renters are still gonna have to pay the money back.

yet to actual small landlords were having problems i really understand but ending the ban or taking your tennis will not probably trying to push a problem that i heard you to join us in the fight for rent control and for small businesses as well we must increase the amazon by the way danny westley mentioned in his column that the amazon tax is working better than we thought and businesses are not leaving seattle so let's raise it the fund bigger expansion and not

The next speaker is Matthew Mitnick.

Hello my name is Matthew Mitnick and I am a graduate student renter living in District 4. And I wanted to say that as a student who is living paycheck to paycheck I urge you to extend the eviction moratorium.

And there was actually a time where my housemate and I had to practically beg our landlord two months ago just to let us pay rent two weeks late.

And having the eviction moratorium in place to protect us as we did that advocacy was really important.

And I also will say as a teaching assistant at UW I've heard from so many of my students their struggles right now and how this eviction moratorium is their last line of defense between them having to not even have a place where they can go home at night.

So please don't do this to us students right now before finals in the middle of winter.

So I urge you to extend eviction moratorium.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Eva Metz.

Hi, my name is Eva.

I'm a home health care worker and a member of SEIU 775, and I'm a renter speaking to demand that every council member vote yes on council members' wants resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

Like others, I want to stress the impacts of the pandemic, which are far from over.

As a home health care worker, our hazard pay is set to expire next month.

We need to fight against this because it would make our real wages significantly lower than at the start of the pandemic, given cost of living increases, and rent alone have increased by double digits in the past year.

But even with hazard pay, we make barely over minimum wage.

I work a second job, and as a restaurant worker, a manager recently told us to be very conservative with our finances as they cut shifts due to slow sales under Omicron.

Recent speaker Corey Brewer from Windermere Real Estate mentioned statistics.

Data from the eviction lab at Princeton University shows that evictions are rising in most cities and states where moratoriums have been lifted.

This would not be a return to normal.

It would mean thousands pushed out of their homes.

Working people becoming homeless.

Extend the moratorium.

The next speaker is Ida Cater.

Hello I own one home in District 5 and I am a woman of color.

I am not a faceless corporation and I'm pretty disgusted by the attempts to attack my lived experience.

I have one tenant who refuses to move out communicate, or pay rent.

Even if my tenant did pay rent, I don't make a profit between mortgage and property tax payments.

Regardless, my tenant has not paid rent or utilities since October 2020, has amassed a $50,000 balance in arrears, and is not seeking assistance.

He is hostile and abusing the eviction moratorium.

I am disgusted at the attempts to racialize this issue as well.

I've surmounted many obstacles to purchase my home, and it's now being held hostage by a white male tenant.

Because I've been unable to live in my own home, I've been couch surfing to keep a roof over my head.

There is no eviction title leave.

This is plainly false.

The council already passed six months of eviction protections for those who faced financial challenges during the COVID pandemic.

There is a winter eviction ban and school year eviction ban.

Seattle has some of the strongest rental protections in the country.

It is unconscionable to allow bad act.

The next speaker is Reverend Robert Jeffrey.

My name is Robert Jeffrey, and I just want to say that Tolstoy wrote, wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.

Ending the moratorium while many are still suffering from the effects of an international pandemic is simply wrong.

Dr. King put it this way, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Those home-based renters must be protected.

There should be protections to the city.

But we cannot do this by sacrificing women and children who will be compromised by this act.

It is the duty of any civilized state to attend to the needs of those who are affected by no means of themselves and the circumstances beyond their control.

This is one of those circumstances.

The next speaker is Madeline Olson.

Hi there.

My name is Madeline.

I'm a grocery worker and a member of USCW Local 21 and I'm a renter.

Calling into urge the council to extend the eviction moratorium.

Ending this vital protection now is incredibly premature.

Recently, a study came out that showed 3 out of 4 program workers are food insecure, 36% couldn't afford their rent, and 1 out of 7 were homeless in this past year.

These issues of housing and food insecurity are true in my workplace.

This is an industry-wide problem and is not aided by a mass eviction.

It's impossible to hold down a job when you don't have stable housing.

What we need is cancellation of rental, mortgage, and utility debt that we know thousands of working people are facing.

This includes homeowners, mom-and-pop landlords, and small businesses.

We need tax-exempt visits to pay for the sex-hand tuition, not burden regular folks with higher property taxes, and not forcing renters, our neighbors, onto the streets.

And even the moratorium is just going to compound this crisis.

Any council member that does not vote yes on this resolution to extend the moratorium is taking a clear stand in supporting the profits of corporate landlords over renters.

The simple facts are the majority of Seattleites are renters, 90% of the people.

The next speaker is Daniel Swanson.

Hi, my name is Daniel and I'm a renter in District 4. I think it's ridiculous that none of the so-called progressive council members, except for Sawant, have come out in opposition to Bruce Harrell's attack on the eviction moratorium.

With a pandemic still raging, record levels of inflation, and rising rents, this will mean homelessness for thousands of renters and families who are still struggling to make ends meet.

Progressive council members are talking in circles when they make promises to fix homelessness, but stay quiet when they have the chance to save thousands from becoming homeless.

Corporate landlords are trying to put the blame on renters by saying that they are abusing the moratorium to get out of paying rent, when it clearly states that legally all back-paid rent will be eventually collected.

Renters who don't pay rent are doing so because they have no other option.

Corporate landlords simply want struggling renters out so they can continue to turn massive profits.

Beyond extending the moratorium, we need to continue to build the movement for rent control and high-quality, permanently affordable housing.

All council members should support these proposals and vote to increase the Amazon tax to fund it.

These are the steps we can take to prevent renters and families from ever looking down the barrel of eviction in the first place.

The next speaker is Jacob Shear.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Jacob Shear.

I'm an organizer with Real Change and I want to urge council to extend the eviction moratorium through the COVID-19 crisis.

What we are talking about today cannot be obscured by stats or numbers about rental assistance.

We know that will not meet the scale of need.

We are talking about keeping people in their homes and out of homelessness.

Many real change vendors are currently behind in rent and at risk of losing their shelter and security if the moratorium is lifted.

Each council member has a very simple choice between voting to keep people housed or forcing people into homelessness.

That is the magnitude of what is before you today.

Merrill Hale is making a conscious decision to exacerbate our housing and homelessness crisis.

to force more of our most precarious neighbors and tenants out into the street or into an overloaded shelter system pushed beyond capacity and still operate under COVID-19 emergency protocols.

We cannot accept this alternate reality being pushed by Merrill Harrell.

COVID is still an emergency and every day in this country, thousands of people die from it.

So council members have a clear choice.

Will you be complicit in Merrill Harrell's decision or will you stand with tenants and those on the brink of homelessness and extend the moratorium through the end of the COVID-19 emergency?

Thank you.

The next speaker is Naomi Kim.

Hi, my name is Naomi Kim.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay, my name is Naomi Kim, and I am calling, urging the council to allow the eviction moratorium to end.

Even if it ends, protections for tenants do not go away.

For six months after the moratorium ends, tenants still cannot be evicted for failure to pay rent.

Furthermore, over the past years, the council has passed amazing legislation that protects tenants.

The right to counsel, a winter eviction ban, a school year eviction ban, closing the fixed term loophole, and more.

I am a fan of protecting tenants, but the COVID moratorium is overboard and creates too much collateral damage and hurts real families.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Preston Sahabu.

Hello, my name is Preston Sahabu.

I'm a rank-and-file member of UAW 4121, representing 6,000 academic workers at the University of Washington.

The vast majority of our members are renters, and the vast majority of those renters are rent burdened.

And that was before COVID, and it's become even more acute during the pandemic.

And especially among the women members of our union and the black, indigenous, and people of color people in our union are especially affected by this.

And this month, it's just been recognized as Black History Month.

Next month is Women's History Month.

Every Democratic Party council member needs to stop talking out of both sides of their mouth.

Recognize this pandemic is not over.

This meeting is happening on the phone and for a start needs to vote to extend the eviction moratorium.

And this is just the beginning.

UAW is fighting for housing justice up and down the West Coast and that is going to include a campaign for rent control here in Seattle and around the country.

Solidarity.

The next speaker is Ellen Anderson.

And Ellen, press star six.

Okay, we will move on to Sam Singh.

Hi, my name is Sam Singh.

My family poured our life savings into our first and only home at the start of the pandemic.

We allowed the seller a rent back so we could have some time, given how crazy the world was at the time.

Almost two years later, he, a well-off businessman, is still in the home.

Meanwhile, my family of four has our life savings in the home and has to pay the mortgage while we live with relatives.

Further, our tenant has gone as far as to threaten to chop my family into pieces if we ever attempt to live in the house.

And there's literally nothing we can do.

I ask the council to consider my family and others in similar situations.

