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I’ve said it often: Seattle needs more tools to build and operate new affordable homes for our neighbors experiencing long-term homelessness.
On Wednesday, we got one of those new tools.
That’s when I gathered with community members and state legislators to sign a new law that gives us the chance to invest at least $50 million in housing for people experiencing homelessness – all without raising taxes. That’s thanks to a new state law that we lobbied for this year in Olympia that lets Seattle retain more of the sales tax we already collect.
 This was another key step in my Housing Seattle Now plan to surge Seattle’s investments in housing across our City.
In the last five months alone, we’ve worked with communities to create more housing choices for Seattle – in addition to investing over $700 million with our partners in affordable housing over the last two years.
As I wrote you last week, with our plan for the sale of the City-owned properties along Mercer Street, we will have 175 new affordable apartments on-site at no cost to the City, in a true mixed-income building. Then, with the cash proceeds, we can invest $78 million in more housing options across Seattle.
 We also acted to renew and improve our City program that helps provide affordable rent to nearly 4,500 low- and middle-income households in private apartment buildings in neighborhoods across Seattle.
In June, I signed legislation to fulfill our commitment to creating hundreds of more affordable homes at Fort Lawton in Magnolia while ensuring that our neighborhoods can be vibrant, livable spaces today and for the next generation.
 And in March, I’d stood with community members as I signed a new law to implement the Mandatory Housing Affordability plan in 27 urban villages across Seattle.
 And because we need to do more to make it possible for families to stay in Seattle, I signed an Executive Order to step up our efforts to protect against displacement and gentrification.
These steps are important – but we need to do more. We’ll continue to act urgently to address the housing affordability crisis in Seattle and create a more affordable future.
As always, please continue to write me at [email protected], reach out via Twitter and Facebook, and stay up-to-date on the work we’re doing for the people of Seattle on my blog.
Sincerely,
 
This week, the Trump administration announced the implementation of a “public charge” rule. The rule will effectively impose an income test on immigrants and their families applying for green cards, forcing them to choose between reuniting with their loved ones and accessing crucial government services like health care, housing assistance, and other lifeline services.
In addition, Mayor Durkan commended Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson for his legal challenge to this president’s latest attack on our immigrant and refugee neighbors:
“In New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty stands tall and holds a torch that lights the way,” said Mayor Durkan. “And I'll remind Mr. Cuccinelli that it proclaims: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ This rule contradicts the fundamental values on which the promise of America is built. I am grateful to Attorney General Ferguson for fighting the president’s anti-immigrant and anti-family agenda, and to Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes for ensuring our City protects the constitutional freedoms of our communities.”
In December 2018, the City of Seattle submitted a public comment in opposition to the draft rule. In addition, the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA) worked with community to generate over 1,100 public comments in response to the public charge rule.
On Monday, Mayor Durkan applauded the City Council’s passage of a resolution in support of a Green New Deal for Seattle.
“Climate change is one of the gravest threats we face and the solutions to climate change must also be solutions that address income inequality and racial inequity. Governor Inslee said it well when he said, ‘our house is on fire,’” said Mayor Durkan. “Because of the tireless work of advocates and community leaders, Seattle has been a leader in fighting climate change and addressing environmental inequities. In Seattle, we have been moving ahead on our Climate Action Plan, which includes many of the major components of the Green New Deal. We are implementing legislation to create more green buildings, ensuring fair treatment of workers, providing free transit to young people and our low-income neighbors, electrifying our City vehicle fleet, expanding access to transit, creating a city with fewer cars and more safe routes for walking, biking, and rolling, working toward equitable implementation of congestion pricing, and advancing community-based plans like the Duwamish Valley Action Plan.”
Click here to learn more about Seattle’s Climate Action Plan – and click here to learn about Mayor Durkan’s new plan she announced on August 6 to fight climate change by speeding up the conversion of oil heated-homes to cleaner electric heat.
 Since November 2017, the City of Seattle has invested over $21 million in bike infrastructure and delivered 13 miles of new bike facilities like bike lanes. In 2019, the City expects to invest over $14 million and deliver an additional 11 miles of bike safety projects.
Click here to learn more about this new safe connection downtown and the City’s work to build more bike safety projects across Seattle.
This week the City approved $320,000 in funding for 11 community projects that will improve access to technology and provide digital skills training to Seattle residents.
This year’s recipients include programs that will serve youth with disabilities, English-language learners, low-income workers, people experiencing homelessness, women of color, and Indigenous artists, among others. The projects include computer labs, training in sounds and multimedia technologies, career training, and coding. These projects will reach more than 3,000 residents.
The Technology Matching Fund awards up to $50,000 to nonprofit organizations in Seattle for digital equity projects. City dollars are matched at 50 percent with cash or in-kind contributions of labor, software, hardware, supplies and services.
See the full list of winners and learn how organizations can apply in early 2020 for next year’s technology grants.
At an event for the Lenny Wilkens Foundation, Mayor Durkan announced that she will soon transmit legislation to create a new honorary designation of Lenny Wilkens Way along Thomas Street near the new arena at Seattle Center in honor of the Seattle sports legend Lenny Wilkens.
“This is a much deserved and overdue honor for a Seattle sports legend and remarkable person. As a player, coach, and the founder of the Lenny Wilkens Foundation, it’s hard to overestimate the impact that Coach Wilkens has had on Seattle. His commitment to community, including the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, is inspiring,” said Mayor Durkan. “I am excited to designate an honorary street for him near the brand-new Seattle Center Arena. I can’t wait for the day that we bring our Sonics back to Seattle, and they play their first game right next to Lenny Wilkens Way!
Read more here.
 In this week’s Weekend Read, we encourage you to explore Crosscut’s reporting on Attorney General Ferguson’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant and anti-family “public charge” rule:
Washington state on Wednesday joined a coalition of 13 states suing the Trump administration over a policy change that would deny green cards to immigrants who use public benefits, such as food stamps and Medicaid.
In a detailed, nearly 200-page federal lawsuit, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson calls the Trump administration’s new rules “a radical overhaul of federal immigration law” and argues that economic mobility among immigrants would no longer be possible.
Under the new rules, the definition of a person who is or will likely become dependent on government programs for subsistence, a so-called “public charge,” will dramatically change.
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