Seattle City Council Human Services, Equitable Development, & Renter Rights Committee 3/16/19

Good afternoon.

If I could call the meeting to order.

Welcome to this meeting of the Seattle City Council Human Services, Equitable Development, and Renters' Rights Committee.

Today is Saturday, March 16th.

The time is 1.21 p.m.

I apologize for a slightly delayed start, but we wanted to give a little bit of time for community members to come in.

For those of you who may not be aware, the Seattle City Council committees are chaired by a council member, but also have other council members as members.

So if other council members from this committee show up, then we will make sure to have them be part of this discussion.

But so far, it's only me and you all.

So thank you all for being here.

Before we get to the agenda, I wanted to say a few things.

This committee is being staffed today by Ted Verdone, policy analyst from my staff, Sasha Sommer, Jonathan Rosenblum, Nick Jones, and Adam Zimkowski, who are all community organizers who work in my office.

I wanted to express solidarity from myself, my staff, and Socialist Alternative with Muslims everywhere, In New Zealand, in the United States, in Seattle, in District 3, we condemn the attacks on the mosques in New Zealand, and we join everybody who is fighting Islamophobia, white supremacy, and terrorism.

Let's build international solidarity of working people of all religions, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds for a society free of bigotry, exploitation, and oppression.

I wanted to thank Reverend Jeffrey who is hosting our community meeting at his church today, and for himself being a strong advocate for affordable housing in the Central District, for having been part of the struggle to tax big business, and for being a fighter against racism and oppression.

I also wanted to let everyone know that we have interpreters here.

We have the Vietnamese interpretation happening on this corner.

And I don't know if the interpreter wanted to raise their hand or stand up so everybody would know.

Thank you.

And we have Mandarin interpreters on this side, I believe.

Could you please stand up so people see you?

Thank you for those who are providing interpreters.

I believe we have also arranged for child care, but I don't, child care up here.

So if you want, if you are here and need childcare, just talk to one of my staff members and they will tell you how to get to that place.

We have two items on today's agenda.

The first item is very much in connection with the location that we are having this meeting.

It's not a coincidence that we're having this meeting in the Central District.

The Central District of Seattle has been a microcosm, both a microcosm and an epicenter the struggle that ordinary people are facing throughout, not just Seattle, but in the Puget Sound region, and indeed all along the West Coast, all the way from Vancouver, B.C.

to Los Angeles, California, which is the struggle for affordable housing, and the fight against homelessness.

And what we have seen in the Central District over the decades is absolutely dramatic.

We saw many decades when black community members, black working class people had nowhere to go because of racist redlining, and they were pushed to the south of the city, they were pushed to the Central District, and they built their communities here.

Now, you have a different kind of redlining, which is economic redlining, meaning, If you can't afford the sky-high rents, then you don't get to live here because the only way housing or homes are provided to people currently is the for-profit market.

So you get a home only if you are able to pay the exorbitant rents that are charged by the whole cabal of property management corporations, Wall Street real estate speculators, and corporate developers.

And so the discussion that we have slated for the first agenda item is the question of renters' rights and eviction and displacement from the Central District.

We will be specifically talking about the struggle that is being faced by the residents of the Chateau Apartments, which is located a few blocks from here on 19th and 4th, who are in danger of being displaced out of their homes and evicted from the Central District, and some of them facing the prospect of homelessness.

Our second agenda item is a public hearing on recent legislation placing moratorium on the development of mobile home parks within the city of Seattle.

That moratorium has already been voted into law and today's public hearing is simply a legally required step in that legislation.

So we'll do that after the discussion about the shadow tenants.

It is fitting though that we have a discussion of Halcyon as well because the example set by Halcyon working class homeowners who successfully resisted their own displacement just a month ago shows that when ordinary people get organized we can fight back against displacement and evictions and we can stay in our affordable homes and communities.

The neighborhood is different and the types of homes is different.

Halcyon residents are mobile homeowners.

Chateau residents are renters.

But in both cases, we are talking about working class people and low income families.

And the crisis that the residents of the Chateau are facing is precisely what the residents of the Halcyon faced and are still facing, which is that of a Seattle and a Puget Sound region that has seen rents rise to stratospheric levels and first become unaffordable for the majority.

Just to take a couple of numbers, rents have soared 155% in greater Seattle since 1998. 155%, you know, just try to imagine that in your head what that would mean.

And they have risen 69% since 2010. And I know a lot of real estate and economic pundits will tell you in the newspapers and in the news shows on television that rents are not rising that much and now it should be good for renters.

Well, let me quote Mike Rosenberg from the Seattle Times who says that it is wishful thinking to hope for rents to drop more than a little since that virtually never happens.

During the same period, the city and region have also become a profit-making machine for corporate developers like Vulcan and like Cadence that's at issue here today, and also for big businesses like Amazon.

On average, one person or family is evicted from their home here in District 3 every other day.

Think about that.

And that number accounts only for the formal court-ordered evictions and doesn't include the many more people who are economically evicted from their homes, that is, people who ended up moving, not because they had an eviction on their record, but because the rent went up beyond their ability to pay, and they just got pushed out, either out of the neighborhood or out of the city entirely.

And in some cases, we know people have become homeless because of rents.

And in fact, nationwide studies recently have indicated a very, very strong correlation between rising rents and rising homelessness.

So let us not buy into this completely dehumanizing myth that if somebody became homeless, it's because they didn't get their life together.

It's because of social conditions that they're subjected to.

We will need to build the movement for rent control and a massive expansion of affordable social housing by taxing big businesses like Amazon so that people are no longer priced out of their homes, no longer subject to the never-ending greed of the for-profit market, and so that there are affordable homes available to anybody who needs them.

We will also need to get organized to resist displacement like the residents of House Yon did and like the residents of Chateau are doing right now.

And we need to unite in our struggles.

And there may be residents from the Halcyon here today, I'm not sure.

If you are, then I thank you for being here in solidarity.

We also have members of the Vietnamese Senior Association here, if you can just sort of wave, who are also here in solidarity with the shadow residents.

And the Vietnamese Senior Association members are also fighting for affordable housing and healthcare themselves.

The Chateau Building, just to give a little bit of background and then we'll go to the public comment, the Chateau Building is in here, as I said, in the Central District, a couple of blocks from here.

It has 21 apartments, homes, that include 14 that are contracted with the Federal Housing and Urban Development Unit, Department, to be affordable as part of the Section 8 program that HUD administers.

That is a little different from the Section 8 choice vouchers that we usually hear about where a renter or a family has a voucher, but then they have to find a landlord who accepts them.

In this case, in the Chateau, the Section 8 subsidy is directly attached to the apartment.

The other seven homes in the chateau are also relatively affordable, though they are not under Section 8. They are what I would call market-available affordable homes, and the residents in those seven homes also need affordable homes in their neighborhood alongside the Section 8 recipients once this building is demolished.

At the end of 2017, Cadence Real Estate, which is a real estate company with a $185 million portfolio, purchased the Chateau building.

According to their mission statement, and this is on Cadence's website, you can go and look it up, they say, in our view, that is in Cadence's view, ideal properties are dated in appearance and have several deferred maintenance items.

This allows us to reposition and stabilize at market rates.

In plain English, what it means is that we go looking for buildings that are not in great shape, that have maintenance issues, that have low rents.

And then we buy them up, we demolish them, and build luxury units in their place.

And they're not doing this as public service, obviously.

In an article published in the Puget Sound Business Journal about Cadence Real Estate, there's a sentence that says, Cadence aims for net investor returns in at least the mid 20% range per deal.

You know what that means?

It means that for every building that they demolish and put another one up, they aim to make at least 25% profits.

That is a huge profit margin, even as profit margins go.

This past winter, Chateau residents received notice from Cadence that they were canceling the Section 8 program, and someone else in the neighborhood noticed a poster for the legally required meeting.

I mean, Cadence is required legally to do an outreach meeting for plans that they have to demolish and redevelop that building.

and they had this meeting scheduled during the snowstorms, recent snowstorms.

I mean, I'm not blaming the snowstorms on Cadence, but they didn't reschedule the meeting, but that's not the main issue.

The main issue is that the tenants did not even know that their building is slated for demolition, much less about the meeting itself.

A concerned community member, an activist, emailed my office saying, hey, I just saw a notification about this.

Don't you think we should be joining with the tenants?

And absolutely, we agreed.

And immediately, I dispatched my staff members to that meeting.

Even though it was a snowstorm, and even though it was hard to commute, my staff members are dedicated enough that they went to that meeting.

But what they found was that there was no tenant, nobody there except for the developer representatives and my staff.

There was literally nobody at that meeting, nobody else.

And then we, two days later, I asked my staff members to go and door knock this building because we wanted to find out why there were no tenants.

And honestly, at that point, I thought they weren't there simply because of the weather conditions.

But when we door knocked and talked to the tenants, we found out that they didn't even know what was happening.

They found out through my office.

It shouldn't be this way.

But following that, the tenants have had notifications from the developer owner.

And I don't know if we have printed those notifications and made them available.

But if not, we can make them available because they're publicly accessible.

Now it is my honor and delight to say that the tenants are refusing to just accept this as, you know, just as, oh, it's their fate.

No, the tenants are fighting back.

