Seattle City Council Human Services, Equitable Development, & Renter Rights Committee 1/18/19

Good afternoon to you all.

My name is Council Member Kshama Sawant.

This is the Seattle City Council Chambers, and it's 1.36 p.m.

This is a special meeting of the Human Services, Equitable Development, and Renters' Rights Committee of the Seattle City Council.

Council Member Juarez, who is a member of this committee, and the District 5 representative sent her apologies for being unable to attend today.

And she sent me a statement that I can read for you right now.

And I'll just, you know, intermittently interject it with Council Member Warris so there's no confusion in the media that this statement is from her and not from me personally.

I, Council Member Warris, was not able to attend today's hearing.

Due to a previously scheduled commitment, my district director, Shana Deitch, is in the front row to listen to your testimony and make sure you feel heard.

As your council member, I, Council Member Juarez, am committed to helping seniors and making sure that elders can age with dignity and housing security.

Caring for elders is a top priority of mine.

I, Council Member Warris, promise that I'm looking at all the options to try to figure out a way to remedy this situation.

My office has been responsive to your emails and calls on many issues over the years, since this is not the only concern you have shared with me.

I, Council Member Warris, have been working with city departments, housing experts, as well as Representative Jerry Pollitt and Representative Cindy Rue to research solutions and outcomes for our neighbors at Halcyon.

I, Council Member Juarez, hope that we can work with the trustees, owners, and residents to find a resolution that serves everyone.

I look forward to meeting with all of you in person very soon.

I thank Council Member Juarez for sending this statement, and I welcome Shaina in the chambers.

Council President Harrell is also a member of this committee and hopefully will join us later.

And I have discussed this issue with all of the council, and I've urged other council members to come to the meeting as well.

And just so you all know, in terms of the rules, it's not that only members of the committee can show up to a committee meeting.

Any council member can attend any committee meeting.

So I really openly welcome any council member who cares about this issue to join us.

So if they join us later, that will be awesome.

So we have one very important item on today's agenda, fighting back against displacement and eviction, and quite possibly impending homelessness of manufactured homeowners, in particular, the residents of the Halcyon Mobile Home Park.

We will be discussing with a group of residents who live in the manufactured homes at the Halcyon Mobile Home Park in North Seattle, This mobile home park houses seniors, 55 years or older, many of whom have spent decades of their lives in this community, have not only put in equity in their homes, but also built this community of ground up.

And for them to be evicted from that community would be totally devastating.

And I should say, in general, when any renter or homeowner is evicted or priced out of their tenancy in Seattle, it is extremely difficult to find another place to live in the way the housing market is going these days with both home prices and rents completely out of the reach of most of us.

You know, let's face it, it's not just the Halcyon residents who are facing this crisis.

This is a region-wide crisis and most of us, many of us who used to think of ourselves as middle class folks, we are now facing the brunt of this crisis, not to mention those who are already homeless and facing a, you know, truly devastating experience.

But on top of that, when a mobile home park evicts its residents, it comes with even more of a punishment.

The residents own their manufactured homes, which after many years, it's not actually mobile.

And maybe many of you can talk about that.

You would know more about it than I do.

So there's a real prospect of losing all the equity you own, and insult upon injury, you often have to pay to have it demolished.

So if evicted, the senior residents in Halcyon would have to find someplace else to live in the...

very unlivable market of Seattle after having just lost their home.

And as an elected representative of Seattle's working people and somebody who cares passionately for affordable housing and to address the homelessness crisis, I think if the city council, if politicians in the city want to have any logical, sensible, not to mention just and compassionate outlook on the housing affordability and homelessness crisis in the city, then I think tenet number one should be do no harm.

In other words, if...

In other words, if we're talking about solving this acute crisis in our city, it makes no sense to make those who are currently housed homeless.

That makes no sense whatsoever.

And as we will see later in the committee, there are legal legislative options that the city council can enact to make sure that the residents stay in their community and their community stays intact.

The question is one of political will, and that is why it's so important that ordinary people, not only the residents at Halcyon, but also others who are here in solidarity with them, speak today.

So public comment will be very important, but not only today, but as we build this struggle, it will be important for ordinary people, both homeowners and renters, to speak up in solidarity with the Halcyon residents.

Just to give some background to those of you who are just joining us, this problem has arisen because the owner, the erstwhile owner of the Halcyon property passed away, and this property is now in trust, controlled by U.S.

Bank.

U.S. Bank is, of course, as we know, is a big financial institution.

that does not care about ordinary people.

I think that is a fairly uncontroversial statement to make that everybody can agree with.

Which is in the process of selling the property to a developer called, corporate developer called Blue Fern.

So council members will now have to decide whose side they are on.

Does Halcyon and the rest of the city belong to U.S. bank, real estate speculators, and corporate developers who see housing nothing more than a profit-making instrument?

Or does this Halcyon community and the city belong to the human beings who live here and make our communities happen?

Right?

We know, we know, you and I know which side we're on.

Let's make sure we oppose that question to everybody else on the City Council and the Mayor.

You know, which side are you on?

We really welcome every elected official in City Hall to stand with us because that is extremely important.

On the technical front, my office has been working with city council central staff.

They will be at the table later.

They always work hard, and this is no exception.

They have been working hard on this one as well to help us identify some next steps that we can use to save these homes.

Luckily, residents of mobile home parks have fought for and won similar victories in other places.

And just a quick, not to get too technical at this moment because we want to hear the stories first, but just to outline what steps we're talking about.

We're talking about as initial steps, one, placing a moratorium on redevelopment of any manufactured home parks so that We can first very quickly prevent the sale to the corporate developer so that we can then take the next steps.

So that's one part of what we want to do going forward.

As we are talking about this, the city council is also considering something that's actually in some sense unrelated, which is the mandatory housing affordability legislation, which talks about overall upzoning in the city to make sure that we have more floors in this city to create homes for all the people who are moving into the city.

So I want to be very clear.

On the whole, my office is completely in support of this, what we call upzoning.

But we also, again, you know, whether we are talking about upzoning or any other policy related to housing, tenant number one is do no harm.

So we want to make sure that this property and also Bella B, which is an adjoining property, also a manufactured home park, that neither of these gets upzoned because we would then have to downzone it again.

So in other words, let's keep it intact for now.

So there's going to be two pieces of legislation that should be coming forward from my office very soon as as soon as we can actually work on it with the incredible help of central staff.

So those are those are concrete things that we should be advocating for with other council offices as well.

But the most exciting thing about it to be honest with you for me is that we're not doing something new.

We're doing something that has been done before.

So one of the facts that I'd like to share with you all, which is also in the Central Staff Memo, and Ted, do people have copies of Central Staff Memo?

People should take that if you want, and if we don't have enough copies, we should print them.

But it talks about the fact that we're talking about a moratorium is not a new thing.

In previous years, you know, from 1988 to 1990, the city of Seattle adopted four consecutive moratoria on the redevelopment of manufactured home park sites with the same idea, which is to make sure that affordable home ownership is maintained.

So we're not doing anything new here.

And the second idea that we had, which is to designate these mobile home parks with their own zoning designation, again, that is not, we are not, we cannot claim credit for that idea because it's been done in other cities.

And the most exciting thing about this is that only in August, as recently as August of last year, Portland, Oregon, which is in our region, Portland, Oregon, had a unanimous city council vote designating 56 out of their 57 mobile home parks in their city with their own zoning designation which goes a long way in protecting those homes.

So we want to do the same thing here.

Does that sound good?

So I think that the fact that these legislative options have been tried before is actually a good thing for us, because then no politician can say, well, this is a new thing.

We're in this new territory.

We don't know what will happen.

Well, we've seen it happen.

We've seen the Portland City Council vote unanimously on something similar.

Let's do this in Seattle as well.

But these are next steps, not for today.

I'll be talking about it today, but we'll have the legislation as soon as possible.

For now, we will pivot to public comment.

We normally don't have very many people testifying, so we have two minutes assigned for each speaker.

But since we have many people, both residents and supporters, speaking today, we will allocate a minute and a half to each speaker, if that's OK.

Ted will call out the names.

And please watch the timers here so we can make sure that you wrap up.

you know, within time, and so that the speaker after you can also speak.

So, Ted, do you want to start?

There are 15 people signed up for public comment.