Our next speaker is Kevin Vitz Wong.

Hi.

Hi, my name is Kevin.

I'm an educator and a renter in District 6, and I'm urging all council members to vote yes on Council Member Stonelat's resolution to extend the eviction moratorium to the end of the COVID emergency.

Housing has become more expensive and less accessible due to the for-profit rental market.

Rents have risen more than 25% last year.

All the renters' rights victories being cited here today, these were fought against tooth and nail by corporate landlords.

And they're doing the same today, all this talk of bad actors, opportunists, and violent people.

This is fear-mongering being leveraged by folks who are prioritizing profits over keeping people housed during a pandemic.

When COVID transmission rates are still extremely high, there's no end in sight to this pandemic.

So we really absolutely need to fight to expand the Amazon tax to build up quality, affordable housing.

We can and should fight to bring stability to working people by keeping hazard pay and rallying behind unionizing Starbucks workers.

So council members, I ask you today, which side are you on working people or the corporate landlords?

Our next speaker is Barbara Finney.

Hello, my name is Barbara Finney.

I'm a retired registered nurse and homeowner in district five.

I'm asking you to vote yes on council member Shawna's to launch resolution to extend the addiction moratorium.

We're in two officially declared emergencies, public health and homelessness.

So the government should be doing everything possible to prevent evictions, not lifting an eviction moratorium.

The report losing home, the human cost of eviction in Seattle finds that nine out of 10 evictions result in homelessness.

These reports on the Seattle.gov website authored by Seattle women's commission and the King County bar housing justice project.

extend the eviction moratorium, and expand the Amazon tax for deeply affordable housing, and join the fight to win rent control.

Vote yes on Sean's resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

Right now, a staggering 132,000 households in Seattle metro area are behind on rent and not confident they'll be able to pay rent next month, according to the U.S.

The next speaker is Krista Irwin.

Hello I'm a small landlord in Seattle.

I live in District 3 and I also own one and a half rental units in District 3 of Seattle.

One unit is a small three bedroom home that I've rented out for 15 of the last 30 years.

I'm currently losing a lot of money and unable to get control of my house due to due to the city moratorium.

I left my job and retired from full time work with the intention of turning my rental unit into short term housing for income to support retirement.

I am also a dog fitter.

My last contract with renters was for one year, and when I ended, two of the renters moved out as expected, but one decided to stay and has not been paying rent.

That renter asked me if they could continue proposing they apply for rental assistance.

They did not have COVID, they had not lost their job or suffered any loss of income, and yet they wanted to get rental assistance to cover rent for three people.

By continuing the moratorium, you have basically been commandeering the use of my property and stealing a portion of my wages.

The next speaker is Kyle Graham.

Hello, my name is Kyle Graham.

I'm an Uber driver and District 7 voter, and I want to comment on how the eviction moratorium needs to be extended.

It is clear that the city is working under two sets of rules, where COVID is a threat for officials that are still doing meetings like this over Zoom, while the working folks continue to risk our lives with less and less consideration from those that are supposed to represent us.

The money I make has not gotten to what it was pre-COVID times, yet I am expected to come up with backed up rent in just one more week.

My apartment complex in January cited COVID as a reason to implement a no guests allowed rule, but apparently is not reason enough to stop eviction.

This is going to throw hardworking people onto the streets who are just trying to catch up.

I want to say specifically to my council member, Andrew Lewis, that there are thousands of us here in Pioneer Square and District 7 that desperately need this extension, especially until assistance actually gets to people.

And after your shameful vote to remove hazard pay for workers, we need to know whether you stand with the working class of your district or with corporate interests and big landlords.

If you don't vote to extend the eviction moratorium, we'll know where you stand.

Please vote yes on Councilmember Solano's legislation.

The next speaker is Jasmine Smith.

Hi, my name is Jasmine Smith, and I'm a tenant that rents a single room in District 6. My landlord is a young Black woman who owns a single three-bedroom home and rents out two of the rooms.

She's kind, and she only charges what she needs to be able to afford her mortgage.

But the man renting the other room had his lease expire long ago.

He continues to live in the house and does not pay any rent despite having the exact same job he had before the pandemic.

He is reckless and he's careless and he's done a lot of damage.

He makes harassing and totally inappropriate comments towards the homeowner constantly.

She's trapped in a nightmare and I'm worried the stress she's feeling right now will break her.

To extend the moratorium as is without exception is inhumane.

Please vote no.

The next speaker is Reverend Andrew Conley Holcomb.

Thank you.

I am a pastor of a small congregation in district one.

I've heard a lot of people talking so far and this is not normal.

We can't get back to normal.

I understand that we don't know what will happen.

Perhaps there will be a wave of evictions.

Perhaps there won't be.

The question for me is what's the most compassionate choice to make in this moment?

We know that there's not enough affordable housing, let alone enough shelter space in this city.

And with 46,000 people requesting assistance and only a third of them actually receiving it, I do see the plight of the small mom and pop owned rental spaces.

But I do think that we can funnel more resources to support them.

That's not something we should put on the backs of these renters who, by and large, are going to find themselves without housing, still owing all this back rent.

But now they're going to be out on the street.

And we know there's not space for them.

We know there's not a place for them.

We know that we don't have housing available to them.

So I encourage you, please, to extend this eviction moratorium and invest more resources and time in distributing that rental assistance to the people.

The next speaker is Addie Smith.

Go ahead, Addy.

Okay, we cannot hear Addy.

Our next speaker is Julia Cobelt.

Hi, this is Julia Cobelt.

I'm a renter in District 6. I'm urging all council members to vote yes to extend the eviction moratorium because the pandemic is not over.

Working people are still being squeezed by skyrocketing rents, inflation, low wages, and the public health crisis.

The same huge landlords and real estate developers that put Mayor Harrell in office are now pushing to end the eviction moratorium so they can continue to profit while renters suffer.

Letting the moratorium end is the exact opposite of the housing first approach to the homelessness crisis that progressives on the council claim to support.

Anything other than voting yes on this resolution means you're clearly siding with the corporate landlords not standing with renters and working people.

We need to extend the eviction moratorium.

No excuses.

And beyond that we need to increase the Amazon tax to build more affordable housing and pass strong universal rent control to make Seattle livable for everyone not just the rich.

The next speaker is Brent McFarlane.

Hello.

Brent McFarland Seattle District 5 homeowner former renter in support of extending the eviction moratorium.

We are once again headed for record cold temperatures here.

It's the middle of winter and we are not through the pandemic.

In District 5 of Seattle more than half of our neighbors are renting.

Based on King County's latest latest reports of the 46,000 households who have applied for rental assistance 29,000 haven't received any.

Seattle still doesn't have anywhere near proportionate housing and shelter for our current unhoused people and should take seriously how many people are living on how many people are living precariously this winter.

We do not want to see more folks displaced.

We do not want to see more folks put in harm's way.

Ending the eviction moratorium at this time would be cruel and inhumane would likely lead to a disastrous rise in our unhoused population.

vote yes on the resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Alicia Gomez.

Hi my name is Alicia Gomez.

Hi my name is Alicia Gomez and I'm a resident in District 6. I'm a woman of color who owns only one home.

I rented this home out temporarily at the start of the pandemic as I wanted to help by doing some medical missions work.

But fast forward to today, the renter is still in my home while I now am effectively homeless myself.

I can't afford the rent to rent an apartment as I still have to pay my mortgage, property taxes and insurance.

To extend the moratorium as is, is reckless.

I beg my council member, Strauss, along with at-large council members, Mosqueda and Nelson to vote no.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is James Suddarth.

Hi my name is James Bedarth.

I'm a renter in District 3 and I'm a health care worker for SEIU 925. I want to speak in favor of extending the eviction moratorium.

The pandemic is not over.

Just because we're at the bottom of another wave doesn't mean another even bigger one would come.

The moratorium was meant to be kept in for the duration of the pandemic and I mean the pandemic's not going anywhere so neither should the moratorium.

We're.

at risk to have thousands of people.

There are thousands of Seattleites who are currently behind on rent.

So to end the eviction moratorium would mean for them to be at risk for eviction and at risk for homelessness.

So for every single council member that votes against extending the eviction moratorium it is your fault if more people go homeless.

It is directly your fault.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Ben Omert.

Yes.

Hi, my name is Ben Omar, and I'm a City of Seattle resident in District 1 and a former housing provider in the City of Seattle.

I say former because I previously ran out of a single-family residential home that was my previous primary residence.

And after going through the eviction moratorium and losing $50,000, because of it, I will no longer be providing housing within the City limits of Seattle.

While I understand the premise and value of the eviction moratorium and the endemic, it has become clear that it's a failed policy.

It's not about protecting a minority of residents.

from the direct or indirect impact of COVID-19.