And they have come up with their own list of demands for cadence.

They will be reading them out loud.

I don't have to go into it because they will be speaking themselves.

Before that, we have public comments.

So Ted, could you please read each name?

And each speaker has a minute and a half.

And I know that is often not enough, but please make sure you stick to time so that we can get to the main agenda items of the committee so that we can actually stay together before people need to leave for their families and jobs.

First three speakers, Mike Andrew, followed by Kim Lundgreen, followed by Megan Murphy.

And if you could, if you hear your name and could you just stand in sort of the queue so that we won't spend time for you to come up.

Kim and then Megan Murphy.

I'm Mike Andrew.

I'm the executive director of PASARA, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action.

Thank you.

And first I want to thank Council Member Sawant and her staff for having this hearing and for having this hearing in the community where it's easy for people to get to and not forcing folks to go downtown to City Hall to express their views.

I also want to honor the Chateau residents because they are fighting for all of us.

I'm here particularly because housing is a real crisis for all working people, but it's a crisis particularly for retired working people, for seniors.

As a lot of your audience can tell you.

Even if you were lucky enough to have a good union job and to have retired with a fully funded defined benefits pension, it's still difficult to live in a city where housing prices are as high as they are in Seattle.

If you're trying to get by on social security alone, it's almost impossible.

Ask anybody.

What seniors need is to be able to be secure in our homes, to know that we're going to afford to pay the rent and the rest of our bills, and to continue to live in the communities that we have built amongst our friends, amongst people who are like us, amongst people who speak our language.

without the risk of finding out, you know, 30 days or 60 days or even 90 days, that suddenly we're going to have to find a new home.

Thank you.

Good morning.

You hear me?

Yes.

I am Kim Lundgren, and I am from the Vietnamese Senior Association.

I am here today to support the shuttle apartment tenants who will be a victim of this blessing.

Thank you city council members of one who always fight for the people who have no voice.

We need you.

We need your help to stop this eviction and this blessing from the Central District.

Many of us, the Vietnamese, are afraid of facing this eviction and this blessing too.

Thank you.

So Megan Murphy is next.

After Megan Murphy comes Devin Silvernail, followed by Ruby Holland, followed by Amy Tower.

having this in this space.

Because of negligence from DHS I was diagnosed with a really debilitating disease and I lost custody of my son.

So in a way I died inside of myself and what do you do with pain when the people who are trusted with power don't do a good job with their power and because of their negligence of their job, they totally impact somebody's life in a very hurtful way.

So when I moved to Seattle, I immediately grabbed on to all the activism because my grandma and my aunt were activists.

And we have to organize because the people with money have a lot of power.

I think more and more people have to get involved in housing justice because vulnerable people being placed on the street is morally wrong and it needs to be easier for people to do this if it's online communities that have more of a weight or somehow.

I'm so glad we're here today because Section 8 vouchers have become kind of like a thing where you become segregated and they were meant to integrate people into the community and there's no longer units where people can integrate into multi-class neighborhoods.

It's become this thing where you're, and I think we need to fight for more Section 8 money and more richly funded, richly multi-tiered communities of different incomes and it needs to become a reality and not just a dream we think about when we're angry.

We need to gather together in the hurt and change things.

uh...

hello everybody hello uh...

of course wants and vacancy that we have here today uh...

my name's evan silver nail i'm uh...

executive director of the seattle i'm also a member of the seattle renters commission and a district three renter uh...

the chateau residents are my neighbors i'm here not only in solidarity for them but i'm back here to speak to the people who are here today all of that water looks amazing right now But I'm here to really just ask them to support not only the folks at the Chateau, because they are an example of what's happening in Seattle, an example of what's happening in the Central District, but the entire city as a whole.

We need to do things to help tenants.

One of the people on this committee is a tenant and we need to do things like increase our tenant relocation assistance because it's criminal.

It honestly is how little people get.

$3,800 does not help anyone move, let alone a low-income person.

We have to fight for things that can keep people housed, like rent control.

We have to come out and support our neighbors, and we have to tell bad landlords that they can't ignore the things that they have to do.

So I just want to urge the folks that aren't here that maybe might be watching on the Seattle channel later to just listen to these neighbors, come out and support them, and then push for greater protections to help these folks.

Thanks.

Good afternoon.

My name is Ruby Holland and I'm very honored to be here.

My family purchased a home in the central area in 1963 and I actually grew up in this church.

However, homeowners, myself included, homeowners of color, senior homeowners are also facing displacement here in the central area because of the MHA, which will be voted on Monday.

up zones threatened to displace us out of our homes.

They want us to give up our homes so that developers could build apartments in which we cannot be able to afford to live there.

We need an anti-displacement plan.

Councilmember Sawant will not help us.

She's voted for Yet another up zone that wasn't an amendment.

So we've been asking her to help us.

She's been turning a blind eye to the senior homeowners of color in the CD while she helped the homeowners in Halcyon.

We all have the same issues.

We want to age in place and we need help.

Thank you.

After Amy Tower comes Saba, followed by Nathan, Dili, followed by Imogene Williams.

Hi, good afternoon everyone, Council Member Sawant.

I'm Amy Tower, I work with the Tenants Union of Washington as an education counselor.

We're here in support of the Chateau tenants, all the folks facing displacement from the Central District, and really support the work that your office has been doing to really stand up for the tenants in your district.

I really appreciate also the amazing copies of the things like their mission statement from the website for Cadence.

I think it's really telling when they say things like, we do a great job of repositioning multifamily assets, which really means kicking people out of their homes for profit.

So it's important to have those discussions and name that that is, even if it's legal, it's completely immoral.

Also, I really, this letter is incredible that the tenants sent to, or delivered to the Cadence Real Estate.

I also appreciate that they urged the, and invited Chris Garvin, Barrett Johnson, John Garvin to come to this meeting and explain themselves, and as far as I know, they are not here.

So thank you for all of your work.

Thank you to the tenants for fighting this, even facing displacement from your homes, and we stand with you.

Thanks.

Hello, my name is Saba Tekli Yerges.

My mom is the owner of Saba Ethiopian Cuisine on 12th and Yesler, and we are facing gentrification, but that's not why I'm here.

I'm just here to show support for what's going on in the community.

As we've been facing our own issues, and thank God for Kosama and their team for helping us, we've been hearing about more issues of even old customers that had to move out the neighborhood and so on and so forth.

It's really disappointing and it's sad, but we're not powerless because we can speak up and keep showing up, keep speaking up, and keep sharing because that's where our power lies.

If we have nothing, we have our voice, so keep continuing.

We believe that things can change.

Hi, my name is Nathan Diley.

I'm here on behalf of my friend Terry Justice, who lives at the Chateau.

Obviously, I'm very concerned about the reality that all those folks are looking at, given what's about to happen.

It's not a good look for a business to throw people out on the street, and these folks need to be embarrassed.

And what we're doing here, speaking up and speaking out and embarrassing them, is a good thing.

We know we have a crisis of housing in King County, and in Seattle in particular, and that's a supply issue in part.

So developers can be part of the solution, but This is not being part of the solution.

So what they have an opportunity to do is change the way they are showing up instead of embarrassing themselves and come and sit down with the residents of the Chateau and have a conversation about how they can help.

It doesn't mean that development can't go forward if maybe they can come to some kind of arrangement.

But what they should be doing as good corporate citizens is engaging with the people who are about to be affected by what they're doing and showing that they care.

Thank you very much.

Imogene Williams is next.

After Imogene is Queen Bee, followed by Robert Gins, followed by Ms. Richard.

I don't live at the Chateau, but I do live in Capitol Hill, and I do care about my town.

85 people live at Halcyon.

When they realized how much trouble they were in, they wrote to a lot of people in the city, and Council Member Sawant is the one that responded, took the leadership, and saved them temporarily.

At least they, you know, They're rescued, maybe not permanently, but it's better than it was.

Now there was some interesting articles in Real Change.

Portland, Portland created a zone, like there's these housing zones, and you can build a grocery store in this kind of zone, and you can build a home in this other kind of zone, and there's zones.

Portland created a special zone and put the mobile home parts in a special zone, and they were saved.

And there's lots of them.

We don't have lots of them.

We have Halcyon and one other little tiny one.

It's probably got 10 or 15 residents.

Portland did that.

Why do they have that kind of leadership?

And we don't.

Are you satisfied with that?

No.

That's hundreds of affordable units.

Do we have somebody in our town that doesn't care if we have any affordable units or not?

Because we're close to that.

When people are threatened with eviction, when they're homeless, We lose their talent.

You know, they aren't teaching.

They aren't taking care of a child or a senior.

They're just freaking out on how much does it cost to get a tent?

How do I get a tent?

How do I eat?

How do I keep warm?

You call that a brain drain.

It's not good for our town.

The most important thing in our town is us.

The people are the resource.

Boeing is here, Microsoft, they're here because of the resource, which is the people.

Oh, I have to talk about Boeing.

Two sentences.

How can they maximize their profits?

Build a plane in South Carolina, no labor unions, Small wages.

Build a plane.

The Dreamliner.

Build it in South Carolina.

Poor schools.

But the plane wouldn't fly.

Send it to Seattle.

Send it to Everett.

The finest aeromachinists in the world.