The first three are Alex Zimmerman, followed by Imogene Williams, followed by Sarah-Jane Siegfried.

So, if you're on deck, you can sign.

There are two microphones, and you can line up behind either one, so you're ready to go when it's your turn next.

Actually, sorry, Alex, before you go, I just wanted to also quickly thank the interpreters that we have in this room.

So please give a round of applause to the interpreters who are helping communication.

A dirty anti-Semite and pure cretina.

My name is Alex Zimmerman.

You can find me on my website.

I have six evictions.

In 98, I bring class action, biggest class action state, Washington, behalf of 500 family, senior citizen in this, and I win.

In 2008, I bring another class action against government for $100 million, and I win, behalf of 50,000 family, disabled senior citizen.

So I'm in this business for all my life, but I live in Seattle for almost 35 years, more than 30. So situation what is we have right now, I'm with you 100%, but this don't change nothing.

It's a pure propaganda, what is she doing?

You know what this mean?

Find somebody, a smaller group of people, 50, 100, and talk about change, change.

She never want change fundamentally.

Guys, analgine, analgine, analgine, analgine.

Tell her, no, it's not fixed problem.

We have a big problem in city, a cancer.

Cancer is Amazon.

For five year, she never, one time, and I'm presenting all her meeting for last 10 years, five years, talking about stopping Amazon.

For example, right now, Amazon want hire 10,000 people.

When she and another nine councils, we crook, talking about stopping Amazon.

Now, this price will be down and nobody will touch you.

Stand up, America.

We need clean this dirty chamber from these crooks.

Amy Jean Williams, followed by Sarah Jane Siegfried, followed by Brent McFarlane.

Some years ago, we had a housing person, Betty Jo Reed, of blessed memory.

I'd be in meetings with Betty, and she's practically screaming because of the destruction of thousands of units of affordable housing.

Not only that, we had sit-ins in the mayor's office, which was Greg Nichols.

The churches took turns to sit in the mayor's office.

I was there with First Baptist Church, and there was about 20 of us.

And I saw the developers going in and out of the inner offices.

But nobody listened.

There can be little doubt that some of those people that were thrown out of their homes are among our homeless today, shivering in a tent, no shower, no bathroom, no heat, no kitchen.

Nobody listened.

This time, I think this time, they might listen.

We have to do everything we can to stop this time.

Good morning Councilmember Sawant.

I'm happy to represent, I'm Sarah Jane Siegfried here today representing Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action and we are solidly in support of this effort to save Halcyon mobile home estates because it's one of the very few home ownership options for low-income seniors.

So we're talking about preserving home ownership and creating, at great effort, creating more opportunities for low income home ownership.

And yet, here we have existing investments by seniors over many, many years that we're ready to just blow away.

It doesn't make any sense.

We need low income home ownership as part of a continuum of housing options.

We need this park in particular, which is lovely.

I was just in Palm Springs for a few days visiting in a senior housing, a manufactured housing park.

And the person, my friend, Bought this 1956. It was originally a single wide, but now it's double wide and they've added to it greatly and you would never know.

It's hard for people to visualize how lovely some of these homes are.

They're well cared for, they had all kinds of built-ins, they had an updated kitchen.

In this case, someone just shared with me that the city of Seattle had invested in the weatherization program.

The city had come in and put in insulation and new windows and low electricity.

refrigerator and low flow toilet.

So we're throwing away so much investment by doing this and it's not recoverable unless you take the steps that you're recommending.

Thank you very, very much.

After Brent comes, I'm having trouble reading this name.

I think it's Charlene followed by Wesley Shearer.

Hello, I'm Brent McFarland.

I'm also with Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action.

And I'm also here as a neighbor.

I live in the Bitter Lake neighborhood, which is just about a half a mile from the Halcyon neighborhood.

So I'm here in solidarity with neighbors.

I appreciate neighbors who have been in the region for a long time who are looking out for each other.

I think this is, a cultural piece of our Seattle district that we need to value and understand that there's a long history in North Seattle.

North Seattle being a haven for affordable housing and for working people.

And lower income and fixed income people in this city are losing housing all over the place.

If we can retain a stable, low income neighborhood in North Seattle, we really should do it.

So I appreciate the ideas for special zoning for this neighborhood to save it.

And I hope that my council member Juarez, who could not be here today, is also paying attention to this.

Thank you.

So next I have, I think Charlene Malin.

This is her Martin.

Thank you.

I'm a manufactured homeowner in Canyon Park.

I'm here to represent the park that's being up for taking away.

I have lived in manufactured homes.

for over 10 years.

It's the only affordable housing that even myself could get.

Shag out there is a lot of money.

And that we don't have a lot of places for seniors.

And I'm watching apartments even in Bothell being built up.

Instead, what about all us seniors that are losing homes?

We're gonna be put out on the streets and we have enough homelessness here.

We need to save our homes.

We've all lived there for quite a while.

And, you know, I've also lived in apartments My mom lived in one.

And I'll tell you what, I'd rather have my home than to live in an apartment that you can't even afford today on low income.

Thank you.

After Wesley comes the Reverend Angela Ying, followed by Dan Kavanaugh.

My name is Wesley Shearer.

I'm second generation to mobile home, Halcyon.

My family has lived here since the 1970s.

I have been living in Halcyon since 1999 with my granddaughter, Lorianne, who has lived here most of her life.

I've worked for a budget rental car for over 35 years and belong to Teamsters.

Without Teamsters, it would be hard for me also.

I live in a very safe environment for my granddaughter who is mentally challenged.

Residents who live here are like family and help each other.

Lorianne feels very secure here and when I watch over her, it's like she has an extended family.

I've also volunteered for Halcyon as security to help maintain safe community for our citizens.

Most of them live here on a fixed income.

Many of our residents cannot afford to move and could be homeless and forced out on the streets if they have to leave Halcyon Mobile Home Park.

The residents here have been told by different managers since the even 1980s.

18, that Halcyon would never be sold because the park is built on a landfill and would not be safe to build any solid structure.

It's like large apartments, homes.

And it's very uneven and this constantly shifts.

I beg you, please save our place.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

The Reverend Angela Ying, followed by Dan Kavanaugh, followed by Renee McCoy, I think.

Thank you, Councilmember Shama Sawant, and to all of the City Council.

As we seek a solution, I am the Reverend Angela Ying, Senior Pastor at Bethany United Church of Christ.

We together are here today because Seattle made a promise to all the people to stop homelessness.

faith leaders, community leaders, everyone gathered.

And in 2018, 110 homeless people died in King County, which is unacceptable.

110 who did not have to die.

So why would we add to this?

Ending homelessness means, from my humble calculations, that less people are homeless, not more.

Today, we together, and I'm including all of us in the we, are here because we want Seattle and King County to keep its promise and save a community of 85 of our beloved elders, 85 beloved mentors, octogenarians, beloved seniors who have living faithfully, lovingly, generously, unselfishly for decades, paying their taxes, living their lives, working hard to make this a better place in their mobile home.

They're not in a tower.

They're not in condominiums.

They're not in mansions.

No, this is their mobile home, which they call home in their own community.

And like Wesley shared, they've done nothing to hurt or destroy.

They have not lied or colluded in acts of hate or violence.

They've done nothing wrong.

So why are 85 mobile home elders facing displacement?

Isn't it hard enough to grow old?

challenging enough to grow old, it will happen to all of us.

So let's start 2019 right and show real compassion, show justice to our elders.

Let's start 2019 by doing the right thing.

85 seniors of Halcyon Mobile Home Park, a 55-plus community of 85 mobile home owners and residents in North Seattle, reached out to our council's Human Services Committee.

I repeat, Human Services Committee, and was contacted by our community elders, some of whom have lived there for decades.

And some have lived there, whether from three months to 49 years.

calling this their home.

There's no need, my friends, for them to face displacement or homelessness because the trustees of the property, executives of U.S.

Bank are selling the property or seeking to sell the property for $22 million for a for-profit developer who intends to demolish it and replace them with market-rate townhouses that none of us will be able to live in.

There's no need to shove 85 beloved elders on the cold, wet streets of Seattle.

No need.

Rather, it's embarrassing for the city and heartbreaking as well.

So let's not make this happen.

Many of the residents have shared with me that they have built their homes from their savings for decades, working hard, paying taxes, loving the community.