It's time for the City of Seattle to acknowledge the pre-existing legal contracts that have been nullified by the eviction moratorium, essentially amounting to government taking a private property without proper compensation.

It's time that the City of Seattle end the eviction moratorium as fast as it was instated and provide a level playing field for tenants and housing providers to operate under.

something to scale too far towards so-called tenants' rights is actually having the reverse effect of removing much-needed single-family residential rental housing from the market.

The next speaker is Jessica Vanadar.

Hello, my name is Jessica Vanadar and I live in West Seattle, District 1. I am speaking today because I do believe that the eviction moratorium should not expire Uh, before the civil emergency we are in is over.

I do hear the tenants that have spoken and their experiences.

However, um, I am afraid if the eviction moratorium ends, many, many more of our neighbors will be at risk of becoming homeless.

So I am asking you to open your hearts to those that are in need, um, and vote to extend the moratorium.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Sujatha Ramani.

Good afternoon.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, my name is Sujatha Ramani.

I am a member of the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans.

I am a landlord myself.

I urge you to pass Council Member Sarwan's resolution to extend the eviction moratorium until the end of the pandemic.

Housing is a human right.

Eviction results in homelessness.

Evictions amid a pandemic is a violation of human rights and an aspirin to basic dignity.

70% of households that applied for rental assistance in the King County area were black, indigenous, or people of color.

A proclamation on Congressman John Lewis is hollow and meaningless if you do not think of housing as a human right.

Under current laws, there are several protections for individual landlords for lease violations, damage to property, or if they wish to sell or occupy the property.

We heard of several South Asian landlords last week, with people providing comment, and so many more today.

This is a deliberate attempt to fearmonger and brand renters as criminals.

Do not fall for people gaslighting the moratorium.

They are laughable.

The next speaker is Carl Nakajima.

Hi.

I'm Carl.

I'm here again.

And I want to demand counselors and eviction moratoriums.

I hope before you guys make the decision, you are already prepared in advance that there are not 100,000 places for these people to go.

Don't just take over the 100,000 people from the landlord and just dump them on the streets of Seattle and let them figure out how to survive.

Please do not act without self-recognition of the impact of this and don't evict them before thinking of proper solutions.

The next speaker is Daniel Wang.

And Daniel hit star six.

Hey, I'm Daniel, I'm a renter in District 4, and I'm calling in like many others to demand all City Council members who bothered showing up to this crucial vote, which affects tens of thousands of renters, extend the eviction moratorium.

It's definitely a bit rich hearing all these small-time minority housing providers and such trying to muddy the waters here to argue why this eviction moratorium is actually not needed or actually harmful.

All these horror stories being brought in about how the moratorium is tying landlords' hands and dealing with dangerous tenants, this is completely false.

The moratorium just prevents eviction for non-payment of rent.

As a landlord, you have many legal tools and resources to deal with tenants that are dangerous or violating leases in other ways.

Housing Justice Project reports that since the pandemic, 965 evictions have been filed in King County, and 38% of those did result in eviction.

The only reason to end this moratorium is to make corporate landlords and real estate speculators happy.

They came in here themselves to make it plain what their concerns are, that the moratorium decreases rental stock and infringes on their private property rights.

If we want to fight back against this age-old housing crisis in Seattle, we need to build a fighting movement to oppose corporate real estate interests and to fight for rent control, to expand the Amazon tax, to fund high-quality, permanently affordable social housing for all.

The next speaker is Shirley Henderson.

Hey I'm Shirley I'm a small business owner and renter in Seattle and I'm calling in support of Council Member Stauwant's proposal to extend the eviction moratorium until the pandemic is actually over.

As small businesses and small landlords our interests are directly aligned with our employees and tenants not with big corporations.

Let's be clear it's these very same corporate landlords who drive up the cost of living and subsequently the economic displacement of working people and small landlords.

There are also the dominant offenders of eviction.

And of these evictions, reports across the country show that black renters and people of color are vastly more likely to be evicted compared to white renters.

People who are not paying rent are not paying because of the sheer inability to pay because of the pandemic.

And rental assistance has, as so many have said, unfortunately been a drop in the bucket of what continues to be a massive multilayered crisis.

The renters and small business and small landlords who are genuinely seeking relief need to fight to expand the Amazon tax.

The progressives on city council, I also want to ask whose side are you on?

Are you going to stand with renters and vote yes or with the corporate?

The next speaker is Dinah Drovetto.

Hi, this is Dinah and Amr talking.

Hi, Dinah and Amr here.

So we have a home in Northeast Seattle.

I'm a union member as well as a minority in the city of Seattle.

uh...

you and i have a rental home that we uh...

provide to the visiting nurses said we provide a service to the city the characterization that all landlords are corporate landlords is a misnomer uh...

we were small business owners just like anyone else in this city with the city go and confiscate people's uh...

businesses uh...

if uh...

business with uh...

with and not succeeding no but this characterization that small uh...

homeowners that are have investment properties that were renting out at a reasonable rate in order for us to pay our mortgages is unfair.

I don't understand why the city, the state or the federal government address this.

The next speaker is Mark Taylor Canfield.

Hi, my name is Mark Taylor Canfield.

I'm a resident of Seattle District 7 and as Executive Director for an international nonprofit news organization, Democracy Watch News.

One of my major concerns is the increase in economic displacement and houselessness.

In order to sustain a healthy democracy, people have to have their basic needs met.

Otherwise, the result is apathy and a lack of civic engagement and non-participation in governments.

if the large number of houses and cabinets were located on international borders they'd be called economic refugee camps and would qualify for aid from international organizations such as the u n and the red cross but because they're located within us cities vacant lots under bridges hidden from view they're treated as illegal settlement subject to police raids and confiscation of purple personal property thereby criminalizing poverty more addictions will only make matters worse since there hasn't been enough progress in providing adequate housing in the city I urge the city council to continue the moratorium on rental evictions until housing is available or the pandemic is over.

I also encourage the mayor and the council to adopt a basic guaranteed income program to help alleviate the current increase in poverty.

The next speaker is Jack Francis.

hi my name is jack francis i'm a land surveyor i live i'm a renter in uh...

the u district and i'm just calling to demand my council pass uh...

unanimously to extend the eviction moratorium that sean mustawant has uh...

proposed for you guys uh...

i think it's really cute and sweet that you guys are making a proclamation to view February as Black History Month, but it's pretty puerile when you guys have actual, the abilities to pass substantial concrete bills that actually keep people in their home.

If you guys care about black people, then you should keep their black butts in their home and keep them off of the street.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Judith Wallach.

Thank you, Judith Wallach.

The eviction moratorium has made me homeless.

I own a house in District 8. It is the only home I have.

In 2019, I rented it out on a one-year lease.

When the lease expired in 2020, the moratorium was in place.

The tenants are still there.

I gave them a date when I wanted my house back, but they've given no indication that they're going to leave.

They're high-income earners.

Their jobs were never impacted.

They have never missed a month's rent.

They never needed the protection of the moratorium.

They appear to be taking advantage of a moratorium that was never intended for them.

The moratorium has paid zero heed to a multitude of unintended consequences many of which have caused devastating losses or protracted hardship as in my case.

It is flat out unethical to privilege the needs of one at the expense of another.

Stop my homelessness, vote no.

The next speaker is Steve Hooper.

Hello, council members.

Pleasure to be with you today.

My name is Steve Hooper.

I'm the president of Eat and Stole Restaurants and the president of the Seattle Restaurant Alliance, representing over 2,500 small business owners in the city.

I want to thank the Transportation and Public Utilities Commission for their support of the current extension of the program for outdoor dining.

The operators that have availed themselves of which there are several hundred, this has been a critical lifeline throughout the pandemic.

These street use permits have been critical in allowing a diverse set of restaurants throughout our city, alternatives during dangerous times in spikes of COVID, safe spaces for customers, and activated outdoor spaces throughout the pandemic.

Extending this program will continue to provide businesses with predictability as we continue to work towards paying off the debts we've had to incur staying in business.

Special thank you to Council Member Strauss for this proposal and the Seattle Restaurant Alliance looks forward to working with you all to continue to carve a pathway towards permanency for outdoor structure.

The next speaker is Reverend Angela Ying.

Thank you.

I am the Reverend Angela Ying and with community leaders and congregations with the Church Council of Greater Seattle, we strongly support extending the eviction moratorium.

Vote yes on the resolution put forth by Council Member Sawant to extend the eviction moratorium.

We must protect the most vulnerable and keep them from being homeless.

Seattle already has a homeless crisis.

In Seattle, a staggering 132,000 households, as others have said, are genuinely struggling to pay rent.

on the brink of homelessness during COVID.

With such devastating figures, it is unconscionable to let Bruce Harrell end Seattle's eviction moratorium, adding hundreds of thousands of human beings in the streets.