And they tinkered it and it flew.

But that's Boeing for you.

Thank you for your time.

Good afternoon, everyone.

First of all, giving honor to God in this beautiful place and space.

Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to be here to speak today.

I was at home, kind of hesitant, and I want to say to Council Member Sawant, thank you for being our voice on the Seattle City Council.

Thank you for standing up to people.

And I'm not here to speak for my organization today, because some people know me as a member of Will and a leader of women and black.

I'm here to speak for me and my heart, Queen B, King Rios.

I feel Seattle is a beautiful place.

It has beautiful people in all colors, all shapes, forms of fashion.

We have to learn to care and love about one another than what we do.

There's so many homeless people living outside, dying by violence, and people don't even know about them.

Everybody is human.

All our lives matter.

Everybody counts.

And I just want to say thank you for being a voice for the people.

People, we are voices for people just being here and speaking up and speaking out.

I just thank God for giving me a voice today because it really hurts me that this is the richest city in the world from far as anywhere I've seen it, just learning different things.

How can we not care about our brothers and sisters?

We gotta all be a voice.

I've made a choice to be a voice when it comes to homelessness and housing.

And everybody else that lives here should be a voice too.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant, and I love you from my heart.

I just thank you for all that you're trying to do for people who are less fortunate, people that need somebody to be a voice to fight a city like this.

There's rich developers coming in, taking over, pushing people outside.

I live in downtown Seattle, right on the waterfront, and it hurts me every time I see a homeless person sleeping outside.

Stand a vigil across from City Hall for innocent people.

I just thank God and I thank you all and I thank you so much and God bless you all and thank you for hearing me today.

And these signs say it all.

Build City Hall housing.

Next up, I'm not sure if I'm reading it correctly, but I believe the name's Robert Gins, Maybe I'll, maybe it's Richard.

Afterwards is Ms. Richard followed by the Honorable Michael Fuller.

Councilwoman Sawant, I just want to say I believe your halt is in the right place and you want to help the residents of the place, but you stopping the developer is not helping the people of Seattle.

The people of Seattle is what we need is market rate housing.

You stopping every single development in the city of Seattle is driving up costs.

It costs $300,000 to make a low-income housing unit.

That's never going to be affordable.

We need to stop and reduce all the housing code and the residential housing code.

We've been talking about five to six years that this is going to be done, and this has never been done.

We never change this housing code.

We never get to be able to build more housing.

And every time that somebody tries to build something, somebody like you tries to stop it.

I'm all for helping the people there, and I'm all for helping them, but I want to help them find new places so that we can build 73 housing units, so that 73 people here can get affordable housing, so that they can work at Amazon, so they can earn a living wage.

They can earn a good living, because that's people here making that money.

That's not just people who are wealthy.

Amazon is investing in the UW.

They're building a branch there to train people like us, to train us so that we can get jobs at Amazon, so that we can work at Microsoft, so that we can make hundreds of thousands of dollars, so that we can advance ourselves.

Well, how do you expect you're gonna go up?

You're gonna work minimum wage the rest of your life, or you're gonna go to college?

Who's putting the money to the college?

It's unaffordable because every time a developer wants to build something, she stops it.

If you let developers come...

If you let developers come...

It costs 300,000...

Okay, it costs 300,000 dollars...

Can I speak for one second?

It costs 300...

It costs 300,000 dollars to build a low-income housing unit.

Everybody knows that's wrong.

That's not because of materials.

That's because we need...

You have to let developers build.

If developers never build, there's never going to be...

The only way low-income housing can be built is with market-rate housing.

That's the only way.

No, if you tax them, they will...

Okay, so...

Sorry, folks, so we can continue on with the other speakers.

We'll give you maybe...

Did you finish your point or are you...

Okay, all right.

After Ms. Richard comes the Honorable Michael Fuller, followed by Shirley Henderson.

Good day, everyone.

I'm black today, and I'm going to stay black.

And if you don't understand it, then maybe you shouldn't even be on the planet.

Because everything seems to systematically oppress us, repress us, depress us, and suppress us.

And I don't care who's up in that City Hall.

It seems to come up again over and over and over again, and it's time out.

You want to know something about this neighborhood?

Yes, I was raised in this neighborhood, but I don't live in this neighborhood anymore.

and I don't like what this corruption has done to black people, continuously does it, and you ask for our support.

You're not getting mine, okay?

Until I see a magnificent change, okay, that's ordered by the man upstairs, okay?

You say, I don't believe in God.

Well, I do, and I think it's time out for this hate.

You see what I'm saying?

When you don't get in line with what's supposed to happen, that means you're full of hate, too.

You could be charged with a hate crime too, because you can fix a whole lot of things that I've seen that you haven't done.

And you're repeating this stuff over and over again.

And I'm fed up with it, tired of it.

Fannie Lou Hamer, she's been dead how long?

She said, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

And this tiredness is still lingering in this city, in this racist town.

Yes, I'm the Honorable Michael Fuller Seward Jewelers.

Private Attorney General Jewelers, D Jewelers.

So what?

I got a problem.

This homelessness, it's sickening.

And you're stepping on my toes, so what?

You understand I'm trying to decrease homelessness, so what?

But you turn around and increase homelessness, so what?

When you tell me when you're running for city council, oh, Pakistan need a change.

And then I got Bruce Harrell, Chinatown need a change.

Organized Crime Control Act, October 15, 1970, that was signed by President Richard Nixon.

And that Communist Control Act of August 24, 1954, that was signed by President Dwight Eisenhower.

RCW 2.24.210 RCW 2.04.080 You're owed the office?

RCW 2.48.210, you're owed on admission.

And so what?

In extraordinary abuse of 98.36080, malicious harassment, and 42.52020, meaning activities incompatible with public duty, and 49.68030, freedom from discrimination, so what?

And the Jones v. Marsden Company, June of 1968, meaning white citizens to drive black citizens out of their community, 23rd and Union, so what?

What we have here today, so what, is a failure to communicate.

1962D, conspiracy, and Section 241, conspiracy against civil rights, Violation carries 10 years in prison, $250,000 fine, three years supervised release, and $100 accessory.

And defamation of rights under Colorado law, so what?

One year in prison, $250,000 fine, three years supervised release, and $100 accessory.

Now we spending $338.3 billion on unauthorized undocumented alien, and then our veterans sleeping on the street.

But I'm on Jenny Durkin like Brown on Rice too.

Black lives matter, but this is not the change of the dream.

Black lives matters, Kimberly.

Next up comes Shirley Henderson, followed by Horatio Perez Morales, followed by Thayette Nguyen.

If you hear your name, please come and line up so we can get through comments.

Yes, I'm Shirley Henderson, and I'm a small business owner in the Central District, and I'm here to stand in solidarity with Chateau residents.

I think there's a lot of confusion amongst those of us in the city about who's responsible for the displacement and discrimination in this district particularly, which is one of the fastest gentrifying in the city.

I'm not just here as a small business owner, but as an active community member, as a socialist.

I think there's a lot of folks that can afford to pay in this city that are not paying their fair share.

Amazon is one of them, Cadence is another.

that wants to take from those of us who don't have to increase their profits and it's disgusting to see this issue with Cadence where they're willingly displacing individuals who have spent their entire lives in a building.

I was a building manager for many years and I saw the strain that so many folks went through being on a fixed income, living in a place for their entire lives and wanting to die in that place and forcibly being evicted to no direction.

And so I think the demands that we have on this letter are the least Cadence can do.

They can absolutely afford it.

And I think that we also, as a small business owner in the Central District, we have a lot of people of color-owned businesses, we have a lot of queer businesses, and I think We need rent control.

We need mass expansion of affordable housing, municipally built, that we can fund by taxing those who can afford it, big business.

And we also need commercial rent control, which is absolutely doable.

And I thank Councilmember Sawant, who has stood tirelessly and fearlessly for those of us who don't have a voice.

Thank you so much.

After Horatio comes Taya Nguyen, followed by Waikeng Garrett, followed by Jacqueline Wu.

Hi, I just wanted to say a few words.

I'm kind of really echoing what the person before me just said.

I'm actually not from here.

I'm from Tacoma.

I'm coming here as a part of Tacoma Tenants Organization Committee.

I don't know if anybody here is familiar with the Tiki Tenants, but that was a huge issue.

And we won a lot of really good victories in that campaign.

But what I'm here for What I'm here to discuss is there's a whole seven months in which these people are in limbo and didn't know what to do.

I'm also here as a part of Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America.

And on top of that, I'm here as a member of the Puget Sound.

I think we really need to stop looking at our region as like our bio region as these small little kingdoms, these little fiefdoms.

I'm tired of seeing people who can't afford to live in Seattle come down to Tacoma, and then the people who can't afford to live in Tacoma because those people were displaced have to go move to Lakewood, Spanaway, and all these other places around.

What I want is just more communication.

I know that you have access to circles that we don't readily have access to, and that's all we're really asking for.

I'm asking my council members to speak with other townships, and I really hope that there can be some type of open communication, because if not, at this point, we're running out of people who to blame.

I want to blame Amazon.

I want to blame everybody.

But the thing is, we need good leadership, and we want to follow good plans.

The people are ready.

Thank you.