A resident said he moved in with his mobile home with his mother to take care of his mother in 1970, 49 years ago.

85 residents, 85 stories.

The world tells us there's no room, yet we know there's plenty of room.

The city council can make a difference.

Please make a difference by letting our beloved elders, our beloved mentors, our beloved seniors of Halcyon keep their homes.

Do not add to homelessness.

We together can make a promise to end homelessness in Seattle.

The world tells us there's no room, yet we know better.

There's plenty of room.

Let's make a difference.

Hi, my name's Dan.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

And I think this is yet another example of a struggle over who runs the city, big business or ordinary people, right?

Big business wants to treat this city like it's an investment opportunity to make as much profits as possible, right?

And it doesn't matter to them that seniors could lose their homes because all they care about is making the most money possible.

And it's the same reason big developers are raising rents and evicting people all over this city.

But we think that the seniors at Halcyon have a right to say what happens to their homes.

This is their city, their homes, and they should get to decide, not big businesses like U.S.

Bank.

And I think this fight is about the seniors at Halcyon, but it's also about all the seniors and all working people who are struggling to live in this city.

And I think a victory for the seniors at Halcyon will be a victory for seniors and working people all across this city.

So I'm proud to stand with you all today.

And I think if we can build a fighting movement, I think we can win.

And I think we can tell big business that they don't get to push around, push people around and treat people like their lives are expendable.

After Renee comes Devin Silvernail followed by Renee Hagen or Hageen.

Cool.

So I'm here in solidarity with this

Halcyon, thank you, mobile home ownership park.

My mom, who she passed in July, but in Vancouver, Washington, she lived in 55 and older mobile home park, and it was wonderful for everybody.

Now, and I can imagine that if Vancouver was doing this, Well, they're not up zoning like is, you know and demanding as many homes and maybe the quite the need but it is a Extremely large growing city as well but I There's no place for these for anyone to go And you know in assisted living You know how much it costs a month for minimum?

$5,000.

So where are we going to replace everyone?

We're going to put them in a, you know, we don't have the place for them to live right now.

So that's not part of the equation.

Some of them could maybe go into assisted living and that's going to cost the state a heck of a lot more money in assisted living.

And what about the moral part of this?

Where's the morals gone in this city?

For five, seven years, I've been coming down here now advocating for housing.

And I won't tell my story, but I'm here because I believe and I know people, hardworking people, people deserve a roof over their head.

And darn it, I'm 61 years old and I worked since I was 10 and I'm not where I wanted to be either.

And if it wasn't for affordable housing, I'd probably be on the street, too.

But I'm no longer ashamed.

I'm grateful.

Because life isn't fair for everyone.

That just is the facts.

And as my body's starting to shake, but damn it, as long as I can, I'm gonna keep advocating for what's morally right.

Because we're human beings.

We're not robots.

And when we can think with the intelligence of our heart, because there's enough money to take care of all these needs.

So I please, I beg the city council members that aren't here and people that are on that committee that they can stop and do whatever they can to keep these people in their home.

Thank you.

After Devin is Joe Wall followed by Barbara Hersey.

Good afternoon, everybody here in Chambers.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Sawant.

My name is Devin Silvernail.

I am a member of the Seattle Renters Commission.

I'm also executive director of Be Seattle, a nonprofit that works both with renters and with the homeless in this city.

And, you know, I can tell you that I've met too many people who have either been facing homelessness or have ended up on the streets due to displacement in this city.

And just thinking about it makes me so sad.

And we know, we know that this crisis is particularly difficult on seniors, that displacement is particularly difficult on seniors, and that it's very dire if you are displaced onto the streets, which honestly will happen to a lot of folks if they do get evicted from where they're living.

You know, and I think that In 2019, in this city, in Seattle, we have an opportunity still to work to help the people that are being affected most by the affordability crisis and to protect the people who are being affected.

And so I would urge, obviously, Council Member Sawant, you've organized this, you're on board with it, but I would urge Council Member Juarez and Harold and everyone else to support these folks here because for them it's do or die and if you don't do it, we know what side you're on and 2019 is going to end quicker than you think.

So thanks so much.

I want to thank Councilmember Sawant for taking up this issue.

Thank you very much.

I have I came down here to offer an alternative and that was that but you probably don't need it I think you're headed in a better direction.

The city has a large plot of land over at Magnuson Park, no Fort Lewis, the Fort Lewis redevelopment and I'm estimating that this location we're talking about is about two acres.

That's probably about 35 acres.

If your plan A doesn't work, I want you to entertain a land swap with this developer.

Keep the trailer park.

Don't force these people to move out.

Have the city own it.

Have the Office of Housing run it.

The other thing I wanted to mention to the people at the park is that you folks have friends and neighbors all over the town.

Let your relatives and your neighbors know what's being done to you, so they can get on board your righteous fight to maintain your homes.

Mobile home living is high density, it's environmentally friendly, and it's already there.

And so I applaud you for trying to hang on to your homes, and to the council member for taking this up, thank you.

Thank you.

If I might interject, thank you for the other idea that you suggested also.

I mean, we're not closed to any possible options.

The question is, let's do something to make sure that the residents are protected permanently.

So next on our last four speakers are Barbara Hersey, followed by Megan Murphy, followed by Linda McCoy, followed by Laura Lowe Bernstein.

Councilmember Sawant, thank you for inviting us here today.

My name is Barbara Hersey.

I've been a longtime City of Seattle resident.

I don't live at Halcyon.

I live in the U District, actually.

One of my friends, Linda McCoy, lives at Halcyon and bought a mobile home there a few years ago.

And she's the one who's made me aware of the situation.

And since then, I've met a number of the other residents at Halcyon.

I'm very concerned learning about their situation because this is a senior park and many of the residents are elderly and or disabled.

I attended a meeting a few days ago about discussing transportation to get to the hearing today for residents and the questions were, you know, will they be able to climb the hill, walk the hill from third to fourth?

will they need somebody to help them not get lost and be able to actually get here to City Hall and after hearing this discussion, I thought, you know, these elderly citizens cannot manage the logistics of moving all of their belongings, let alone find a place to live and pay the additional cost of rent if they could find a place.

We need to do something to stop this and to assist these people.

I noted that council members Herbold and Mosqueda recently went to New York to say, hey, Seattle should have done more.

Well, now's the time.

Seattle needs to do more to protect the people who are being displaced.

Yes, we need more housing across the board, but we must take care of those who are being displaced first.

I'm so glad you're taking up this issue now and catching it before it falls through the cracks.

The whole board is already in order.

It's already set up as an organization.

Where I'm from in Iowa, my family slipped through the cracks of me and my son.

Stephen King, who's recently been in the New York Times for 16 years, shattered the whole culture and he was quoted over 16 years of saying the things he said and nobody called him out and he should have been called out a long time ago and see what happens when things are allowed to fester for long periods of time.

I think it's important for people to be able to stay on their land when they're vulnerable and I think You know, I don't know how common it is for local politicians to take up issues such as this.

I'm so glad that this is happening and it's being published because the more the word gets out, the more everybody can see what the correct thing to do is, is to allow the people here to stay.

One of my closest friends I've met in a grief and loss group is 76. And she's been a stable, she always tells me to persevere.

She's been a stronghold for my tiny community of my innermost circle.

And I always imagine her meeting my son as soon as possible, which may or may not happen.

She's been a dear friend and let's just keep things in place in a good way before it's too late.

Thank you.

Linda McCoy followed by Laurel Oberstein.

Hi, thank you, Council Member Shawant for calling this meeting.

I live at Halcyon, and I just want to say a few words.

You're going to be hearing from some other people from Halcyon a little later on, and they're going to be telling you their stories in more depth.

I just want to say Halcyon is in a particular situation.

It is actually in a trust set up by a testamentary will.

So there are some limitations around how you solve this.

On the other hand, what that means is there is no one person who owns this land.

So if you talk about who has the right to sell the land, I think that comes into question at a certain point.

And so I just want to bring that point up.

And then the other bottom line that I kind of came to, which is pretty obvious, but it just seems so clear to me that in any kind of development, If there is displacement of people from their homes, it should be up to the person buying the property for the development to pay and arrange for that housing or relocation or compensation for displacement.