Black history, Black Futures Month, and your proclamation will mean nothing if you do not pass this resolution to extend Seattle's eviction moratorium.

I urge you, along with many others, that the city council extend Seattle's eviction moratorium for our people now.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Bruce Becker.

Bruce Becker excuse me.

Hello my name is Bruce Becker.

I'm a small landlord in North Seattle District 4. And I'm concerned about this.

I'm encouraging you to vote against this resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

It's too broad in scope.

It doesn't address people in need or dangerous or threatening tenants.

Funds are available for help.

And if more help is needed, it should be made available.

But it puts...

And the problem is you've got people who are taking advantage of the eviction moratorium.

It prevents tenants from seeking the systems that are already in place to pay back rent and get on a payment program.

And these are all very good reasons to end the eviction ban and start dealing with the housing problem going forward.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Jake Lindsay.

And Jake, press star six, please.

I, sorry about that.

This is Jake.

I'm a renter and in D six and a rank and file stage hand with IOC local 15 and a gig worker.

It was part of teamsters one, one, seven.

I asked you today to extend the eviction oratorium, considering people like my dad, my dad is elderly immune compromised and is in a bipolar mental health crisis that has him paranoid about getting vaccinated.

burning the bridges of his family and friends social safety net and is now housing insecure and is sleeping at his part-time job.

We need government to protect people like my dad when his own family cannot because we pose a mutual danger to one another as this pandemic continues to kill 2,000 Americans per day, most unvaccinated and elderly like him.

Please have mercy and patience for him and our most vulnerable.

The landowning class has seen their property value and wealth skyrocket.

during this pandemic while their tenants pay higher and higher rent.

The moral thing to do here is to support the people still in this socioeconomic crisis, like my dad and tens of thousands of others here in Seattle, and extend the eviction moratorium.

Thanks.

The next speaker is Amir Amir.

Amr, Amr, AMR, AMR, are you there?

Please press star six.

Okay, we will come back.

The next speaker is Brandon Shanks.

Hi, my name is Brandon.

I am a union member of UFC local 21, and I am calling on the council to vote yes on council woman's Juan's resolution.

I recently faced eviction due to the threat of the pandemic and the moratorium and subsequent rental assistance is the only thing that saved my family and I from eviction as a grocery worker that was considered essential at the beginning of the pandemic.

I have watched time and time again, as the city council has collectively voted against the entrance of their constituents and put that put them into power in the first With the moratorium ending, countless Seattleites will be evicted, resulting in mass houselessness, exacerbating the current problem the city already has.

There are over 11,000 houseless people in Seattle, and there will inevitably be more with the ending of the evicting moratorium.

Housing is a human right, and this would be a thoroughly evil decision by the city of Seattle.

Will you stand with grocery workers like me, or will you vote against us like you did in December when you voted to end hazards?

Our next speaker is Tram Tran-Larsen.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tram Tran-Larsen and I'm the Community Engagement Manager at the Housing Justice Project.

HJP supports resolution 32044 to extend the moratorium through the end of the state emergency.

A false narrative that we've been hearing is small landlords haven't been able to evict for nuisance or threats to safety, but this is not true.

Seattle's moratorium has allowed landlords to evict under that basis.

In fact, 23% of Seattle's evictions during the moratorium have been from individual, a.k.a. small landlords.

We heard from Corey Brewer that there hasn't been any data to show that cities without a moratorium have seen an increase in evictions.

So here's some local data.

Auburn Federal Way and Esquites eviction filings nearly doubled.

SeaTac in Des Moines nearly tripled.

Redmond's nearly quadrupled.

You can view all this information on our website.

The protections that were mentioned by a previous speaker require tenants to go to court hearings to exert the defenses.

According to court records, 46.8% of these tenants default and never make it to court for legitimate reasons.

Please pass the resolution without exemption.

Council President Juarez, we've reached the end of our allotted time.

Great.

Jody, thank you for calling out all of those names.

So folks, we ended right on time.

We're gonna end at 318, it's 317. So we reached the end of our allotted time for public comment today.

So the public comment period is now closed.

And thank you, all of you who called in to give your public comment about matters on today's agenda.

Moving on today's agenda, let's go to payment of the bills.

Payment of the bills, Madam Clerk, can you please read the title?

Council Bill 120274, appropriate in mind to place out of claims for the week of February 7th, 2022 through February 11th, 2022 and order in payment thereof.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I move to pass Council Bill 120274. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Seeing none and hearing none, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to the bill?

Moving on in our agenda, we're gonna go to committee reports.

At this time, council members, I'm going to read a prepared statement that I've put together.

I will call your attention to an email that I sent out last Friday at 4.30.

In this email, I highlighted the new addition to our council rules of debate.

which we approved in December of 2021. In our procedures, it is stated no council member having obtained the floor while a debatable motion is immediately pending at a meeting of the council shall speak for no longer than 10 minutes unless all the council members present agree by unanimous consent to extend the limits of the debate or two thirds of council members present and voting pass a motion to extend the limits of the debate.

So I share that with you today, probably won't do that every every time we have a council meeting.

But because we do have a lengthy agenda today, we have 13 matters on the agenda.

And I understand we just received an amendment to one of the matters on the agenda to 30. So I'm understanding that will be a robust debate as well.

So I'm asking you all to keep that in mind, that we do have 10 minutes.

I don't want to have to run a timer.

I'm hoping that I can give a gentle reminder and also ask you all to be courteous and mindful of the time so some of your colleagues can speak as well.

So with that, I'm going to go to item number one.

And clerk, can you please read that into the record?

Agenda Item 1, Appointment 2097, Appointment Douglas-McDinn as Member of SAIL Bicycle Advisory Board for term to August 31, 2023.

Thank you.

I move to confirm Appointment 2097. Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, Dr. Douglas McVinn is from District 7, which is important because we currently do not have any representation on the bike board for that district.

And yet many of our bike infrastructure investments are in District 7. And Resolution 30995, which is the current authorization for the bike board, states that board members, quote, shall be representatives of different geographic locations throughout the city.

Dr. Migdon is a long-distance cyclist who commutes around the city by bike, which is a small amount of the training he completes for the 5,000-plus kilometer transcontinental bike races he's been riding since 2010. Dr. Migdon is an active community member on a variety of topics and projects.

Dr. Migdon joined us at our transportation committee last week, and I'm pleased we can add his qualifications and passion to the bike board with his membership today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

I see, Council Member Lewis, are you waiting to, are you wanting to address this now?

Yes?

Yes, whenever would be appropriate, Madam President.

I was just gonna say that, go ahead.

Oh, thank you so much, Madam President.

I just wanna speak to Dr. Migdon's participation in the community.

He was very much involved in efforts to assist with the organizing around the redesignation of Florentia, turning it into a residential street instead of an arterial.

And he is a resident of that neighborhood and has been a big proponent of making that particular stretch of Queen Anne more accessible to bikers and pedestrians.

You know, very much looking forward to his service in this capacity, given the impact that I've seen him make in District 7. And I look forward to voting to confirm him today.

All right, is there anyone else?

Okay, seeing none, thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Ores.

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Can you please read item two into the record?

Item two, appointment 2098, appointment of Xander Barber as member of Seattle Transit Advisory Board for term to August 2nd, 2023. Thank you.

I move to confirm appointment 2098. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Councilor Peterson, see you again.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, one of the key features of the Seattle Transit Board is that it has an official role in transportation policy and funding because, by ordinance, it serves as the oversight board for the Seattle Transportation Benefit District.

As you may recall, the Seattle Council crafted a thoughtful proposal to renew the expiring Transportation Benefit District in the midst of a pandemic and economic downturn, and Seattle voters gave an overwhelming yes, likely the highest approval rating of any city government ballot measure with a whopping 80% voting yes for Prop 1 in November of 2020. Our latest appointment, Xander Barbar, was born and raised in Seattle with a lengthy history of navigating Seattle's transit system.

He's already engaged in helping to improve access to transit for underserved communities, including volunteering with the Woodland Park Zoo to help improve accessibility options for communities without other means to visit that regional asset.

Xander showed a strong awareness of the broader systems leading to inequity within Seattle and a clearer sense about the Transit Advisory Board could be an agent to address inequity.

He also spoke to how our Seattle Transportation Benefit District can play a positive role in that effort, demonstrating an understanding of the need for both service investments and fare reduction programs.

Xander also joined us at our Transportation Committee last week, and I'm pleased we can add his qualifications and passion to the Transit Board with his membership today.

Thank you.

Sorry, I was on mute.

Are there any comments?

All right, not seeing any.

All right, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment of Mr. Barbar?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Let's go to item number three.

Can you read that into the record and then we'll hand it over to Council Member Mosqueda.