Horatio, before you go, I just wanted to say, first of all, I don't know how many people here know.

Thank you for coming from Tacoma.

We absolutely need solidarity among people who are struggling all across this region.

So your voice is very important and appreciated.

And I also wanted to urge everybody, you know, don't do it right now, but let's focus on the meeting, but when you go home, Google ticky tenants struggle, and you will see that they did indeed achieve an incredible success, and that was because they got organized just like the shadow tenants are getting organized.

And please be in touch with my office.

Talk to Adam or Jonathan in my office, please, before you leave, and I hope you can stay for the whole meeting.

I agree, we need more communication, but the communication is not between corporate politicians in Tacoma and corporate politicians in Seattle.

The communication has to be among working people across cities so that we can build movements.

Okay, and we're done.

Thank you.

So, next up is Tuyet, T-U-Y-E-T, I might be saying that wrong.

So next is Wyking Garrett, followed by Jacqueline Wu, followed by David Parsons.

Good afternoon.

I'm here, third generation community builder in the Central District.

I also represent Africatown.

here to stand in solidarity against predatory development in our community.

Next Saturday, there's going to be a grand ribbon cutting for the Liberty Bank building, which is 115 units of affordable housing.

We think that's a very, you know, positive thing.

It's a step in the right direction.

However, when the phone lines opened up for leasing up the Liberty Bank building on November 1st, thousands of calls came in and shut down the lines, demonstrating two things, the demand for housing and particularly the demand for people, black people who grew up in this community, lived in this community.

that have been displaced for this community desires to come back to the community and be where they have roots at.

So there needs to be 10 more of these buildings in this community and throughout the city, and there has to be a balancing of the market rate.

The market rate development is not making it cheaper for affordable development.

I mean, look at the communities where there's a lot of expensive housing.

Is there more affordable housing in those communities as well?

I haven't seen that.

So we need to really look at the fact or deal with there's a very large amount of resources in this region.

It's a shame that a region that's this rich in resources, that models itself to be a city of the future, can allow this level of inequity, inequality, displacement happen in a city.

And this has to be disrupted because if this is a model of the future to export to other places, this is not a model that works for the majority of people.

Everyone is not going to be a developer at Amazon.

You have teachers, you have childcare workers, you have security officers, you have people that are loading boxes.

They deserve to have a place to live as well and shouldn't have to commute three hours a day, be stressed out, not be able to pick up their children, spend time with their children, while others just enjoy heaven on earth, right?

And so this is something that has to continuously be elevated as a crisis, a human rights issue in this city, which is to be progressive and liberal.

But we don't see a lot of people benefiting from all these opportunities, right?

And so that needs to be put on the top of the agenda.

We support the residents.

Cyber Cafe, we want to see equitable development solutions so that the community is not being displaced and pushed out.

So that's what we want to say today.

Thank you.

I just wanted to let people know that if you haven't signed up already to speak and you really want your voice heard, please either sign up there or just come up here when the last speaker is done.

Good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Tuyet Nguyen.

I live in Seattle many years.

I am the Vietnamese.

Hello, my name is Duc Nguyen, and I'm Vietnamese, and I've been here for many years, and I'm here today to support Ms. Hoang.

My purpose here is to support every effort by Ms. Hoang, and I wish that everybody have a good and happy day.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Next up is Jacqueline Wu.

Good afternoon Councilmember and residents and community members of the Central District.

My name is Jacqueline Wu.

I'm a member of the Chinatown International District Coalition and I just want to say we stand in solidarity with the members of the residents of the Chateau and also members who are potential of being displaced as well.

We strongly believe that we need more affordable housing.

There needs to be a down zone in all the areas that are vulnerable to displacement.

And we strongly believe and hope that you put a moratorium because so many of our neighbors, so many of our community members, so many of our small businesses are threatened with displacement.

and cannot afford to live in the city.

And this city is built on immigrants.

It is built on the backbones of working class people who have been here, not just for years, but for decades as well.

And so we strongly believe that we need more affordable housing.

We need a down zone.

We need a moratorium.

So please, we strongly implore you to look into these options as policies.

Thank you.

After David Parsons comes, I got another sheet here, John Argyris, followed by Dan Kavanagh.

Thank you.

My name is David Parsons.

Thank you for accepting my sign in and giving me a chance to speak.

I am the president of UAW Local 4121. We're a union at the University of Washington that represents, thank you, represents over 5,000, now 6,000 workers that are student employees and postdoctoral researchers.

Advanced students who are in training to get jobs.

I'm gonna come back to that in a second.

First of all, I wanna just shout out and thank you to the tenants who are living at Chateau and would please ask that we all give them a round of applause for their, courageous organizing in this struggle.

It's not easy.

And on behalf of my union I want to let you know that we've got your backs.

This housing affordability crisis that we are facing as a city is structural.

It is substantial.

In a recent survey of our membership we found that a full 82 percent of our members are reporting being rent burdened.

Eighty two percent of our members are paying more than 30% of their wages in rent only, and a substantial portion of them are paying more than 50% of their wages in rent.

This is an unacceptable current situation.

This is an unacceptable outcome.

I wanna thank Council Member Sawant for her leadership, and again, I do wanna thank the tenants for organizing and putting up such a great fight to struggle, and we're gonna win.

Hello, my name is John Argarius.

I'm a neighbor here in the Central District.

Thank you again for putting together this meeting, for my neighbors to talk about an issue that's very important to us.

My concern is I feel that this has become a bit of an animosity.

We're talking about a struggle, one group versus another.

Amazon needs to pay, or the Chateau is doing something horribly awful.

Whereas, as an owner of a home here, I feel that I'm as much part of the problem then.

I bought a home, obviously someone else doesn't have that home now.

And I'd like to go back to what two different people said there, we're talking about two different sides.

It has been shown that building low-income housing costs about $300,000 per unit.

And White King brought up a great point that we are a city of immense resources.

And so as much as I would say that, yes, a group like Amazon should definitely invest in making this the greatest city that it can be and helping those who cannot afford to live here, I'd also say that Microsoft, who's on the east side, whose connector buses I almost always get hit by, they should pay, and then also people like myself.

I'm happy to pay a bit more in taxes if it takes the burden off my neighbors.

If there's ways to organize us as the citizens of Seattle to actually help our fellow neighbors and residents.

And that's something I'd really love to see from City Council is what options could be done to activate, as Wyking put it, the resources we already have here in this city.

Thank you.

Our last two speakers are Dan Kavanaugh and Emerson.

Hi, my name's Dan.

I'm a resident in District 2 and a member of Socialist Alternative, and I'm here in solidarity with the Chateau tenants.

And, you know, I'm just really struck by how reasonable these demands are.

I mean, asking for cadence to pay moving expenses, ensuring that each household, you know, is afforded the opportunity to move to comparably sized and comparably priced apartments.

asking Cadence to fix repairs.

I mean, these are not unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination.

And I mean, there's no question that Cadence can afford to pay for these things.

But the question is, right, like, will they?

So that's why I think it's so important that we're here building this movement.

And I think, you know, we need to keep building movements like this for things like rent control and for taxing the rich to build affordable housing, and I really do think we shouldn't put the burden on working class homeowners, we should put the burden on the people who have a huge amount of resources who aren't paying their fair share, like Amazon and big business, to build truly affordable units.

I think we need a mass expansion of social housing in this city, and I think it's really brave that Chateau tenants are standing up to fight for themselves, and your fight is my fight, so I'm here with you, and let's keep building this movement.

I know that you called someone else's name.

My name is Kibibi Monet, and I was one of the first people here today that signed to say something, so that's why I'm stepping up now.

Affordable housing for the disabled and the disenfranchised here is extremely important.

I think possibly a way that we can start getting the housing that we need and the resources that we need are from the developers that are coming here and building these apartments and skyrises and all these different malls and things, if they would come in and either financially contribute to a fund that would help the homeless or help the low-income or make sure that their development includes the disenfranchised.

That's my opinion and I stand with all of you that are suffering from the way our city, I was born and raised here, and the way our city is being destroyed by greed is ridiculous and united we stand and divided we're going to fall.

Thank you.

Thank you for speaking, and I apologize for what, I don't know what happened with the name, so if you could, we can't locate where you signed, so for public records, I need your name, so if you.

My name is Aisha, I was the first one here.

I don't see, unfortunately we didn't see it.

It's possible, but just to make sure we have your name.

Yeah.

Hi there, my name is Emerson.

I've lived in Seattle almost my whole life.

I've lived in Washington my whole life.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative and I wanted to first, I think we should give all the Chateau residents a round of applause for the incredible bravery.

um, that they have shown standing up to their landlord and the developer that's trying to displace them, that's not an easy thing to do.

Um, and it puts them in a difficult position when you are a group of ordinary, uh, you know, elderly disabled working people standing up to a multimillion dollar corporation who thought that they could get away with sweeping these people, um, out of their homes and who knows where else.

And I think that just goes to show the incredible movements that we are capable of building here in Seattle.

I think, as many have said before me, there is still much that needs to be done.

I think We do, we do have an enormous amount of wealth in this city and that wealth comes from developers and that wealth comes from businesses like Amazon and we fought fearlessly last year to tax those big businesses to build the desperate need for affordable housing.

and they repealed it.