For example, if someone can pay over $10 million, somewhere between 10 million and asking price 22 million for this piece of land that is our mobile home park, certainly they could take a portion of that and pay for full compensation to us for displacement.

And I think that should be the law of the land for any displacement of people from their homes.

Thank you very much.

Our last speaker is Laura LoBernstein.

Laura and I'm a District 4 renter and I'm here to say that my group share the cities.

We wanted to let the Halcyon residents know that we're listening and that many of us are in many other groups.

We're an organizing collective of renters mostly that are really concerned with District 5 displacement with the two new light rail stations coming in and we've been talking to residents for five months and knocking on doors and now that this has caught our attention and thank you Councilmember Sawant for bringing it to a wider attention for everyone.

We want to help and we're going to be listening to you today and connecting with Linda and I wish that all the other council members were here and I really hope they're all watching this later on, at least the taped version of this.

So thank you for doing this hearing.

And that is our final speaker.

So if there's any of the speakers for the main point on the agenda that have not come to the table yet, now's the time to do so.

There's three more chairs.

So, welcome everybody to the table.

I guess there are four more chairs.

No, Nick is going to sit or?

Yeah, you should go ahead.

So, first of all, thank you everybody who spoke in public comment.

It was really important and I think it was important that we had not both the residents of Halcyon but also people who are here to support affordable housing as a whole.

I wanted to thank PASARA which is Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action, Brent McFarland who spoke from PASARA and also Sarah Jane Siegfried who made I think an eloquent case for why this would be totally wrong if the residents of Halcyon would be displaced and I also wanted to thank Laura Lowe from Share the Cities and Devin Silvernail from BC Seattle because it also illustrates that we have solidarity across the community and it illustrates that homeowners and renters and People who are advocating for density, we all are in this together because we all want to make Seattle an affordable city for everybody, but we can't do that if we are displacing people who currently have affordable housing.

So it's really important that we had their voices as well.

Obviously, we want to hear everybody's story, but we also have limited time because people also have to get back to their families and their lives.

So I would urge you all, each of you, to keep your comments as brief as possible, but, you know, maybe three minutes, and we can hear many stories.

And if there are Nick Jones from my office who's been in close coordination with the residents, I've let him know that if there are other people who want to, who really want to come and tell their story, We can make a little more time, in which case, some of you have already said your stories.

Maybe you should go back to your seats here, and then we can make room for them, if there's any interest in that.

But we should go ahead and get started.

Maybe you all have decided who's gonna go first, or you can do it in any order.

That's fine.

Yeah, start by introducing your name, of course.

Yes, my name is Renee Hagum.

I live at the Halcyon Mobile Home Park.

I've lived there seven years.

During my...

Working life.

I was a bartender for 38 years.

I'm 18 years with the local eight bartenders Union I also worked at Albertsons grocery store just prior to their closing Before I found the Halcyon mobile home park I was homeless and I It wasn't pretty, I'm telling you.

I mean, from a cardboard box behind a 7-Eleven store, waiting until 2 o'clock in the morning to get a hot dog for free because they were gonna throw them out.

Then, I felt like God had blessed me.

I found a tool shed that a guy rented me for two years at $200 a month.

No heat, no running water, no electricity, but I stayed there for two years.

Then I found Halstead Mobile Home Park.

I thought, God's blessed me again.

I am so thankful to...

for the city of Seattle, the HomeWise program.

My mobile home was like three walls and a roof, sort of a roof.

I had no window in my back door.

But by the grace and the blessings of that HomeWise program, I was able to get new doors, new windows all the way around.

They blew in insulation.

I have a heat pump, which makes my home efficient, energy efficient, therefore I was allowed to apply for the program through Seattle City Light that would help me gain points with my energy efficiency and save on my electric bill.

Like I said, I've been there seven years.

Each one of these pictures represent a year that I've lived there.

And what I did with the property, because it was like three foot high weeds where all the flowers are.

And, you know, laurel hedge taller than my mobile home, but I tried to improve.

a property to make it attractive and be respectful towards my neighbors.

I grow vegetables and try and share them with most of the residents of the Halcyon Mobile Home Park, especially those that can't get to the grocery store or don't have transportation.

I think it's just a neighborly thing to do, and that's what we've become, and that's what I've learned to enjoy about living at the Halcyon Mobile Home Park.

My father's ashes.

are here.

If I'd have known my home could be taken away from me, certainly I would never have put them there.

Like I say, I'm really blessed to have a home, and for seven years I've had the security without worry of having a home, and now they want to take it away.

I don't understand why the city of Seattle wanting to help me out and improve and refurbish my home so it's livable and I can be proud and call it home.

You know, how can we throw U.S. bank money, or whoever's money, and tear up what the city has tried to help us do?

To keep our homes, keep them refurbished and livable.

This is wrong.

We are a community that takes care of each other.

We check on each other and make sure each other's okay.

We grow fruits and vegetables to share with each other.

We do wellness checks.

We bring meals.

I get rides to my doctor appointments all the time from my next door neighbor, Tom.

That's what Halcyon Community is.

Every community should be able to have what we have at Halcyon Park, and we don't deserve to have it taken away.

Thank you.

My name is Eloise Mickelson.

I bought my home in Halcyon Park in 2003, 15 years ago.

At the time, I was looking to downsize to a location near my mother.

A friend who was a realtor who lived in the park told me about this place called Halcyon, a safe, secure place for 55 years and older.

I was told that I could settle down for life there.

The only thing I needed to worry about was paying my rent on time and keeping the rules and decide who to leave my home to when I died.

Management also assured me of that fact.

So today, in light of our situation, facing the prospect of losing our homes, it is devastating to our families, friends and relationships.

We lose where our grandkids come to visit and play.

It's like someone is a It's like someone just came in.

I'm sorry I'm so nervous about this, my first time on this kind of situation.

But it's like someone come in and robbed my life and dumped me into a homeless tent.

This is a decision by people who aren't thinking about the parents and grandparents being forced into this situation.

This is a caring community.

We look out for one another.

And I know many of us are telling that same story over and over again, because it's true.

I've held many hands, 41 to be exact, who's passed on under my care.

And I'm so thankful that I'm blessed to be able to stand in a gap for many people.

This is a caring community.

We look out for each other.

Some of us, and I'm sure you've heard it over and over again, really would have no other place to go.

So I'm here to ask the city of the powers that be to think about the pain and suffering continuing this project will cause our community.

To the city of Seattle, City Council of Human Services, Councilwoman Suat, The Seattle Times, Cairo Radio, KUOW NPR, thank you all, and oh, I missed someone, Real News, Channel 13, for listening.

Thank you for your support.

Most of all, thank you for caring.

My name is Marilyn Reed.

I live in the Halcyon Mobile Home Park.

I may feel emotional, and it's because my dear friend Patty lives in the park.

She's lived there for more than 15 years.

It's because of her that I'm there.

How many?

25. 25 years.

And so she has asked me to read a letter for her because she was unable to come.

She is a vice president of the Seattle Storytellers Guild in Seattle, so she's entitled it Broken Trust, Broken Hearts.

I am 82 and have just had major surgery.

Oh, yes.

Thank you.

So I'm reading for Patty Zaitlin.

I am 82 and have just had major surgery and unable to attend today.

I live with about 100 other seniors in the Halcyon Mobile Home Park in North Seattle.

We own our homes and pay monthly rent for the land.

Knowing other mobile home parks has been sold to developers.

All of us have asked about that when we moved in.

We were told both by Affordable Living Real Estate and the park managers that this place was in trust with the University of Washington and could never be sold.

We believed it.

We were shocked to learn recently that our park has been put up for sale and available to developers and now under a pending sale.

We are all frightened.

This place is affordable.

We are low income seniors and a number of us are disabled.

Most of us have invested all of our life savings into our homes and improvements.

We learned in July, first by rumor, then officially 11 days later from management, that our park was for sale.

Two people who had already put their homes up for sale were suddenly faced with getting a mere pittance for their place if they could sell it at all.

A few weeks after hearing the news, one man died of a heart attack.

Another resident was hospitalized due to shock.

Another resident had to borrow money because he had put money down on another place, counting on the sale of his Halcyon home.

He went into a panic, put his place up for sale through Affordable Living, and left.