Are you part of the Finance and Housing Committee?

Agenda Item 3, Appointment 2105. Appointment of Julie A. Dingley as Director of the City Budget Office for a turn to December 31st, 2025. The committee recommends that the appointment be confirmed.

I apologize, I'm trying to do a few things all at once.

Okay, so Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Colleagues, last Wednesday in the Finance and Housing Committee, the committee members unanimously voted to recommend the confirmation of Julie Dingley for the position of Director of the City Budget Office.

If you missed the meeting, the committee and the mayor's office had nothing but glowing things to say about Acting Director Dingley.

This is stemming from her collaborative approach to working with the council and the executive, most notably in the work that we've all done together on the Seattle Rescue Plan throughout the last few years.

Folks commented on her leadership style, both within the department and working across branches of government, and her relationships and deep commitment to making sure that we address the pressing issues within our city together.

My office had the pleasure of working with Acting Director Dingley last year extensively during the American Rescue Plan deliberations, and I want to thank Sejal Parikh for all of the work that she did with Julie Dingley at the time.

And I think that that was just a really great example of the type of partnership that we hope to have with this new appointment.

And I know that the past is a good signal of the future work to come together.

We had the opportunity as well to review the extensive process that we had set up through the City Council, establishing a confirmation process for all directors.

And this is embedded in Resolution 3168B.

6 that my office passed in 2019. I might want to double check that number.

But in 2019, we passed this resolution, making sure that we had a clear process, looking at a questionnaire, working with stakeholders, understanding the outreach and recruitment strategies, and working together to make sure the directors had the chance to provide answers to all of those questions.

You all, council colleagues, provided input on the questions we submitted to Acting Director Dingley, and that compromised 22 questions.

robust answers were provided for us.

On behalf of the committee, I'm delighted to advocate and encourage you all to vote for Acting Director Julie Dingley to confirm her for this permanent position as Director of the City Budget's Office.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

I'm glad to see Acting Director Dingley with us here today.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Are there any comments for Council Member Mosqueda?

Okay, not seeing any.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of Julie Dingley?

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The appointment is confirmed.

Congratulations, Director Dingley.

Is she, is Julie here to provide any words?

Councilor Mosqueda?

Yes.

Hi, Councilor.

Yes, she is.

Yes, she is.

And I'm very excited you're here.

And also just want to correct my resolution number.

It was 31868. And with that, thanks again for your interest in serving in this position, Director Dingley.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you, Chair Mosqueda.

I am blown away by your kind words.

You and your team have just been incredible to work with over the last several years.

I want to thank you, a big thank you from me to the entire Finance and Housing Committee for your favorable referral and to the full Council for your confidence in me today.

I want to thank Mayor Harrell for this nomination and the entire CBO team for their incredible and passionate and dedicated public service.

I also want to take a moment if I can to thank my family.

I would not be here today if not for the unwavering support of my husband Sam and my two amazing and energetic kiddos.

As I shared with the Finance and Housing Committee last week, I believe we're at our best when we can have honest conversations and trust each other.

And I believe we've already begun that work.

And we've already started working closely together over these last several weeks.

And I look forward to continuing that partnership into the future.

So thank you again for your vote today.

I'm truly humbled by your confidence in me and look forward to working with you.

Thank you, Julie, or Director Dingley now.

And thank you for answering the questions.

And Councilor Mosqueda, thank you for your leadership on this.

We provided you some questions, and you teed them up well, and they were answered.

So thank you very much.

All right.

So can we please move on to item number four and we have actually a lot of council members data coming up here So, uh, can we read item number four into the record?

agenda item for appointment 2096 appointment of kristin little suitcase as members sweetened beverage tax community advisory board for term to august 31st 2025 the committee recommends that the council of confirm the appointment that's where we're scata

Thank you very much, Madam President.

Colleagues, again, there is a unanimous recommendation from the Finance and Housing Committee for this appointment.

Kristin Sukis is an experienced public health practitioner with a mission to eradicate poverty, promote health, and combat climate change through food-related policy and program.

Kristen is currently a policy analyst at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at the Harvard School of Law, which seeks to improve care for underserved individuals at every point of interaction with the health care system.

For three years, she has led the program's approaches to reducing consumption of sugar initiative that provides technical assistance to local and state clients interested in implementing sugar reduction policies similar to Seattle's sugary sweetened beverage tax.

Kristen has permanently relocated to Seattle.

And she is continuing to do her work through the Harvard School of Law while out here in the Pacific Northwest.

And she is seeking this opportunity to be engaged with local food policy.

Great qualifications.

And I want to thank Farideh Cuevas from my office who sat in on the interviews and the, again, collaborative approach to the executive in reviewing the candidates in front of us.

I'm excited to bring this candidate forward today.

And the committee unanimously recommended approval.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Are there any comments for Council Member?

Okay, seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of this particular appointment?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

8 in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries, and the appointment is confirmed.

And if we go on to items 5 and 6, can you, Madam Clerk, please read the short title of items 5 and 6 into the record, and then Council Member Mosqueda will address items 5 and 6.

Items 5 and 6, Council Bill 120267 relating to the city's response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Amending Ordinance 126490, which adopted the 2022 budget.

Council Bill 120268, accepting the gift of Google ad grant credits.

The committee recommends both bills pass.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thanks also for allowing me to address these bills together.

As you'll recall, last year we passed the Seattle Rescue Plans 1, 2, and 3 throughout the year.

and we heard in January of this year a report in my committee on the Seattle Rescue Plan 1 funding and implementation strategies.

What is in front of us today in this set of two bills is Seattle Rescue Plan 4. This contains almost $2 million in funding for and, excuse me, $2 million in both funding and an in-kind acceptance, as well as some other technical changes to money already allocated.

and those details were run in detail through the committee by the city budget's office and deputy director Ali Panucci.

The technical changes that we're making make up make the ARPA funding easier to track and report.

There are no changes to allocation from one time to ongoing funding or vice versa.

happy to provide additional details if necessary, but thank very much central staff for their robust work on this.

Again, Seattle Rescue Plan number four, and look forward to continuing to track the legislative session and any future actions from Congress so we can continue to provide needed assistance to those in Seattle.

So, Councillor Mosqueda, are you gonna, that was item five.

Madam President, I'm hoping that that addressed both bills together.

Council Bill 120267, item number five, and Council Bill 120268, accepting the gift of funds.

Okay, so are there any comments for Council Member Mosqueda regarding items five or six?

Not seeing any, we will vote on each item separately.

Will the clerk please call the roll on passage of item five, Council Bill 120267.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

So are there any questions regarding item six before we go to a vote on that?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on passage of item number six, council bill 120268. Council member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Council Member Nelson.

Okay.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

So now we're going to go to Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights, and Culture Committee, which is Council Member Morales, which are items seven and eight.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item seven and eight into the record?

A report of the Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights, and Culture Committee, Agenda Items 7 and 8, Appointments 2094 and 2095. Reappointments of Alan Anaya-Rivo and Julia A. Ismael as members, Seattle Human Rights Commission for Term 2, January 22, 2024. The committee recommends that these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you.

I should add that Council Member Morales has been excused today, but the committee did recommend unanimously for the reappointment of both Mr. Nairibo and Ms. Ishmael for the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

Are there any comments?

Not seeing any.

Will the clerk please call the roll for the confirmation of both appointments, 2094 and 2095. Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

So let's move to items 9 to 11, the Public Assets and Homeless Committee.

Can you please read all three and to the record?

The report of the public assets and homelessness committee agenda items nine through 11. Appointment of Devon Thomas as member of Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners for term to March 31st, 2023. Appointment of Justin P. Umagat as member Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners for term to March 31st, 2024. And appointment of Stafford Mays as member Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners for a term to March 31st, 2025. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President.

We had a good meeting the other day hearing these nominees for the commission.

I'll go through them one by one.

All were unanimously recommended by the committee for confirmation by the full council.

Devon is an MPA student at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.

Through his lived experience, he realizes the important role parks and recreation plays in the community.

As a child, his neighborhood community center taught seniors how to use laptops.

And he has worked to provide reentry workshops for former felons and many more involved activities in the community.

He knows that these recreational facilities serve as the bedrock of communities, no matter one's age, ethnicity, or background.

And as a former student leader and city commissioner, he brings experience in public policy, youth enrichment, and working to ensure local government helps the communities they serve.

Justin is a lifelong participant and advocate for the Seattle Parks and Recreation Programming.

He has spent numerous years coaching out of the Delridge Community Center and now serves on the board of the Associated Recreation Council Board.

Justin worked for Sound Transit, making local transit dreams a reality for the residents of Seattle and King County, and they have a lifelong passion for public service, professional management experience, and a desire to make the world a more just and equitable place.