And I think that we need to fight again to put that tax back in place so that we can regain that money that we need in order to build the affordable housing necessary.

As Wyking said about the affordable unit that's being built here in the Central District, thousands of people called and it's already filled up.

We need a massive expansion of social housing.

We need rent control, and we need to allow for the people in this city who are on the streets to be housed.

Thank you so much.

So next up, or this might be you that signed, or actually, if somebody signed you up, I'll just check you off on the list, and then if not.

I don't think I've signed.

My name is Ursula White Oliver.

Got you Okay, so I'm coming in a little bit late, so I'm pretty sure I'm sorry.

I'm coming in a little bit late I'm pretty sure some of what I'm saying has already been addressed, but what I heard was a lot of good intentions and big hearts But what I know is not only do we have those who are suffering and we also have those who are on the brink of suffering so you have homeowners who would love to be able to pay a little more in taxes, but can't and or would like to choose how that money is being spent, we'd like to give it back to the community in such a way.

They even made me think about, I enjoyed being able to pay a little more in taxes to have more trees because I live close to a park, but I know as a homeowner and being a single parent, barely being a homeowner, that yeah, I get to enjoy that park, but let those taxes go a little bit further.

And I'm barely holding on to that home with my two kids.

You know, two little young African American boys, which begins to make us a statistic, right?

We're just above the statistic.

And what would really help is to begin to really understand the parameters and boundaries that are going into our policies, that maybe there's policies that need to be changed to help.

Or how do we become a little more innovative if we understand what the boundaries are, what the policies are, what are the challenges in being able to add funds or get the funds, and how those funds are distributed.

You know, you have to do a whole lot of reading.

But if some of that reading is done, if some of the programs that have been suggested and thrown out and reasons why those things have been thrown out are presented in such a way that it's simplified and the people who have this, these innovative ideas, the people who are being impacted, then are informed and presented with that information, you get innovative thinking.

People are able to think outside the box and bring those contributions so that you're coming here and not with complaints, but with solutions, right?

And I would love to be one of those people who come here.

Oh, sorry.

Thanks.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for being here.

I just wanted to say that as a Seattle resident, I was born here, 1960, and grew up just on the north side of the red line that existed still.

I am here in solidarity with the Chateau residents and every single effort that we make along the way.

a commitment to fight for that.

So thank you.

Can you come sign up on the speaking list, please?

Thank you very much for this opportunity to behalf of my client.

I am care provider.

I am not Sato resident.

I am care provider of Mr. Pornpit who is disabled person beside the door.

He use wheelchair all the time.

I'm here today to support him, and I would like to ask our new building owner, Mr. Cadin, who is a lucky person, who will be owner of that building.

Please put Mr. Pompidou to be a first priority person because he's disabled.

He cannot find any place to go because he I live in this building since 1980. It's 39 years old, 39 years he live in there.

So he's very much concerned after he received the letter from the new owner, he always keep talking to me about how to find a place to live.

So I helping him, it's hard to find a place for him.

So the way I see this, my personal concern, I would like to share my concern in this room today.

The way I see that Right now, the other meeting in the shuttle building office the other day, I heard someone talk about 400 people have 6 and 8 voucher, cannot find any place to live.

Could you please wrap up?

Sorry.

Could you please wrap up?

Okay, so finish soon you mean?

Okay.

Finish your talk.

Okay, I heard about that and have a 400. 400 people have a 16-8 voucher and cannot find a place to live.

This is an issue that I see between 16-8 and individual owner or business people need to solve this issue.

Seattle is a beautiful city, popular city.

We have Boeing, we have Microsoft, we have a lot of people visit the city of Seattle from foreign country.

But when I take a look at the street and the city, a lot of homeless people and I think we need to, if these things keep going on, a lot, a number of homeless add to the street is not good.

So we would like to, between the business people and city, need to have some kind of idea program to help the homeless people and poor people.

Thank you for everybody who testified in public comment.

We want to start with the first group, which is the residents of the Chateau who are going to come and join us here.

Do we have them ready?

Aren't there, I thought there were other shadow tenants who are gonna join us here as well.

Are people being shy?

Okay.

Okay, just for the record, can you both just state your name briefly and then you can, each of you can speak.

Good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Rochelle Johnson.

In 2003, I was married and living up in Blaine, Washington.

Right, last exit going to Canada.

When my husband and I was walking on the pedestrian crosswalk, the car struck on us.

My husband was killed and I was in comatose for a few hours and four days in the ICU and two weeks at the hospital.

I had TBI, traumatic brain injury.

After the accident, I could not seek any employment.

I have daily headaches.

Sometimes I just need to stay home.

After the accident in 2008, my parents moved me down here in Seattle and lived with them in a two-apartment.

And they helped me out until I could get back to my feet.

In 2015, I married to my best friend, Warren, and he's here.

Will you please stand up?

We live in apartment 309 in Chatto apartment.

And we love our neighbors.

It's very quiet, close by to the store, close by to my medical care, and close by to my parents.

We all love our parents.

My dad was recently diagnosed of stage four lung cancer.

To make long story short, He was undergo for chemotherapy all the time.

My mom, she just had the surgery.

They depend on me.

If Cadence is going to move us out, I don't know where I'm going to live.

Who's going to help my parents?

The manager representing Cadence only told us that they're going to stop the Section 8 HUD by end of December 31st, 2019. They even didn't tell us that they're going to demolish the building.

The other tenants and I want Cadence to pay for the relocate all the tenants in Satu Apartments.

They cannot just move us out or just give us a voucher.

Some of the tenants have lived there in decades.

Some have lived here for 30 years or more.

Many tenants are seniors and some are disabled.

One of the tenants is 93 years old.

That's why we want Cadence to relocate us when they demolish the building.

It didn't always used to be this way.

In fact, for many years, my uncle owned the Chatu apartment.

He treated the tenants fairly, but he has to sell the building a little more than a year ago.

And that's when the Kedans bought it.

When my uncle was in fact living at the Chatu, when the Kedans took took over and they raised the rent on him so much that he had to move out.

We organized at the Tatu to stand up for our rights against cadence.

And we were glad to see so many people, friends, tenants, and neighbors supporting our cause.

This is our city.

neighborhood, and we will fight for the right to live here.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon.

I'm Renee Holmes, and it's nice to see all of you here.

I want everyone to give yourselves a hand for coming in today.

Because we're all in this together.

Our struggle at the Chateau Apartments for Affordable Housing in our neighborhood is just one example of the housing crisis that's impacting so many of us in Seattle.

I take care of my aunt, Mother Gordon.

She's lived at the Chateau for 30 years.

She's 88 years old and this is her community.

Her church is down the street on 16th and Fir.

Her doctor, Mary Curiel, is right up the street at the country doctor.

She's upset and she's hurt to think that she's gonna be kicked out of her apartment because Cadence wants to tear it down and build 72 small units.

Our family came from Arkansas and settled in this neighborhood in the 40s because this is the only area we were allowed to live in.

Mother Gordon has seen her friends pass away and her children sell their property for pennies and a dollar.

She's seen the neighborhood change so much.

Whenever I take her out, she says, I don't recognize this neighborhood anymore.

And I say, don't worry, because it's still changing.

I never thought the change would come to our doorstep.

A few weeks ago, Shama's team came and knocked on all of our doors and let us know that Cadence Real Estate was planning to tear down our building of one, two, and three bedroom family units and rebuild 72 studio and one bedroom efficiency units.

It seems that Cadence had held a planning meeting right after the big snow, but they neglected to let any of the residents know.

As you know, we are a diverse group.

Our new neighbors, Kelly and Stuart, they just moved in.

They were living in their car in various shelters before they finally got into the Chateau.

They have two toddler age children and they just had a baby boy a couple of days ago.

Babies shouldn't live in shelters, should they?

Our eldest resident is Mr. Ying.

He's 93 years old.

He's a retired painter.

He lives with his wife, Linda.

She's in her 80s.

They've lived at the Chateau for decades.

He said the developers will make a lot of money, which is their right, but they must also consider the rights of the tenants who live there.

That's only fair.

Mr. Hung, another longtime resident, he works two jobs.

He's a mailman, and he drives for Uber.

He said his American dream is dead.

He said the rich just keeps getting richer, and he just keeps on working.

We just want to stay in our neighborhood.

It's sad that so many of us have already been pushed out.

The developers seem to just care about profits.

But what about us, the people?

We're so very thankful for Shama and her team, Sasha and Jonathan, because they came and they really care.

With their help, they helped us organize and we did meet with Cadence on Thursday the 14th.

We all went to the meeting together.

We presented our demands together.

And Cadence knew that we were serious.

And I also want to read you a list of the demands that we presented to Cadence.

We said we, the Chateau apartment tenants, demand that Cadence relocate all of us to new apartments in the Central District if we choose to continue living in our neighborhood with affordability and accessibility.

Specifically, Cadence will pay for all moving expenses up front for each household.

Cadence agrees to ensure that each household is afforded the opportunity to move into comparably sized and comparably priced apartments.

Where we move is our choice alone.

Cadence will respect each household's choice about where we decide to live.

If we want to continue living in our central district neighborhood, then Cadence will accommodate us by finding available, affordable units in the neighborhood.