But he had to reduce his home from $20,000 to $4,000.

and possible buyers needed to be told that the park was for sale.

Eventually, he ended up with a mere $200 for his $20,000 home.

A serious offer has been made by Blue Fern Development to demolish our homes and put up 196 high-end townhouses.

Many of us go to churches nearby.

Our daily lives and activities are in the neighborhood.

We have friends all around this park.

And many of us don't drive.

This place is the center for our whole lives.

And there is nothing affordable for us outside of this.

We are low income.

This was to be our final residence.

The waiting lists for senior houses and even assisted living are full or closed.

The homes are too old to be moved.

What are we supposed to do?

We will all be homeless.

And why do the owners get to make the huge profit when the park is sold?

Well, we receive a pittance for the life savings we work so hard to earn and invest.

This park originally belonged to the city of Seattle and was sold to a woman, Hester McLaws, who originally set up a trust with UW as a senior park protected for seniors.

This is truly a case of broken trust and broken hearts.

Hi, I'm Lynette Chase, and my family and I have been in Halcyon for almost 30 years, my brother and my mother before us.

And we've all been told along the way that this was a safe place to be, that this could be our forever home because of the trust and everything that was up, that it was safe.

So we took our 401k, cashed it in, and now we have our forever home.

Well, along the way then, my husband had a near-fatal auto accident, and he is now in a nursing home 100% of the time.

He was already a disabled vet, but now he requires 24-hour care.

So, I'm on call 24-7 from the nursing home for all those emergencies that happen.

And if he goes in the hospital, then I end up spending four or five days sitting next to him so I can help communicate with the doctors and everything.

And then in 2015, is that right, then I got cancer.

And so I needed treatment.

I needed rides.

I needed groceries.

I needed someone to hold my hand.

And then we got through that.

And then this last spring, I developed a brain and a nerve issue, and I couldn't walk.

It affected my cognitive.

It affected my hearing, my vision.

not to mention all the pain.

Well, how do you think I got through all of this?

My family has since moved away or passed on, so I don't have family around to turn to, except for my family at Halcyon.

These people are here to give you rides, to hold your hand, to fix a cup of tea, Without them, I would have had to go through all of this alone.

It's a scary time anyway, but to have to do it all alone would have just been unbearable.

So I don't know what I would do without these people.

Yes, it's my home.

But it's more than that.

And I can't leave the area because my husband can't leave the area because of his medical needs.

So that means I can't, I could go, I have family in Florida, but I can't go there because I can't abandon my husband here.

So no matter what happens, I have to figure out how to continue to live in Seattle.

Even if I lose my home, I have no idea how we'd pay for it.

So I'm really in a quandary.

Anyway, so we could use all the help we can get.

Thank you.

I'd like to begin by thanking City Council members of the press and interested citizens who've come to this hearing today.

My name is Linda Constantine.

I moved to Halcyon Senior Community 10 1⁄2 years ago.

Like most at Halcyon, I retired after over 40 years of employment, my last job as a bookkeeper for Central Market.

In the summer of 2008, a chronic medical condition forced me to leave the workforce.

I had to face a sobering reality that I could no longer maintain the upkeep of my home.

At the same time, housing options were extremely limited in Seattle.

I was told about an affordable senior park with a few homes for sale in the same general neighborhood I had lived in for years.

That was appealing to me as I could continue to support the businesses where I was known and to remain in the area I was accustomed to.

I had been told that the park was owned by a trust and remained this community in perpetuity.

I discovered I had moved to a special place when I started finding little welcome gifts on my porch.

People were coming up to me or by the house to introduce themselves and make me feel welcome.

In very short order, it was apparent that I had found not just accommodations that I could afford, but a home and a community.

The people were lovely, and the amenities like a swimming pool, laundry facility, and meeting space were a huge plus.

I came to understand that Halcyon actually provided more for less.

It was apparent that this was the perfect place for me to live.

Our community is unique.

People get to know one another, watch out for one another, and help with pretty much everything.

There's the equivalent of a neighborhood watch built in.

People always know if there's someone sketchy on our streets.

Neighbors take care of one another.

They take each other to appointments, babysit pets, share their skills with each other, often doing work that's too expensive for people on a limited income.

There's a great feeling of security in that.

It's almost as if our park is a large extended family.

I cannot stress strongly enough how important and necessary this is for senior citizens and especially for those with disabilities.

Our community is our sanctuary.

Contrary to the assurances that Halcyon will always remain the same affordable senior housing, which most of us have been led to believe by various sources, suddenly out of the blue last summer, we each received a letter from the on-site managers telling us that the property had been listed for sale.

Just recently, we heard they had a buyer.

This is devastating news for me, and it's far worse for others in my neighborhood.

Will we be compensated?

And even if we are, where will we go?

Few, if any of us, can afford to live anywhere in the greater Seattle area.

This sale will displace over 80 seniors, many with disabilities.

How many of us will be forced into homelessness?

I personally have no family to help me out.

The best I'll be able to do is get a small motor home to live in, and that's only if we're well compensated.

Regardless, I will be left homeless.

And what of the people with severe medical issues?

Will the city or the state pay to take care of them?

It's unconscionable to me that the Board of Trustees would uproot a group of senior citizens like this.

Is profit more important than people?

Are we just disposable?

We don't think we are, and we're going to fight to save our homes.

Thank you.

My name is Bob, is this on?

Okay.

My name is Bob Hawley.

I've lived in the Halcyon home number 10 for nine and a half years.

I'm retired Boeing Spia technician.

The park is the only way I can stay in Seattle in my retirement.

Everything I need is close by.

There's good bus service downtown on the E line.

There's bicycle infrastructure in this area.

I can ride the urban trail for grocery shopping.

My doctor is at UW Northgate, a two-mile bicycle ride.

My church just purchased Green Lake Presbyterian site for our new location.

It's less than three and a half miles from Halcyon with bicycle infrastructure the entire way.

The park itself, we have neighbors that we all take care of each other.

I've been taking the doctor's appointments and pick people up after medical procedures.

I had a shoulder and knee injury a few years ago.

When I got back from the emergency room, I needed to go to the pharmacy.

Betty and 47 took me up there.

My next door neighbor, Fred, went up to the Highland ice arena to retrieve my car.

When I went for surgery, Linda, took me to the clinic and picked me up after my shoulder surgery.

I've also taken park residents to doctor's appointments when they needed it.

If we don't have this park, I will have to leave Seattle, my church, my friends, and my community.

If I don't live here, I will have to downsize my life.

I now enjoy freedoms to do things I could not do in an apartment.

It keeps me young to have a woodworking hobby and build small boats.

This summer, I'm doing the Salish 100 in a home-built boat.

This keeps my mind sharp and keeps me involved in life.

The word trustee is based on the word trust.

Our trustees are anything but trustworthy.

I demand new trustees come into the board.

I demand trustee positions for park residents so we have a say in the direction of the park.

And I demand this park be taken off the market now.

Hi, good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Helena Benedict, and I'm with the Tenants Union of Washington.

And we're here standing in solidarity with the residents of Halcyon.

I want to thank you all so much for coming here and burying your souls and your lives so folks who might not understand what's at stake here can get a glimpse of that.

And shame on the council members who couldn't take the time out of their working day to do their job and be here.

and listen to this testimony.

I've been honored to organize alongside folks at the FERS Mobile Home Park in SeaTac for more than two years now, and the stories that we're hearing today are just so heartbreakingly familiar.

The stories of a community that has sprouted up in a place that was maybe neglected, that folks were, you know, people in power have said that poor folks can live on top of a landfill, in the flight path of the airport.

And in that communities, through hard work and neighborliness and trust, they blossom into communities of opportunity, of support, of potential.

And now that suddenly it becomes something desirable, the system allows rich folks to sell that community for profit and get richer off of evicting the most vulnerable in our region.

And thank you to this, to Council Member Savant's office and for the city for starting this conversation.

After, you know, in SeaTac, it looks very different in terms of local government support.

So there's a huge amount of power here.

And I would just encourage folks to really Think beyond this day, the moratorium is super powerful.

Thinking about zoning, thinking about putting money where your mouth is and finding public dollars in the richest, one of the richest regions in the country to invest in public ownership or communal ownership of communities like this, which as we're learning today are just so precious.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Is she talking to us?