Stafford worked at Microsoft for 20 plus years, where his responsibilities included managing PR efforts for Microsoft's global diversity and inclusion team.

Stafford was also responsible for external PR and media in some of his additional duties at Microsoft.

In addition, they focused on external relations with civil rights and human service organizations as some of their other duties.

Mays worked to create and implement programs that provided equal access to technology to underserved communities and those delivered on some of Microsoft's technology infrastructure pledges and teach preparedness training and access programs.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Stafford Mays earned a scholarship and played football.

the University of Washington.

Stafford was drafted as a defensive lineman for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Minnesota Vikings between 1980 and 1989. Stafford served on local boards of several nonprofits and speaks to various K-12 schools about academics and technology.

They're currently on the board of O'Day High School and UpPower.org.

And as I mentioned earlier, Madam President, all of these nominees were unanimously recommended for confirmation by the committee.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis, as Chair of the Public Assets and Homeless Committee.

Are there any comments for Council Member Lewis?

Okay, not seeing any.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 2101 through 2103. Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Congratulations.

So let's move on to item number 12. Can you please read that into the record?

Report of the Transportation and Utilities Committee.

excuse me, Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee, agenda item 12, Council Bill 120256, relating to street and sidewalk use, amending ordinance 126474, and the street use permit fee schedule.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss, it's all you.

Good afternoon, Council President, colleagues, bringing forward to you a bill I have brought to you before, which is extending the sidewalk and outdoor dining permits.

So we're extending the free outdoor dining permits.

And my apologies, I thought we were into Zoom for all of these years and I didn't have my video on.

Good to see you, Council President, good to see you colleagues.

Here I am speaking into a black box.

Moving forward, as I brought this legislation to you in the past, I bring it to you again today.

I may bring it to you once more before we finalize these Outdoor dining has been something that some have been interested in for many years in Seattle and I can tell you during the pandemic it has been widely accepted and celebrated, and now that means that we need to change how our guidelines, permits and parameters are set so that we can best set up our businesses.

In the past, we've charged fees that were associated with parking costs for that parking stall, and that's just a it's a blunt tool that's not right size.

So I'm looking forward to getting our final regulations from SDOT and this legislation will extend free permits so that business owners have the consistency that they need to know how to plan for the year.

And so these cafe street, outdoor dining permits will be extended until January 31st, 2023. Last year, we passed legislation I introduced to extend the permits until May 30th, 2022. These long extensions are intended to allow SDOT and city council time to work with stakeholders and develop permanent program.

while providing restaurants the predictability and stability they need to maintain and improve their outdoor dining structures.

So with this extension, it's one part in the pathway to permanence that I've laid out for cafe streets and outdoor dining.

And again, my intention, if we aren't able to create those permanent regulations by the end of this extension, we'll do this one more time.

I do like to do them in time duration segments rather than just extending them.

for a very long time.

So here we are today.

I urge a yay vote at this very popular outdoor dining bill.

Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Are there any questions or concerns that we want to ask of Council Member Strauss?

Seeing or hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

All right.

Moving on to item number 13. Will the clerk please read item number 13 into the record?

Agenda item 13, resolution 32044, modifying resolution 31938, and the March 14th, 2020 emergency order relating to residential evictions.

Thank you.

Councilor Sawant, as sponsor, you are recognized to move this item.

Thank you.

Do I have to move the item or do?

I understand that you are recognized, and then you move it, and then somebody will second it for you.

Okay, I move the resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

That would be resolution 32044. Is there a second for Council Member Sawant?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt resolution 32044. Council Member Sawant, you were recognized in order to address this resolution.

Thank you, President Juarez.

This is a resolution that extends Seattle's eviction moratorium through the end of our city's COVID emergency.

The losing home report commissioned by the Seattle Women's Commission in 2017 found that those facing eviction are disproportionately black working class renters and other communities of color.

The report also found that nearly nine out of 10 people who are evicted become homeless.

As we know, homelessness is an absolutely devastating, alienating, and dangerous experience.

When you are homeless, your physical and mental health suffers and you are vulnerable to violence.

The women in black held a vigil earlier this month.

They report that, quote, The first King County Medical Examiner's list of presumed homeless temporarily housed deaths of 2022 arrived this week and was horrible, horrible.

At least 21 homeless temporarily housed men died outside or in public in King County just in January, end quote.

There has been vitally important progress with COVID vaccinations, and as a result, cases are declining.

However, the reality is that the fatality rate from COVID is still frighteningly high.

In fact, the daily fatality rate is still nearly as high as during the peaks of earlier waves of the pandemic.

Ending the eviction moratorium now would lead to a deadly wave of evictions and increased homelessness in the midst of this ongoing crisis.

And when someone is evicted they are suddenly unable to self quarantine placing themselves and the community at large, at risk.

To end the eviction moratorium is, in reality, a plan to allow the eviction of thousands of working-class renters in Seattle.

This is inhumane and unacceptable.

According to this month's U.S.

Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, an estimated 133,000 Seattle metro area renters are behind on rent.

Even before the pandemic, conditions for renters in Seattle had already become intolerable.

Skyrocketing rents driven by predatory real estate speculation forced many working class renters out of their homes, out of the city, or into homelessness.

The economic devastation triggered by the pandemic massively exacerbated that crisis.

The real estate lobby has claimed that renters' rights are somehow the cause of increased rent, but that is the exact opposite of what the data show.

Rents started skyrocketing in Seattle long before any new renters rights laws were passed.

Rents have been spiking across the country and in cities around the world because real estate speculation is a nationwide and a global economic trend.

What these steeply rising rents show is that we must fight for and win rent control and major expansions of social housing funded by taxes on the wealthy.

Without that, every renter right we win is only buying time until the next rent hike.

And as I've said, I'm committed to bringing comprehensive rent control legislation this year.

The landlord lobby has also claimed that renters' rights are causing landlords to sell their renters' properties.

Let's be real, landlords are selling single-family homes because the prices they can sell them for have gone through the roof, not because they have to give more notice for rent increases.

Of course, I can see why giving any rights to renters is a concern for wintermere property management and real estate billionaires like George Petrie, who is the CEO of Goodman Real Estate, Seattle's most evicting landlord in 2019. But as far as our city's hundreds of thousands of working people are concerned, these are only basic protections they need in order to have somewhere to live.

I also want to respond to questions about the so-called or comments about the so-called bad tenants.

Eviction is not the only recourse that landlords have, and that is the only thing that this moratorium prevents.

Violence is illegal regardless of whether someone is a renter, homeowner, or landlord.

Landlords have many legal options to collect rental debts, not just eviction.

We live in a society that is unfortunately full of punishments for the poor.

The eviction moratorium simply prevents people from being thrown out on the streets during a pandemic.

And I'm genuinely struck by the fear-mongering about working-class renters being done by landlords.

Quite frankly, it is not unlike Trump's attacks on immigrants as violent and the Reagan-esque racist and anti-poor welfare queen arguments that were used to eviscerate social services in the 80s and the 90s.

The speed with which the political establishment is moving to open the eviction floodgates is scandalous.

The city of Seattle is still in a state of civil emergency.

This council meeting is being held remotely to protect the health of council members.

Working class renters and the poor deserve at least the same consideration.

Across the country, big business is eager to end any pandemic restriction that limits their profits.

In this case, those profits are counterposed to both the health and the very lives of renters, and I urge council members to decide what side they are on.

and other Democratic Party politicians have attempted to justify ending the eviction moratorium by referencing past victories, victories that were won by renter movements, such as rental assistance funds and defenses against eviction in certain situations.

Those victories are important, and my office has sponsored and co-sponsored many and fought for all of them, but they are no substitute for extending the lifeline of the eviction moratorium as long as the pandemic public health emergency remains.

A moratorium means that renters cannot be sent to eviction court, which is far stronger than a defense to eviction, which only means that renters can defend themselves in eviction court to avoid eviction.

That is a monumental difference because statistically, half of renters who are served eviction paperwork are unable to challenge the eviction in court and consequently are evicted by default.

If that happens, even a watertight eviction defense opportunity does not keep a roof over your head because you never had your day in court.

And as we all know very well, this disproportionately happens to the most vulnerable renters.

I want to end my opening remarks by quoting Tim Coleman and Christy Templeton, landlords who wrote to the city council saying, quote, please help relieve suffering and keep the eviction moratorium until the emergency is over, end quote.

I will come back in to close the discussion because the council rules clearly state that the sponsor of the legislation speaks first and also last before the voting.

I urge council members to vote yes, thank you.

Thank you, council member Sawant.

And with that, are there any comments?

Council member Herbold.

Madam chair, I would request that the rules be suspended to consider an amendment not be did by 12 noon today.

Thank you, Councilor Hurdle.

If there is no objection, the council will relating to circulation of amendments two hours before the city council meeting will be suspended to allow consideration of an amendment.