Cadence will meet all of its legal obligations to pay each household under the Tenant Relocation Assistant Ordinance and also will pay each household a blank dollar amount because they have offered to pay us $5,000.

if we move.

When Cadence builds a new apartment building on the Chateau site, if they build it, we want them to designate 15% of the apartments to be affordable units in addition to Thank you.

In addition to any units that are affordable through other city programs as affordable housing dwellings, Cadence needs to sign a legally binding agreement in accordance with all the terms specified above, providing these same terms to all households.

In addition, Cadence will agree to make immediate repairs to the apartment building, fixing but not limited to the broken outside lift, repairing all of the crumbling stairs, fixing the gates so it closes.

and there's a list that's coming.

So anyway, Cadence also said that they're not planning to tear the building down right away.

They said a few years.

So I asked for that in writing because you know, they can say one thing and do another.

John Fenton of Cadence said he'll see what he can do.

We just want Cadence to do the right thing because enough is enough.

Thank you.

I wanted to ask a few questions to the tenants, to Rizal and Renee, and also to Ted Verdon on what the options the tenants have.

But before that, we have two community supporters here who we've invited to the panel to speak about who they are and why they're here in solidarity with us.

Could we move one of these microphones there?

So please, each of you introduce yourselves for the record and then speak.

My name is Robert Jeffrey.

I'm senior pastor here.

at the New Hope Church.

Before I start my remarks, I just want to say that I think that the proposal to cadence should be a model for all developers moving into any occupied area and that that proposal should be adopted by the city council as a model for what should happen.

Also, I'm here to pledge my support, and we're going to stick this out.

The progress of civilization can never be at the expense of the poor, the economically challenged, at the expense of the sick, at the expense of the infirmed.

We have to find a better way.

Personally, I'm not against growth.

However, I believe in managed growth, not the survival of the fittest, which is the law which gives forth to chaos.

Managed growth takes seriously The long-term investments made by those who have historically occupied a community build small businesses, institutions, and the potential to benefit from increasing equity.

The buy low, sell high mindset of Wall Street should never be blindly applied to the legacy and the situational condition of human beings.

To do this is both immoral at its core and not in the cultural, intellectual, and diversified future of this municipality.

Managed growth also takes seriously the fact of unintended consequences.

In this instance is the explosion of the homeless population in Seattle.

Managed growth sets up human and community agreed upon practices in the event of a citizen relocation.

Managed growth believes in the equality of all people.

whether they're developers, whether they're poor, whether they're sick, no matter what their condition is and whether they are infirmed.

We need intelligent, civilized, managed growth.

That's why we pay our taxes.

That's why we pay our property taxes.

That's why we pay sales tax.

That's why we elect officials to do intelligent, civilized policies that just don't look out for people with money.

but look out also for people who are infirmed, poor, and of different colors than they might be.

This, what we are experiencing here, is being experienced all over America, in Watts, in Harlem, in every native community throughout this nation.

People are being displaced, not just black people, but mostly minority and poor and infirmed people.

There has to be some logic.

some reason put to this.

Why not start here?

Why not start now in Seattle, Washington?

I want to thank Councilman Sawant for all of her tireless efforts.

I know that there's been some disparaging remarks against you by people of color, but I want to say this as a person of color.

I applaud your integrity.

I applaud your hard work.

I applaud the service that you give to the community, regardless of color, regardless of money, regardless of anything.

I think you're a woman of high intellect and high integrity.

I wish we had more people downtown like you.

Just because you're black doesn't mean you're right.

And we see that in the policies coming from city council.

So thank you for that.

That was.

Yeah.

Thank you for that.

Pastor.

Thank you.

My name is Violet Lavatai.

I'm from the Tenant Union of Washington, and I'm the director there.

We see this every day, and this is not the norm for Seattle.

We're seeing buildings by buildings are being displaced, gentrification at its worst.

So listening to this is heartbreaking, and so I'm here to support the tenants.

When it comes to the tenants, the tenants union always want to be that arm of support because this is what we do in our every day in our offices on Rainier Avenue.

Thank you, Council Member Cervantes.

Here's the thing, we know that some of these problems can be alleviated from rental increases by paying your fair share of taxes.

I'm going to just say it.

I probably pay more taxes than Jeff Bezos, probably.

Probably, definitely.

Yes, probably.

The problem stemmed a long time ago.

We're in a deep hole of rental increases.

Seattle is a hot market for developers all over the world to come in and buy up this land.

Here's the thing, there's nothing wrong with growth.

I absolutely agree with that.

But the thing is, it shouldn't be on the back of the tenants at all, period.

And so what are the number one race, and I'm going to say this because a lot of people won't say it, the number one race that are being evicted, yes, are people of color, but it is documented that the black people are the number one who are being evicted and I gotta say it.

A lot of people won't say it.

So here's the thing, I think this is a good way to say, how can we push policy to stop developers coming into communities who have established themselves in the community and said, this is our community, you can't just come up in here and just push us out.

There has to be legislation that you're welcome here, but not at the expense of tenants to be evicted.

To be evicted.

The homeless problem is not decreasing.

2015 they said that the homeless problem will be no more.

Listen, that was a lie from the get-go.

I don't know who came up with that plan.

Oh, I'm sorry, the city of Seattle did, the mayor.

Here's the thing, it didn't decrease, it's increasing.

And we see a lot of these developers are adding to the problems of housing, the rent increases, the people who are suffering are the most marginalized, vulnerable communities here in the state of Washington.

That's low income people with disabilities, people of color, black people.

And so I want us to see this picture.

Yes, you can come into the neighborhood, all should be welcome, whether you're white or black.

But the thing is, you have people who have stayed in their place for 40 plus years, where are they gonna go?

Where?

Does the city have a plan or the developers have a plan for here?

We're gonna displace 34 black people, 34 Samoan people, 34 Filipino people.

Actually, no, we'll just give them a notice, which is legal, and say bye-bye.

In 90 days, you gotta find a new place.

Here's the thing, we can't just talk about it and we have to save ourselves by saying enough is enough and start pushing forth policy that will stop this outrageous practice.

Seriously, because it is outrageous.

Why do I know and why do I got the experience?

Not because of the tenant union, I do this every day.

I was raised up in Seattle for more than 40 years, you guys.

So Rainier Avenue don't look like Rainier Avenue.

Downtown don't look like downtown.

I grew up where there was people that looked like me and black people walking in Columbia City up in downtown.

It don't look like that no more.

There's no equitable, there is no equitable race in Seattle.

All the people that look like me, Shalman Sawant and people on the board, they're getting pushed out.

And so I say this respectfully to everybody who wants to stay here, it shouldn't be on the backs of us, the tenants, who look like me.

Thank you.

Thank you to all the panelists for making very important introductory remarks.

Just in terms of what Violet was just saying about not only the overall crisis of housing affordability, homelessness, evictions, displacement, Absolutely, it's affecting the vast majority of ordinary people in Seattle.

But as she correctly said, if you break down the impact by race and by community and by gender, you can see that just horrendous the disproportionality that how especially the black community is being impacted.

And I wanted to draw your attention to a study that actually we just covered in my previous committee meeting earlier this week on Tuesday, which is the Select Committee on Homelessness, which I co-chaired with two other council members.

And at this meeting last Tuesday, we had Dr. Tim Thomas, who's a researcher at the University of Washington, who I mean, this is available from my council website, but this study is a very unique and new study, which is looking at all the court data on evictions.

And like I said in my comments earlier, this is a small subset of the people who are actually facing economic evictions, because this only takes into account those who had a formal eviction order from their landlord and then went and challenged it at the court.

So it's even with this small sample, what you see is disproportionately black working class people being impacted, single mom households being impacted.

And in other words, as Violet was saying, those who are already facing other oppressions in our society, those who are already the most vulnerable are also facing the the sharpest brunt of the housing crisis.

And the irony of ironies, and this relates to what David Parsons, the president of the union that represent graduate students, said in the public comment, is that those who are doing the research themselves are facing the crisis of housing affordability.

And I mention that because Dr. Thomas, who's a researcher at UW, during his presentation at city council chambers on Tuesday said, I, even I, with a PhD, don't make enough to fulfill the rents that are being thrust upon us, and he has to double up with a roommate.

So imagine what is happening to childcare providers, teachers, custodial workers, library workers, and so many other people who are doing the work of this city, without whom this city would collapse in a single day, but are not making even the wages that a UW researcher might be making.

So this is a massive crisis we're facing.

I thought Violet also brought up an important point about tenants' unions.

So I wanted to ask a question to Renee and Rozelle.

Would the tenants at Chateau be interested in connecting with Violet and Amy Tower and seeing if you want to build your own tenants' union in Chateau?

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

And I also wanted to thank Reverend Jeffrey for the comments he made.

because he has seen, having lived here for many decades, he has seen what has happened to the central district.

The whole of the central district has basically become denuded of its black community because they have been pushed out so farther and farther, and in fact, outside the city limits.

You see black people being disproportionately impacted by homelessness as well, and we see the city council, the majority of the city council and the mayor, constantly attempting to cut funding for homeless services, which again disproportionately impacts our black community members.

Shame on them.

It is absolutely unconscionable for them to be doing this when the crisis is at the greatest.