I don't know.

Talking to us.

What's she talking to?

I don't know.

She's talking about Lynette's husband.

About what?

I don't know what she's talking about.

Unfortunately, we couldn't hear what you were saying, but...

Could we maybe, yeah, maybe go with the next speaker, and then if you want to speak, please come forward and speak.

Okay, go ahead.

Good afternoon, my name is Leticia Vidales.

And I come from the community of First, the city of SeaTac.

I've been living there for about, I've been living there for 16 years and 5 months.

It is a very sad situation we are going through, because when I bought my house, I thought that I was going to live there forever.

I think it's very important that you help us keep our homes.

I've been listening to all the other speakers.

You know, they're senior citizens.

You know, sometime in the future we are going to be there.

What's going to happen to us when we get to that age?

It's been two years, two years and a half that we've been struggling to keep our house.

We have, we still have young children that want to go to the university.

What's going to happen to us if we lose our homes?

You know, we won't have a home and they won't be able to go to the school.

Creo que es muy importante, claro, para todos, tanto como para las personas que quieren invertir en negocio o algo.

Pero también es muy importante que también las personas piensen en el hogar de las personas.

¿Cuántas personas hay en la calle que no tienen casa?

Y ¿cuántos vamos a quedar más?

It is important for everybody, even for investors, but they also need to think about the people.

They need to think about how many people are living in these homes, how many homeless we already have, and how many they're going to create.

Entonces, pues, creo que si a ustedes tienen el poder, creo que si pueden ustedes hacer decir, okay, vamos a mitad y mitad, les damos ciertas opciones a ustedes, pero también no dejar a estas personas, que somos nosotros, dejarnos sin casa.

It's very important in our houses, although for many people they think that they are houses that roll and that is not important, but no, they are houses that are our homes.

We try to fix them so that they look pretty, that they are the same as a house that costs $500,000, $600,000.

For us, it's the same.

No somos ricos, no.

Entonces para eso nosotros es algo muy, algo muy grande para nosotros.

It's important that if you have the power for you to say to these people, you know, give us options.

Maybe, you know, we'll split.

You'll do half, we'll do half.

It is important not to leave us homeless.

Our homes are important to us.

Some people might think that because they're mobile homes, they're not important.

But these houses are our home.

We have invested in them.

We have fixed them to make them look pretty.

to make them as valuable as a 500,000, a 600,000 home.

It is the same for us.

We are not rich, but this is all we have.

Thank you for this opportunity that you're giving to our community.

I hope we find people with good hearts that allow us to keep our parks, our homes, and thank you very much.

Hola, buenas tardes.

Mi nombre es Marta Zamora y vengo de la comunidad de FIRST.

Hello, good afternoon.

My name is Marta Zamora and I come from the FIRST community.

Más que nada venimos también apoyándolos a ustedes que están pasando por lo que nosotros estamos pasando también.

More than anything, we are here to support you.

You are going through something that we are going through as well.

I want to tell you a little bit about my experience of living in a mobile home park.

I have lived there for more than 16 years.

When I decided to buy a mobile home, I did it with the idea of having a fixed place to stay, being in a stable situation.

Like the way you were mentioning it, you know, it is a form, it's an economic form, you know, for people with disabilities.

I receive a kidney transplant.

A lot of us, it doesn't matter how hard we work, a lot of us have two jobs or more just to have a normal life.

I think it is unfair by the owners from one day to the next to tell you we are going to close this place, you have to destroy your house.

So when you buy a house, it's for, you know, trying to have a stable life.

Because once you have a home, you can get assistance from your family, your children, your neighbors.

It's an economic way to extend, you know, your income.

And live in a dignified home.

that she can help us make the laws a little more equitable, so that they don't just go to the owner of the park, but also benefit the renters.

And we feel like, like you, you know, you can help us to make more fair laws that don't only benefit the owners, but also the renters.

Because when they gave us the news, they said, you know, you're going to receive assistance from the state, but that assistance is to destroy your homes.

So if we have a crisis in homes, why are they destroying houses if we are living in a crisis?

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today and let's work hard because we can try to work hard to keep our homes.

Hi, I'm Nicholas Jones.

I'm a staff member with Shelma Swan's office.

I've had the privilege to work alongside the Halcyon community over the last weeks or so to door knock with their neighbors and meet everyone in the community and really see what life at Halcyon is like.

And through that experience, I've really seen a community that has really been shaped by the loving hands of the people that make it.

I've seen Lynette's incredible sewing abilities.

I've seen the boats that Bob mentioned.

I've seen, just this morning, Wes was showing me the hand-painted murals that they've put on the walls of their community rooms.

And I've seen, the beautiful paintings that Eloise decorates her own apartment with.

This is a community of people, of artists, of people that contribute not just to Halcyon, but the community that surrounds it.

I think that's really important.

that what happens here, it goes far beyond everything that happens at Halcyon.

It means everything to the community right across the street, the Bellevue Mobile Home Park.

We know if something in this sale goes through and Halcyon was, that community was destroyed and all these lovely people pushed out, what's knocking on the door of all the other communities that developers also want to get their hands on?

Through door knocking, I also had an opportunity to talk face-to-face with many of the people that were too ill to be here today.

A lot of the folks there, like people have already mentioned, are disabled, are struggling.

And in this situation where they're going to be forced out, that is a one-way ticket to destitution, to the street.

And we can't allow that to happen.

Many of the people here, like I said, have sunk their life savings, their retirement, their pensions into their homes at Halcyon.

They've given all their all in their lives to make this a place that they want to live and die together in.

And almost everyone here has shared with me their stories, their memories, their tears.

And just how terrified they are at the thought of the future that could wait them if this sale goes through.

And this, yes, when my colleague Jonathan Rosenblum and myself, when I first met a lot of the residents, we asked them, what's one word that describes this community to you?

And over and over again, people told us it was home, it was community.

It was safety and security in the midst of what is clearly a crisis of affordability in this city.

And that's obvious to everyone.

This situation is, it comes down just about profit versus people.

And I think it's imperative that we do everything we can to save the community of Falcian.

And I've been very honored and proud to fight alongside all of you.

And thank you for letting me do that.

Hi, my name is Wesley Shearer and I live in space 58 or I now I call it my home When you displace people it's hard But the homeless people it's even harder Because they have to live on the streets Some of the people who live on the street are mentally challenged.

It is more harder for them to live in this world.

Now, my daughter is mentally challenged, and she has been mentally challenged ever since her birth.

I have taught her about how to do a bank account and other things, try to make her sufficient.

But when you take that away from her, it's a lot harder Because me, I know what to do or try to do, and other people know what they want to do or will search for it.

But a mentally challenged person can't, because they don't really understand the situation that is brought forth to them.

And it's very hard for her to learn what to do, since it's hard for me to teach her if she's out on the street.

or can't be placed in a place with other persons like her.

We can try to look for something, but it's more harder for her.

Please, help us save our community, because that's all we have.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today and for helping organize this event.

My name is Kylan Parks.

I'm the co-founder of the Association of Manufactured Homeowners and the vice president of the National Manufactured Homeowners Association.

I am crying up here listening to your stories.

I've worked with you for about a month now because this is a very, very emotional subject for me because I too was, I am a mobile home owner and I live in a community in Linwood that was sold to a developer 12 years ago.

We organized quickly, fought to save, went to a council meeting in Linwood, picket signs and signs that said don't kick grandma out, just that helps.

And The developer showed up at the meeting and said to us he would be happy to sell the park back to us for $100,000 each, a lot, space.

That was extremely ludicrous.

But what it did say to us is that perhaps there is an opportunity that he would sell if we put enough pressure on him.

He was a local developer, church in the area, those kinds of things, okay?

We approached the Housing Authority of Snohomish County, and this was at the top in around 2007, of the market, and asked if they would be interested in purchasing our community.

They said they were.

We were delighted.

They met with the developer.

They entered into a purchase and sale agreement that gave them one year to find the financing.

The housing authority came to our homeowners association, which I was elected president only because I was the youngest, I think, and asked if the board was willing to take a whole year to lobby the legislature and Sonoma County and everybody and their brothers and sisters for the money that it took, which was $10 million to save our community.

I quit work, many of us, and lobbied the entire state and worked extremely hard.