Thank you so much.

I move to amend resolution 32044 and exhibit E of the resolution as present on the recently distributed amendment.

Second.

It has been moved and seconded that the council will be suspended.

So we will proceed with Council Member Herbold's motion to amend.

Council Herbold, go ahead.

Thank you so much.

And so this amendment extends the moratorium until April 30th in order to allow the council to consider alternative measures to protect tenants that have been unable to pay their rent due to financial hardship.

I don't at all dispute what we've heard from small landlords about losing funds, deciding to stop operating rental housing, or suffering other real harms associated with the eviction moratorium.

Often the work that we as policymakers do is choosing to address greater harms over lesser harms.

This is one of those times.

Nearly 46,000 households have applied for rental assistance throughout the county.

Again, these are primarily county numbers, but you can extrapolate about Seattle.

So far, about 17,400 households received assistance during the second round of the program.

And then after all the applications close and the money is spent, County expects about 7,000 to 8,000 tenants throughout the county will be left without assistance.

We know that there is additional assistance in funding for King County that will help serve some, but not all, about $66 million in additional funding.

And across the Seattle area, including Bellevue, Tacoma, and Everett, we know that 13% of renters are still behind on rent, according to an early January census survey.

That is 1,024,000 renters.

The effects are disproportionate, and we know, of course, that renters of color are more likely to report being behind on rent.

I just want to state that my offering of this alternative amendment while still extending the moratorium and addresses one of the concerns with the moratorium as currently proposed.

On top of the protections that we have already enacted as described by Councilmember Sawant, there are concerns that an indefinitely extended moratorium invite more lawsuits and those lawsuits may not be limited to the moratorium.

They impact other pandemic related actions that we have enacted and they could challenge the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance itself, a law that has affected Seattle tenants for decades.

So unless and until the existing lawsuits are resolved and we can get more clarity on the legal landscape, I'm offering this alternative rather than an indefinite extension of the moratorium that could invite more litigation that could threaten other older, more valuable protections.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Councilor Mosqueda, I see your hand is up.

Are you wanting to have comments to the proposed amendment?

Yes, thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Madam President, I did want to offer my support.

I appreciate Councilmember Herbold bringing Amendment No. 1 forward.

I will be supporting this amendment.

I'm also supportive of the underlying legislation as described by the sponsor.

I'm supportive of the amendment here today because I think it addresses the concerns as articulated by Councilmember Herbold, who's the sponsor, to make sure that we're protecting the legislation and allowing for the city to distribute the rental assistance dollars that we have on hand.

I'll make a few comments, Madam President, and then I won't speak again about the underlying bill.

Since I have the mic very briefly, I just wanted to recognize that there's a lot of factors that went into play, I'm sure, with this decision to both bring the eviction moratorium to a sunset.

I know that that was probably a tough decision, but I also know that it's a tough decision for us to continue to look at the need out there and for the desire to make sure that we're addressing those needs.

Due to the timing of the current eviction moratorium, I understand that there was an urgency to bring this resolution in front of us today, but I know that that came together quickly for various reasons.

I think that there are some policy considerations that have been discussed by Councilmember Herbold, and I know that others have similar interests in helping to make sure that we're looking at ways to extend the protections in place and to make sure that we're looking for solutions for vulnerable tenants.

I think the resolution in front of us today is one of those.

Some other policy considerations that I know folks are interested in looking at is certain considerations for small landlords, owner move-in conversations, ramp down options to make sure protections are in place when we anticipate more term going away at some point in the future.

But I have a lot of sympathy for some of those considerations.

But the most important th am looking at both with t of us that I think again approach here today and t is making sure that we ge assistance dollars out th $25 million to be spent f amount, 59 million that w last year and importantly landlords who are out th about the ability to pay 96% of those rental assi to landlords.

So I hope t any misinformation about not being able to access to make sure that all of t over the past few weeks as well.

I want to note that I've been reaching out to our state legislative partners asking for more rental assistance dollars for Seattle and hoping that our state budget and our champions in the state legislature will help provide a dollars to King County that get passed through to our city.

We've also been in communication with the Office of Housing to get the remaining rental assistance out out the door as fast as possible.

Again, that's $25 million that the council authorized in our 2022 budget that we'd like to see spend ASAP.

and know that we need much more than that as well, especially if the moratorium is to go away.

I want to thank folks like Chief Seattle Club, El Centro de la Raza, United Way of King County have been working very hard with other community partners to get those dollars out the door.

But until folks have those dollars in hand, I'm concerned about the eviction moratorium going away and look forward to supporting this amendment and would also be a yes on the bill given the various reasons.

that I noted above.

And also note, you know, this is just part of the solution as we look forward to getting the $194 million from council's budget passed for housing out the door and implemented to make sure that there's more affordable housing options across our city.

Thank you very much.

And thanks to Council Member Herbal for bringing this amendment forward.

Thank you, Council Member Esqueda.

Under 10 minutes too.

Thank you.

I see that Council Member Sawant has her hand up and then Council Member Peterson.

Council Member Sawant.

Thank you just speaking in response to the amendment, I will be voting no on the amendment renters have lived in constant fear of the end of the moratorium through several three month extensions of the moratorium then one month and two weeks.

either there is an emergency or there isn't.

And in my view, the moratorium is justified as long as there is an emergency.

However, I also want to be clear that if this resolution passes with a two-month extension, then that will be vastly better than the resolution not passing at all, better for the renters who are the most vulnerable and suffering.

It will give renters two more months to get back on their feet, and it will also give renters' right movement another opportunity to fight to extend the moratorium in two months' time if the pandemic emergency has not ended by then.

So I will vote no on this amendment, but regardless of whether this amendment passes or fails, I really urge council members to vote yes on the resolution as a whole.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Just to clarify, is this the first we have to vote on suspending the rules?

We already did that.

We suspended the rules to allow Council Member Herbold to bring forward her amendments.

I thought we did.

Did we not?

Yeah, we did.

OK.

So I'm just now seeing this amendment.

It looks like it was circulated while a council meeting was going on.

And as I understand it, it would amend Council Member Sawant's resolution to April 30. And I guess the question is, seems to be about nine and a half weeks from now.

And is there any sort of rational basis for that particular date of April 30th?

Are you asking that question of Council Member Herboldt?

I think so, yes.

Council Member Herboldt did give an introduction of why she was doing what she's doing.

Council Member Herboldt, do you want to respond to Council Member Peterson?

Thank you.

Yes, in addition to as I described at the start of the description of the amendment, it will allow the council to consider alternative measures to protect tenants that have been unable to pay their rent due to financial hardship.

Some of the things that ideas that Councilmember Mosqueda described in her speaking remarks.

In addition, it is as we discussed earlier today, the date is more closely tied.

You'll see there's some updated language in the recitals, more closely tied to the health impacts of the pandemic.

And yes, I'm sorry for getting the amendment late.

As you know, we had an executive session at one o'clock that ran right up to the two o'clock deadline, and I really wanted to have the benefit of the advice that we got in that executive session in order to craft this amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Does that answer your question, Council Member Peterson?

Great.

Okay, so with that, not seen any more hands raised.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the amendment to the resolution and Exhibit C. Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

No.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

No.

Council Member Peterson?

No.

Council Member Sawant?

No.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

No.

Three in favor, five opposed.

So with that, the motion fails.

The amendment is not adopted.

So with that, now we're going to go on to the base legislation.

This is where you have an opportunity, Council Members, as Council Member Sawant rightly pointed out, she will close us on this last piece of legislation.

Are there any council members that want to address the base legislation as it is before us, before the final vote?

Okay, not seeing it, oh, I'm sorry.

Nope, no hands.

Okay, so with that, then I have something to say.

And then after that, Council Member Sawant will close this out.

Wait, Council Member Strauss, your hand is up.

No.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President Juarez.

Colleagues, I assume that everyone will be jumping at the line, so I held my hand for a moment.

I just want to highlight, as others have highlighted, the number of other defenses that we have put forward, the six-month defense, the repayment plan, and the failure to pay rent defense.

I think what is very clear for me in this conversation is that we don't have enough rental assistance and we don't have a good step-down process from the cliff that the moratorium is creating.

A moratorium is not a good long-term solution.

And while I could support a moratorium that was connected to a date certain, I do have trouble supporting and voting for a moratorium that is vague in its end date because I do think that we need understand what the cliff we are facing is and address it with the resources that are needed.

So I know that this legislation was crafted in short order over a holiday weekend, and we just received an amendment during the meeting, and that short timeframe does not allow for the different options to be fully vetted.

And so, Council President, colleagues, I won't be supporting the resolution today, and I will be bringing forward more protections and resources alongside CHIPU as we move forward.

Thank you, Council President and colleagues.