To come back to the specific questions of Chateau, I hope you all were able to hear when Renee was going over the demands that the tenants have presented to Cadence.

I wanted to ask a few questions to Ted as a policy analyst in my office to explain what are the next steps that are possible for the tenants and what are the things that the city council can do.

And I also wanted to let everybody know We did invite Cadence, the developers, to be at this meeting.

We not only invited them, we urged them to be at this meeting.

But they sent me, my office, an email yesterday saying they were, I think they said they were unable to make it.

Yes, at the meeting that the tenants had on Thursday night, the developers said we'll think about it, but they are not here.

Not that I'm greatly surprised.

I also wanted to let everyone know, that we are getting the help.

My office is getting the help from the City of Seattle's Office of Housing and the Department of Construction and Inspections.

These are very hard-working employees of the City of Seattle who work on code compliance.

You know, if you're a renter and there's something wrong in your home, If the shower is not working, if the plumbing is not fixed, if the heating is not working, then you can contact my office, and then we get the help of the Department of Construction Inspections to address those issues.

They're very good about addressing those issues, and they also administer the relocation assistance program, but I agree with the speakers who spoke in the public comment that the relocation assistance is nowhere near what people need when they are displaced.

And of course, as others have said, they should not be displaced in the first place.

But anyway, I invited city staff also to join us.

They sent their apologies, which is understandable if they are unable to make a Saturday meeting, but I also wanted to stress that while they were unable to make it, we, my office, believes it was important to have this meeting on a Saturday afternoon in the community because otherwise public voices are not heard in City Hall.

And I have to say, I have to say it is deeply unfortunate that no other council member bothered to show up.

And there seems to be a track record.

When we do meetings in the, when I do community, committee meetings in the community where hundreds of people are here, the council members are not here.

And I think that is a problem.

I think we should demand that our elected officials listen to us, which means they need to come into the community and listen to ordinary people.

And I hope that we will continue demanding that.

But on the issue of cadence, can you, Ted, can you go over some of the issues, specific things that the tenants are facing and what they can do?

things that we've been asking the Office of Housing about and HUD, the Seattle Housing Authority and the Bremerton Housing Authority, because they administer this program.

It's weird that it's in Bremerton, which it just is.

It's about these demands, these really important demands that the Chateau tenants have made that Cadence needs to basically find an equivalent place for people to go at the same rent and that sort of thing.

And just taking a step back, developers in Seattle are not making it their responsibility usually.

When they go and they displace people, it's somehow somebody else's problem.

But imagine if we set a precedent here that it actually is the developer's responsibility to find a place, an equal place for people to go when they displace people.

And if we do that here, then we can do it the next time and the next time.

Cadence on their website says that they have over 30 buildings, large buildings like this.

There are laws where...

So in this building, there are some units that are part of this Section 8 program and there are some units that are not.

For the units that are part of the Section 8 program, the Section 8 allows that to be transferred to another building.

If the building if Cadence agrees and if the other building agrees.

So Cadence owns 30 other buildings.

Do they own buildings in the neighborhood?

Can they offer units in the neighborhood?

They could even theoretically transfer this federal money to buildings that the city is funding right now in the area.

But this is something that the residents have asked Cadence to come to them and to actually say, where could they go?

And that's something that it would have been best if Cadence had agreed to come today and make a public commitment to do that.

And people should ask them to do that.

But they have the power to transfer that.

to an equivalent unit, and it needs to be one that actually works for the residents.

We talked to many people who have specific ties to this community and this neighborhood and have mobility needs and that sort of thing, so it needs to work for people.

And for the other units, the seven homes that are not part of that program, again, Cadence owns buildings, they can provide other homes at the same rent, same size, they can provide that if they really thought it was their responsibility, and it's up to us to make it their responsibility.

I'll stop there.

Can I ask a question?

Does the city have a way of finding out what other buildings Cadence owns in the district or in the vicinity, and if not, can we ask the Office of Housing to find that information?

I'll ask, I don't know.

And I also wanted to let everybody know that if you haven't already signed this petition, please, I mean, if you support the shadow tenants in their struggle, please sign it.

Some of you may not be supporting them, but you're right, I don't agree with you, but just know that signing this petition means you stand with the shadow tenants in their struggle and that you stand with them in demanding that Cadence find alternate affordable and accessible homes to make sure that the tenants are not displaced from the Central District.

So Ted, can I also ask you, what has Cadence offered so far?

First of all, just to let everybody know, the fact that the tenants have got organized and made their struggle public, that itself has been an incredible step forward because that has put pressure on the developers.

They don't want to show up to meetings if they can help it.

They don't want even their names known.

What they want is to quietly make all the profits that they make.

So when tenants don't say anything and they just quietly move out, that's what happens.

And I know somebody in the public comments said that I'm stopping every developer from building a new building.

I think you're attributing too much power to me.

That hasn't happened.

As a matter of fact, Too much of what is happening to Chateau is what's happening, which is small businesses, ordinary people, working people are getting pushed out.

And I also think it's important to acknowledge that working class and middle class homeowners are facing similar struggles and that we should unite homeowners and renters together in a struggle for affordable housing.

And so I just wanted to say that the fact that Cadence and its property manager, Washington Real Estate, the fact that they felt forced to respond to the tenants itself is a testimony to the tenants getting organized.

And it's not because of me, it's because of the tenants that got organized that Cadence felt afraid that if they didn't respond at all, it would look really, really bad.

So the fact that the developer even responded, I think we should recognize as a step one victory for the tenants.

And then on top of that, the tenants sent a letter to Cadence, which I don't think we read out, but I'm sure that's available publicly.

The tenants sent a letter to Cadence saying, we need you to meet with us.

And for a few days, we didn't hear from Cadence at all.

But I think as the tenants kept building public pressure, they heard from Cadence that they would meet with them.

So they met with them on Thursday night, and it wasn't just representatives from some different, you know, hired corporation.

The Cadence principals themselves were there, which, again, I think is testimony to the success that the tenants have had in putting pressure on Cadence.

So on Thursday night, my staff and I were there, and the tenants spoke directly to the owners of Cadence and said, you need to do this.

That was quite a powerful thing to watch.

And so Cadence has made some offers to the tenants.

Ted, could you please explain to us what they have offered and how does that stand in relation to what the tenants are actually demanding?

So when we first went to the initial outreach meeting in the snowstorm before the residents of the Chateau knew that this was happening, At that meeting, we asked about what Cadence intended to do about displacing people.

And at that time, they talked about the relocation assistance that, by law, they have to provide.

And how much is that?

That's a little bit under $3,900, which if it's just about moving, that's one thing.

But if suddenly you have to deal with higher rent, then that disappears in a moment.

After the residents started organizing, then Cadence said that they would provide additional relocation assistance.

They said they would provide $5,000 additional relocation assistance.

So that's a, actually that's a victory from what the organizing that the residents have done already.

That wasn't on the table originally.

In terms of the most important demand about having somewhere to go, right now the main thing that Cadence is saying is that those residents who are in the Section 8 units, which is not all of the residents, but those residents who are in the Section 8 units, When they are displaced, then instead of being in a Section 8 unit, they'll get something called a Section 8 choice voucher, which is what most people think about when you think about a Section 8 voucher, where the Seattle Housing Authority gives you a voucher to help pay rent, but you have to find a landlord to accept it.

Obviously, people don't want to lose that.

If you have that, that does not guarantee that there's a landlord that will accept it.

And right now, we've learned from the Office of Housing, there are over 400 people with those vouchers from the Seattle Housing Authority right now looking for a landlord to accept those vouchers.

So at the meeting on Thursday and previously, many of the residents pointed out that that that is not sufficient.

And that, by the way, is something that happens by law anyway.

Seattle Housing Authority does that automatically.

Cadence doesn't play any role in that.

That's just something that people will get anyway.

So what Cadence has not agreed to do yet is actually find people a place to go.

Right, yeah, and a place that works for them especially.

Thank you, Ted.

And my staff member, Jonathan, just reminded me, we have printouts of the letter that the tenants wrote to Cadence urging them to come to this meeting, and also their list of demands.

Are we passing, are we able to pass them out to all the, or at least as many as we have?

I don't know if we have copies for everybody.

But we will post this on my council website so you can look at them.

And if you especially would like to have a copy, raise your hand so Jonathan will know to give it to you.

Renee and Ruzelle, can you tell me how many of the tenants signed this letter inviting the developer to come to the?

I think it was 19. Can you speak?

I think it was 19. Out of how many?

There's 21 units.

OK.

And can you also tell me, one, what are your thoughts from the meeting we had with the developer on Thursday night?

And what do you think about what they have offered so far?

Well, I think that the meeting made them know that we were organized, and they took notice.

At first, they thought that they could just sweep us under the rug and make us go away.

But now they know that we are organized, and we are going to fight this.

And also, we asked them to write a letter, you know, to make us a proof that they're going to do whatever they had told us on Thursday.

They cannot just say, yeah, we're going to relocate you.

But in the long run, we're waiting and nothing's going on, you know.

So we want their handwriting.

Thank you.

And what do you think of what they have offered, which is, first of all, the tenant relocation assistance is not their offer, so to say, because it's the law.

If they don't follow that, they're breaking the law.