And I'm here to give you hope because we were successful, and I do live in the same home that I remember.

very clearly doing interviews, and they said, what is it like?

And I said, if I lose my home, I have to see it go to the dump.

This is my sanctuary.

Appreciate that word.

And I feel like it is having me hold a gun to my head and asking me to pull the trigger.

And I think you all feel exactly the same way.

So you can stick together.

Look at the surrounding support that you've gotten today.

It is possible.

We will stand in solidarity.

We will fight.

The reason we formed the Association of Manufactured Homeowners is, and we've been working with the FERS and helped them form an association.

I've been helping Halcyon form an association because we all have to stick together.

We are smart.

We are not trailer trash.

We live in manufactured housing communities.

We pay our way.

We're proud people.

We're, for the most part, not on subsidies.

And we are the ones that pour your coffee, have done your hard work, have made your beds, have done all of those things.

And you want to throw us away.

So, I mean, when I hear you feel disposable, That is insane right here the stories you heard how many intangible costs of these people saved the state of Washington by taking each other for transportation And to doctors and to churches and and feed each other and you know grow vegetables That is a lot of intangible cost the state of Washington is always looking at.

Well, what about the money?

What about the money?

We saved our community because we proved it was more affordable to keep than it was to lose.

Because if you lose this community, it will never return.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Council Member Chawant and everyone around the table.

My name is Isabel Dickens.

I'm here today as a board member of the Seattle Displacement Coalition and as one of the founding members, if you like, of the Association of Manufactured Homeowners.

I've been working with manufactured homeowners for over 30 years.

I visited Halcyon in 1988. I was a volunteer at that time, and I'm a volunteer again now.

But between then and now, I became a community organizer, then I went to law school specifically to get my law degree to work for people who own their homes, but who rent the land under them out of the most vulnerable homeowners in the country.

When I started it with the Seattle Displacement Coalition in 1988, We met at Broadview United Church of Christ, which is in your neighborhood.

We had members of the Halcyon Neighborhood Association come to those meetings.

We had the city council members at the time come, and we worked on those first moratoriums that are mentioned in the memorandum here.

We were part of that.

I remember Jim Street, Jane Nolan, people like that coming to Broadview Church and meeting with homeowners.

At that time, there were six manufactured housing communities between 98th and 145th on Aurora.

Now there are two yourselves and Bella Bee both at risk.

I was also involved at the time, after volunteering, I was hired by the Low Income Housing Institute and we worked to try to save what was National Trailer Park, I hate the T word, but that's what it was called at the time, on 125th and Aurora, on the other side of Aurora from where you are.

We were within Hours, hours of saving that community, but we had to wait for the city council to take one more vote, and that process killed that opportunity.

I don't know why they didn't do an emergency vote, but they didn't, and we lost more than 100 spaces there.

I was involved with the folks at University Trailer Park.

They lost their community last year, and I know at least one of those homeowners is homeless.

That community was the only one when the city looked at, during the moratoria, and they looked to zone the communities, University Trailer Park was the only one that they considered worthy of changing the zoning for.

Unfortunately, they didn't prevail in the end.

But there are things that we can do.

And you've heard Kylan's story, and I worked with Kylan, and I'm working with the homeowners at the FERS, and I'm happy to provide what help I can for you, because there are things that we can do.

We're talking about the moratorium, which gives the city time to put together long-term plans.

We can look at local zoning ordinances.

We've worked with Ammo, has worked with Tumwater, Lynnwood, Marysville, Spokane, Snohomish County, and we're in the middle of working with Kenmore to try to get local zoning ordinances passed.

The park owners have challenged those zoning ordinances, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Tumwater's zoning ordinance way back in 2010. So it can be done.

We're also looking at bills in Olympia.

AMO and others are looking at a very large, what we're calling omnibus bill that would require the landlord to give you five years notice of closure, allow a non-profit or the residence association or a housing authority to try to purchase the community within the first year.

Or if that doesn't happen and the landlord still wants you out in less than five, they have to pay fair market value or assess value for your homes after two years, or else you get to stay at least five and try to at least get some return on the equity.

Because you have invested in your homes.

This is your nest egg.

This is your, you know, inheritance for your families.

And you deserve nothing less than to be able to make the choices to live where you choose to live.

and to have your homes for the rest of your lives.

And I would be happy to work with staff and with Kushana and others to do what we can to find ways to preserve the communities.

Because unless you get full compensation as relocation assistance, you are not going to be homeowners again.

That's the sad reality.

And there has to be a better way.

You deserve nothing less.

Thank you.

I'm so grateful to everybody who shared their stories and it was really important because it For anybody who's watching, and I know some people are watching because they are actually messaging me as we speak, saying that they're watching and they can't believe there's no other council member here to hear the stories.

It's important because it's a reminder that we're talking about real human beings with real families and real communities.

And as you said, as you all said, you're not only losing your financial equity if this happens, if this sale goes through, you're also losing the only community that you have and actually, I think some of you said it even more movingly, which is that, actually, I wish others could have this community.

Because in reality, the way you're describing your community, I don't have that.

And I wish I did.

So it's something to aspire to, actually.

The second part of our meeting, we're going to have Ted Verdone, who's the policy analyst from my office, and Ketil Freeman, who is right here, who's from central staff, who's been working on the policy aspect of this, to give us more information about what the concrete next steps are.

But before we go to that, which we will do in a minute or two, I just wanted to recognize one or two things and make an announcement.

One is, we already, just in the individual testimonies, we've heard three different unions being mentioned, Teamsters, SPIA, the engineers union for Boeing, and Local 8. Yeah, I was about to say Local 8. So I just wanted to say to all of you that I think, and Mike Andrews, who's here, who's representing PASARA, but also is from the labor movement, that I think We should be making a call to the labor unions in Seattle, in the Seattle region, to issue statements of support in favor of maintaining Halcyon.

And my office will help you with that.

But we need your signatures on the letters because they need to hear from you, not just from me and my office.

So we should be working on that as a concrete next step.

I really think that it's important to remind the council that if they If they don't act on this, they will be kicking grandma out, and that's going to be on their conscience.

And so we have to make sure that they understand what political price they have to pay for it.

And I would say, Colin, we're not holding guns to our own heads.

The corporations and the political elite who allow this city to not be affordable to the rest of us, they are holding guns to our heads.

So do we all agree that it's time to convert our tears into a fighting struggle?

And when?

We might, I mean, I know the Halcyon community members will be having an organizing meeting that Jonathan, Nick, and others will be at early next week, so I don't have a concrete date and time for this action, but very likely, one of our actions, I think logically, should be a protest action outside U.S.

Bank.

Who here is going to join us, if you can, that is, if you don't have work?

Oh, yeah.

Jonathan has sign-up sheets.

If you haven't already signed up, please make sure you sign up so we can contact you.

And I think it was very, very valuable.

First of all, thank you, Helena Benedict from the Tenants Union, and Leticia Pitalis and Martha Zamora.

I'm sorry if I'm not saying your names right, but thank you so much for being here.

Can we have the FERS community and the Lynwood community also join us in big numbers?

Because your voice was very important.

So can we have more of you come to either the US Bank action or to other actions?

Because then we can say that, you know, this is...

This is not just a problem Seattle is facing.

Other cities have already faced, and you've already fought these battles first, is facing it right now in SeaTac.

And then, so another show of hands.

We will be bringing legislation forward next week because we have to act urgently on this.

Who here commits to either coming themselves or bringing people with them or both to make sure that city council hears your voices?

Come on, we need more hands up.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much.

Thank you all for being here.

And we will be following up with you all.

But for now, if I can invite Ted and Ketil to the table.

Thank you so much.

Let's give them a round of applause.

No, you should leave because, yeah.

Yes, yes, you should ask and he'll show you to the restroom.

You can go, yeah.

Some folks have to leave at 3.30 sharp.

Some people have to leave at 3.30 sharp.

I want to make sure we get as much in as possible.

Can folks please sit down?

Okay, that's fine.

Okay, can we have introductions for the record?

Ted Verdone, Council Member Solon's office.

Council Central staff.

Okay.

So, Ketil, if you want to just kick this session off.

Sure.

So, I think a lot of what I would go over has been covered in one way or another through your introductory remarks or comments made by folks who are here at the table.

I'll just remark on a few things.