Thank you.

That being said, in anticipation, as Council Member Strauss pointed out, we had a three-day weekend and we did receive a memo and a legal memo last week and some additional information.

And thank you, Council Member Sawant, for your office, for getting the information to us.

Wait, Council Member, I saw someone's hand, okay.

Okay, so I'm going to speak, and then when I'm done, then Councilor Sawant is going to speak, and then we're going to vote.

Okay, good.

So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the City Council and the Mayor were leaders in passing protections passing protections of renters.

We are one of the first in the country to understand the gravity of the economic recession, especially for low-income renters.

Just 13 days after Mayor Durkan passed the proclamation of civil emergency, she issued an emergency order placing a temporary moratorium on residential evictions.

But the key word is temporary.

We knew this moratorium would not last forever.

We cannot have a healthy economy when nobody pays rent.

With that in mind, In the interim, the City Council's focus has been to create as many protections as possible.

It's certainly harking back to what Council Member Skeda had shared with us in her comments.

King County has allocated $340 million in funding for struggling renters.

According to the Department of Community and Human Services, King County has processed nearly 40,000 applications since the program began early in the pandemic and has handed out more than $244 million to help keep renters, house and landlords paid.

According to the SDCI, the city has allocated $59 million for rental assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you to Director Torkelson of the Department of Construction and Inspections, SDCI, for sharing all the ways in which the City of Seattle supports renters, including free legal assistance from the Housing Justice Project and assistance for rent and utility payments due to COVID hardships.

All of you received, I believe, Friday, a memo from Director Torkelson on the issues of what the renter's rights are and what programs are available.

I don't have that at my fingertips right now.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the protections that we have passed in the last two years.

I had my staff at least just briefly go over the work that this city council and the former mayor's office had done just within the COVID period.

Beginning in February 2020, the City Council passed Council Bill 119726 prohibiting evictions in winter months.

In March of 2020, an emergency order went into effect, placing an immediate and temporary moratorium on residential evictions in the City of Seattle.

In May of 2020, the Council passed an ordinance 126075, providing a defense to evictions occurring within six months after the termination of the mayor's residential eviction moratoria.

In May, 2020, the council adopted a repayment plan requirement via ordinance 126081. In March of 2021, the council passed council bill 120007, providing a right to counsel for all low income tenants facing eviction.

In June 2020-21, the council passed council bill 120046, providing a defense to certain evictions of children, their families and educators during the school year.

Thank you council member Sawant for bringing that forward.

In June of 2021, council created a defense to an eviction action if the tenant fails to pay rent during the proclamation of civil emergency order via ordinance 126368. In November 2021, the Seattle City Council again allocated funding for two additional supports.

That is for SDCI, which added staff in a position to implement the Economic Displacement Relocation Assistance Ordinance and SDCI 011B001, which added $400,000 for tenant service contracts like eviction defense.

The $400,000 was added to baseline investments of about $615,000 for tenant service grants, including eviction legal defense.

Those were budget actions that were passed on November 22, 2021, under the leadership of Council Member Mosqueda.

Additionally, and this is just a history here, the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance passed in 1980 states that the Seattle landlords must have one of 16 just cause reasons that they want to terminate a tenancy.

And we've added to that.

Thank you council member Sawant for your leadership in that area.

All of this is to say, we've been preparing for this moment for a long time.

Seattle is one of two municipalities with an existing ban on evictions.

Mayor Durkin and Mayor Harrell have extended the eviction moratorium together a total of nine times.

Governor Inslee's protections lapsed on October 31, 2021, and given that COVID cases continue to decline, it's probably now time for Seattle to do the same.

However, while eviction proceedings will start, folks will still have another six months to pay back their outstanding rent payments so people can pay back rent over time.

I'm hoping, and I believe in the voters and the residents of this city, that we will make this transition as humane as possible, without exasperating our homelessness crisis and yet balancing the needs of our recovering economy.

And with that, I will be voting no on this matter.

Council Member Sawant, would you like to wrap up this debate?

Yes, thank you, President Juarez.

I want to clarify that for renters and working people who are watching that I do not think that many of the council members, as has been just said, who voted no on the amendment that just got voted on share my position.

of why I voted no on that and are very likely to be voting no on this resolution, the resolution that would leave the eviction moratorium in place until the end of the public health emergency.

This is really unfortunate.

I also find it quite unfortunate and pretty stunning that there are council members who are complaining about the short timeframe when we have had renters who have dealt with enormous uncertainty during an unprecedented crisis every time the eviction moratorium was up for either expiring or renewable and who've had to deal with tremendous uncertainty and difficulties for, you know, since before the pandemic.

In Mayor Harold's press release, he said that he identified $25 million for rental assistance, which makes it sound like there is $25 million being added to the funds available to rental assistance.

Let's make a note of the facts.

Across the US, there were $46.5 billion in federal rental assistance money.

Some of that went to the city of Seattle, some to Washington State, some to King County, and that money has been periodically available for renters and for landlords to pay down rental debt.

It has been absolutely essential to keep renters from becoming totally bankrupted by the crisis.

However, the impact of the pandemic has been monumental, and that money is running out and it was never adequate in the first place.

We just saw the Seattle Times reported that King County is now is going to stop taking any new applications for rental assistance starting February 28th.

So basically when this eviction moratorium is about to expire, that's when new applications are also not going to be accepted.

So when Mayor Harrell says that he has identified $25 million, what it actually means is that there is only $25 million left, not that there are additional $25 million.

being added.

I want to thank the Church Council of Greater Seattle who strongly supported this resolution to extend the eviction moratorium.

They said, quote, we came into being on the heels of the influenza pandemic of 1918-19.

Just like 100 years ago, we have faced a pandemic that has disrupted and ended many lives among our loved ones and in our communities." Most of all, I wanted to thank all the renters and housing advocates, the progressive labor unions and community organizations who have spoken up in favor of extending the eviction moratorium. Renters, working people, union members, socialists, we see again and again that we cannot rely on the establishment. Several of the renters' rights that President Juarez just read out, as she herself acknowledged, came from the fight that renters in our socialist council office led on. And every single one that had different council members sponsoring them was won because renters were fighting back, including the eviction moratorium in the first place, and even the federal gains that were put in place, at least temporarily, to deal with a pandemic that was because people spoke up nationally. So, you know, it is clear that from today's vote, it's going to be clear that working people cannot rest and we will need to fight back and we cannot rely on the establishment. And furthermore, it is not going to be enough to agitate around the eviction moratorium question. We will need stronger and permanent protections like a citywide strong rent control policy. We will need to increase the fight to win an increase in the Amazon tax. to have a massive expansion of publicly owned high quality union built social housing. All of this is going to be necessary. I'll just end by noting how stunning it is that only about an hour or so ago, the same council members. who are about to vote no on this resolution signed a proclamation on Black History Month by getting ready to essentially pave the way for vulnerable black community members to be evicted in big numbers. And to the point that has been brought up by several landlords and also from council members earlier, no, the evictions don't start showing up on day one, but they are going to happen. We are already seeing data from the Princeton University Eviction Lab that monitors, that is monitoring evictions in 31 different cities that evictions have spiked as soon as the eviction moratoriums were ended, just that they should take a little bit of time showing up to the courts, which is the most unfriendly way for ordinary people because they don't even get their day in court in the first place, most of them. Evictions will restart in seven days and more And more than ever, we need to build this movement for rent control and for expanding social housing. So I urge people to continue fighting back and also remember not to rely on the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party at the state level has sat on a statewide ban on rent control for the last 41 years, including during this legislative session. but not one state legislature proposed, legislator proposed lifting the ban on rent control, despite the Democrats controlling all three houses in the state government. And so we cannot do that. But on the other hand, if we build a strong enough movement, we can win. We have seen that again and again. We, in 2018, we tried to pass legislation to tax big corporations like Amazon, but our movement was not strong enough to win then, and it got repealed. But two years later, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protest, the TaxAmazon movement gathered 30,000 signatures on a possible ballot initiative, and then we succeeded in passing that measure four times the size of the first one proposed in 2018. We're going to lose this vote today, but I urge everyone fighting for renters' rights to continue building the movement alongside our office and alongside progressive labor unions, because when we fight, we can win. Thank you.

Council Member Sawant, thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, so we have now finished debate.

Council Member Sawant's resolution.

She closed us on the debate.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

No.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

No.

Council Member Peterson?

No.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

No.

Council President Juarez.

No.

Three in favor, five opposed.

With that, the motion fails and the resolution is not adopted.

So before we move on, everybody can just hold up to other business.

Is there any other further business to come before the council today?

Not seeing any hands.

Before we adjourn, colleagues, this does conclude this items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled council meeting is on March 1st at two o'clock.

I hope you have a wonderful afternoon.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.