But beyond that, they're saying that they will give $5,000 to each tenant.

First of all, congratulations for your organizing, because no developer is going to part with that kind of money without us demanding it.

But do you think, do you all think, or do you think that your fellow tenants, where do they stand?

Do you think that that would be enough?

Or do you think that your demand, that you have said that it is Cadence's responsibility to find alternate affordable and accessible homes in the district, do you think that they need to fulfill that as well?

Absolutely.

Absolutely, definitely.

Yeah, we want to stay in our neighborhood.

As I stated, my aunt, she's lived in this area for all of her life.

She's 88 years old now, and this is her home.

She doesn't want to move, and she doesn't want to be uprooted from the neighborhood that she's used to.

She had an operation four years ago to save her life, so she does want to just live the rest of her life in the neighborhood that she's accustomed to.

I also wanted to acknowledge the Reverend Angela Ying who's here.

Can you just wave or something so everybody knows who you are?

She's the pastor at the Bethany United Church of Christ.

Am I saying it right?

In Beacon Hill.

And I mention her specifically because she has joined the struggle of the Chateau tenants, and she was also with them at the meeting with the developers on Thursday.

And one of the things she said, which really I felt was important, was that even though she represents a congregation in a different part of the city, that she felt her voice was important because most communities in different parts of the city are facing this crisis, and that everybody needs to be in solidarity with the Chateau tenants, because if they win their demands, then that will be a tremendous boost for the struggle elsewhere as well.

I also wanted to acknowledge what Reverend Jeffrey said, which is that the demands that the tenants, chateau tenants have, can and should be a model for what renters should get when their buildings are being demolished and when they're being evicted, and that the city council should adopt it.

I think that that is a really interesting idea and that we will be following up on that.

But I wanted to just point out how powerful this idea is because for, you know, in a situation where for-profit developers, you know, by law, because this is totally legal, Many of us may think it's immoral, but it's totally legal for them to demolish affordable homes and then build new homes, which, as Reverend Jeffrey said, we are not against new homes.

What we want is a city that's affordable for everyone.

We want a nice city that's affordable for everyone.

So I'm not opposed to nice buildings.

I'm not opposed to density.

But I want it to be accessible and affordable for everybody, regardless of income.

It shouldn't just be for rich people.

But I wanted us to take into account, because we are coming to the close of this meeting, and we cannot close this meeting without outlining next steps for ourselves, which is that what the tenants are demanding, which is that Cadence fulfill a responsibility, a moral responsibility to find the tenants alternate accessible and affordable homes in the neighborhood, that is not a small thing.

If you look at the power imbalance between big developers and ordinary people, the developers are not required, let's be very clear, that demand, it is not legally enforceable at this moment.

And that's what Reverend Jeffrey is saying, that the city council should make it legally enforceable.

But at this moment, it's not.

And it will be very difficult to win a law that is legally enforceable because it will take a real fighting movement to win that.

So at this moment, the shadow tenants are showing tremendous courage by including this demand and not just saying, OK, I'll accept whatever little money I can get and now whatever happens to me happens to me. and they're standing together in demanding this.

This is an incredible thing.

Why?

Because it goes to the heart of the business model of big developers.

The business model of big developers is to demolish affordable homes and then place luxury homes in their place.

And when I say luxury, it doesn't necessarily mean the units are luxurious.

It just means the rents are so high that only rich people can afford them.

So this is very, very, it's a crucial shift in our struggle that the shadow tenants are demanding this, because it is going to the heart of the business model of the for-profit developers.

And I say that both to give the tenants their credit, but also to emphasize how difficult it will be for them to win this demand, let alone making this city law.

So let's not underestimate the struggle that we have ahead of us.

And so those of you who have come here in solidarity with the shadow tenants, in solidarity with everybody who's facing the housing crisis, please be aware that this is going to be a hard thing to win.

It is going to be a fight.

And for those who have said or may think, why do we approach these issues with animosity?

Why don't we talk nicely?

First of all, I think we are all nice people because we stand with our neighbors, so that is a nice thing to do.

However, I want to be very clear.

It is not the tenants or those who are advocating for them who are engaging in animosity.

The real animosity is having a system which just dispenses with ordinary people, completely discounts their humanity, and says that we should be able to do whatever we want to do in order to get our 25% profits.

That's the real animosity.

And if it was merely a question of asking these corporations nicely, then we have done that a million times, and what has that gotten us?

Anytime we have won anything, it is because we fought for it.

So let us never be ashamed of fighting, and let us reject any accusations of animosity, like you're not being nice.

No, we are being nice to the people who need us to be nice, which is the vulnerable in our community.

And so I wanted to come to the conclusion of this meeting by first outlining, summarizing what we have achieved today.

What we have done today is brought many, many people from our community together in solidarity with the tenants because they're not going to win this on their own.

So that is a very important step forward.

We have held a city council committee meeting in the district.

And it is very, I hope you all noticed that this meeting was very different than most city council meetings which are in city hall, okay, that's fine, fair enough, most meetings have to be there, but most of the discussion in city council meeting is completely inaccessible to ordinary people because we don't know the terminology, we don't know the jargon, and that is why I have deliberately organized this committee to be accessible to everybody so that everybody knows what we're talking about.

We're talking about affordable housing.

versus developer profits.

It's very simple.

There's nothing mysterious or jargon about it.

We're talking about our basic rights.

So what are the next steps?

One, Please make sure that if you want the shadow tenants to win their fight so that we can go on to build future victories, then please make sure you've signed this petition.

Please.

Yes, please sign this petition, and please expect that you will be contacted by the tenants or my office in the near future, in the next day or two, because we need to keep building this fight.

was a great step forward and I thank you all so much, you know, really for coming today because without you all there is no Chateau struggle, but it is hardly going to be enough.

We have, we have with the courage of tenants, and you all have, we have put Cadence and the city's political establishment on notice, but putting them on notice is not going to be enough.

We want to win concrete victories.

We want to win.

We're not here just to make public speeches and statements.

We want to win real victories, which means affordable housing for them.

So, please.

Please expect to hear from us in the next few days because we will need to do many more organizing actions.

I also appeal to you all, those of you, whether you're a homeowner or a renter, if you're facing a struggle, if you're a renter in a building and your building is facing a similar struggle like Chateau or something else, if you, for example, if you've reached out to your landlord or property manager, many times and ask them to fix the problems in your building and they haven't done that, please contact my office because we not only want to help you fix those problems, have those problems fixed, but we want to bring you into part of the organizing, because without all of us getting organized, we are not going to win victories.

So rather than being individual struggles in individual buildings, let's bring all the buildings who are facing this crisis together.

If you're living in a single family home, but your roommates or housemates are renters and you're facing issues, still you should come to us and we should talk to each other.

If you are a small landlord and you support renter struggles, because we've met several of them, please get in touch with my office because this movement is not in antagonism towards landlords who support their renters.

If you support, if you're a landlord and you support rent control, and I've heard from many of you, If you support the idea of building publicly owned affordable housing, then please contact my office so that we can continue building this struggle.

And then the last point I'll make is in terms of what the obligation of my council office As Ted outlined, we will continue to be in touch with the city's Office of Housing, the city's Department of Construction Inspections, both to get information about Cadence buildings and also to make sure that the problems that exist in their building are fixed.

Like Renee said, the lift is not working.

There are little children, disabled people, who walk on the stairs even though they need a lift because they have no other choice.

So we want to make sure those problems are fixed immediately.

And we will also be in touch with the Federal Housing and Urban Development Department, and we are urging them to come to Seattle.

They are headquartered in Washington, D.C. We're urging them to come to Seattle for a meeting.

with us.

And that will not be an easy task because the Housing and Urban Development Department today reports to Donald Trump, and not only has HUD faced decades of cuts for affordable housing, Under Donald Trump, those cuts have been dramatic, and HUD also suffered during the shutdown.

So I don't know what results we will get, but we will continue to pressure HUD into meeting with us.

But the more you all raise your voices and build a unified movement, the more it will enable me to actually succeed in that endeavor.

And we will make sure that we keep following up with the tenants.

And those of you who are renters and want to form a tenants' union, please either contact my office or Violet or Amy from the tenants' union.

Let's get this city organized.

Let's win a real bill of renters' rights.

Let's push back against the economic redlining of black and brown people.

Let's make this city an affordable city and let's win these individual struggles and also fight for rent control.

and for taxing big businesses like Amazon to fund a massive expansion of social housing, which is publicly owned affordable housing, so that we don't remain and our children don't remain at the whim of for-profit developers.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, there's one more item that I forgot about, which is a public hearing that we are required to have by law, which is on the already passed legislation protecting the Halcyon Mobile Home Park with a temporary moratorium on the destruction of mobile home parks in Seattle to make sufficient time for the city to put permanent zoning protections in place.

As I mentioned, this is a legally required hearing.

The legislation is already in law, so it's not disputed.

But by law, we are required to open this to public comment.

If anybody wants to speak on that issue, not on the Chateau issue, please let me know.

Seeing nobody wanting to speak on that issue, we will close, sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you Megan Murphy for speaking on that.

And if nobody else wants to speak on the Halcyon issue, then I will go ahead and close public comment on that.

And we will adjourn the meeting, but not the fight.