One, a little bit of history, which Ms. Dickens talked about a little bit.

And then a couple of options here for the council to consider going forward.

But as Ms. Dickens mentioned, between 1988 and 1990, there were Four, there was an initial moratorium and then three continuations of that moratorium to allow the city time to consider different options for stabilizing mobile home parks within the city.

So that's certainly an option that the council can consider here and one that we are developing for you.

And can I ask a question on that?

How long of a duration was each of those moratoria?

The initial moratorium was for one year, and then under state law, you can continue that moratorium for six-month periods.

Okay.

And can you also explain just very quickly what actually that moratorium enables?

Sure.

So a moratorium is essentially a device.

It's a land-use device to buy time for the council to consider what permanent regulations to put in place that may help stabilize mobile home communities.

So, similar to the show box, it's an action that the council can take that has a work program that accompanies it, that outlines essentially a schedule by which that council could consider permanent regulations that could benefit mobile home park communities.

But it sort of gets to what was done in Portland to a certain extent.

I've spent the last little while going over the change to comp plan policies and development regulations in Portland, and they are comprehensive.

They're lengthy and took time to develop.

So what a moratorium does is give the city time.

And so you had mentioned a piece of legislation that you've asked us to develop.

We're moving towards introducing that piece of legislation here on Tuesday.

As you know, the council can't act on an ordinance that's introduced, can't act on the same day as introduction for an ordinance, unlike a resolution.

So assuming that an ordinance is introduced or a bill is introduced on Tuesday, the earliest that the council could act on it, if it's referred to the full council, would be the following Monday.

The ordinance that the draft ordinance that we've created for you is effective immediately upon signature by the mayor So it will require a three-quarters vote of the full City Council to comply with the Charter In addition to and sort of looking further down the line here to what options may be available to the city to support mobile home park residents In addition to A non-exclusive option would be to consider relocation assistance that's not provided by the state, what that relocation assistance could look like, and other options could also be developed during the pendency of a moratorium.

Right.

And can I ask you also, in this particular case, do we have knowledge as to how urgent this is in terms of, I mean, the whole point of doing the moratorium urgently is to do it before the developer vests?

So that's to preclude a developer from vesting.

The way the moratorium would preclude applications, so somebody applying for a permit to develop the site and also processing of those applications.

If somebody were to apply before the moratorium became effective, their permit couldn't be issued for a year.

Practically speaking, it takes that long to get a mass use permit from the Seattle Department of Construction Inspections anyway.

But time is of the essence if the council wants to preserve the option for considering regulations that would stabilize mobile home parks.

To my knowledge, The developer has not applied.

It looked like there was a pre-application conference that occurred back in December, but it is certainly in their interest to get an application in for a variety of reasons, including the council's consideration of the upcoming EMAJ legislation, which would have an affordable housing obligation associated with it.

Just to be, yeah, so to my knowledge, the potential, the prospective purchaser of the Halcyon site has not applied for a master use permit.

They did, however, have a pre-application conference back in December.

so they may be applying soon.

It is in their interest to actually get an application in the door sooner rather than later.

I don't know what their development objectives are, so I don't have that sort of level of knowledge about what a developer may choose to do, but there is a financial incentive for them to apply sooner rather than later because the council is considering implementing mandatory housing affordability, which could include this site, Some council members are considering whether or not to exclude the site from the MHA program.

And if they did apply now or got an application in before MHA is implemented for the site, there would be no affordable housing obligation associated with that future development.

Yeah.

One of the residents indicated that he has a question, and he's at the microphone.

Hello, my name's Stuart Duckworth, and I have a question.

Halcyon is special because of all the people, but more than that, Halcyon zoning, as I understand it, is for trailer parks only because Halcyon is sitting on a landfill, garbage dump, if you will, in the late 40s, early 50s.

You can't even build a house on that.

So it's basically zoned for a mobile home.

So the city would have to change the zoning.

So that's the point.

If they don't change the zoning, a developer can't build on it.

So that's the end of the story.

So my understanding is that the underlying zoning of the Halcyon site is commercial 140, which is a commercial one zone designation that you would associate with kind of big box retail.

It may be the case that there is a critical area associated with the site.

Seattle has a lot of underground landfills that, you know, discharge methane.

They're ancient sort of landfills that are historical, maybe not ancient, but are historical.

There are different, there's sort of a higher level of engineering that may be involved in developing the site to mitigate against the impact to that critical area associated with the former landfill, but it doesn't preclude development of the site.

It doesn't restrict it just to mobile homes.

So that is pretty much it in a nutshell.

I think if you have any questions about sort of procedural stuff, we should have a piece of legislation introduced on Tuesday.

Obviously, you'll need to amend the introduction of referrals calendar to walk it on.

And then just one point of clarification because it can be confusing because the MHA legislation is, I mean, that process is just completely independent of what happened with Halcyon.

which, am I correct in understanding that it's not absolutely essential to exempt that region from, that property from the upzoning, but it would make sense if we wanted to maintain this mobile home park that we exempted.

It may take some development pressure off the mobile home park, but clearly there's development interest in it because somebody has gone through the exercise of I'm hiring an architect and getting a pre-application conference and developing a site plan.

What they're proposing to develop, the townhouse development that could be developed on the Halcyon site today is not contingent on an up zone occurring through MHA.

If the developer's objectives are to do something different, like build to a higher height, which would be allowed under MHA, then it may be in their interest to revise their application after it's been made.

But they're at least, you know, from sort of just looking at it from a permitting standpoint, there's enough development pressure today under existing zoning for the site to be converted to something else.

That's right.

That makes sense.

Did you have anything, Ted?

So just for members of the public who might not know the processes that were talked about in terms of introduction and that sort of thing.

So this bill to do a moratorium, it has to go through at minimum two steps.

First, it has to be what's called introduced, which makes it available and live.

And that's going to take a vote of the council.

The majority of the council is going to have to vote yes to just introduce it, to make it available.

That will hopefully happen from what we just heard on Tuesday.

It'll be ready for them to do that on Tuesday of next week.

And then after that, it'll go The soonest it would be available, then it would go to the full council, which means that the next Monday, at soonest, the council would have the opportunity to vote to do the moratorium.

And we would have to be very careful.

to push back against any attempts to delay because, well, we heard in the testimony the example of council in the past having delayed so long that the opportunity to protect a different park was lost.

And we have to be cautious of that, or I don't know what the word is.

We have to be prepared for that.

1.30 or what time is it?

So I think it's 2 o'clock is when the full council meeting will occur on Tuesday and the action by the council on Tuesday will be to amend the introduction and referrals calendar to add the bill.

Right.

The following Monday is when the council will take action on the bill assuming that it's referred directly to full council and that would happen sometime after 2 o'clock as well.

Right.

And the meeting, city council meeting on Tuesday is starting at 2, not 1.30, is that right?

I don't know.

I mean, normally it would be 2, but we may have changed the time because of the squeeze.

I'll look it up now.

Okay, but in any case, Tuesday, people should come early anyway, so you should keep 1.30 in mind, not 2 o'clock, because you should show up earlier, a little bit earlier anyway.

So even if the meeting starts at 2 o'clock, that's 1.30, it still makes sense.

On, okay, and Ketil, did you want to add anything else from your memo or?

No, I think we've covered it.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you so much, and we will be sending out an email notification for everybody who signed up.

to make sure that you are all here on Tuesday.

And we need to make sure that vote goes through.

So every person who was here today, it's important that you show up on Monday and especially for the, sorry, Tuesday.

And the reason it's on Tuesday, by the way, is because Monday is MLK Day.

City Council meetings are on Mondays.

And for Halcyon, a specific message for Halcyon residents, we will need more of you on Tuesday than even we had today.

Even though we had a great turnout today, we need an even better turnout on Tuesday.

Yes.

Just looked it up the City Council meeting on Tuesday is at 2 p.m.

So but if we get here at 1 30, yeah All contact the whole council, yeah Because everybody will have to vote on it on Tuesday, yes, I

Thank you very much, everybody.

Thank you, Ketil, and thank you, Ted.

And also, I wanted to thank Jonathan Rosenblum and Nick Jones from my office who have worked closely with the Halcyon residents and the Halcyon residents themselves, and Kylan and everybody.

Thank you for coming.

I appreciate it.