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As I wrote you last Friday, this week we were going to take a big step on more housing options for Seattle.
On Monday, we did just that. Standing with community members at the Ethiopian Community in Seattle, I announced a historic investment in more affordable housing: Next year, the City of Seattle will invest an additional $110 million to create over 1,900 new affordable homes. That?s the largest single investment in affordable housing in the history of the City of Seattle.
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Over last three years, the City of Seattle has made $250 million in investments in housing, which brings the City?s investment with our public and private partners to over $1.4 billion.
These investments reflect our partnership with community and community-based organizations. We are not only creating housing, we?re creating ground floor spaces for child care centers, senior health care center and community spaces that will benefit the residents of the buildings we are funding and the community as a whole.
These new, historic investments by the City are only possible because of Seattle voters? commitment to provide affordable homes through our Seattle Housing Levy. Thank you.
With another 3,400 new affordable homes expected to come online in the next few years, we have created a true partnership to deliver on a more affordable in Seattle. With investments in both permanent supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness, affordable housing for seniors, and housing for working families, we are addressing our affordability crisis. And as we look ahead to 2020, that hard work of creating a more affordable, inclusive Seattle will continue. We know we need to do more, and we will.
As always, don't hesitate 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. I look forward to hearing from you.
 
On Tuesday, Mayor Durkan announced a series of steps to improve safety on City streets and reaffirm the City?s commitment to achieving the Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. Mayor Durkan announced that the City will 1) reduce speed limits to 25 miles per hour (mph) citywide 2) double the number of safety-enhanced traffic signals 3) invest in engineering changes to create safer streets 4) create a new crash review task force, and 5) launch additional traffic safety education and enforcement tactics.?
 Photo courtesy of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce
?We must make our sidewalks and roads safe for everyone ? too many of our residents have lost their lives in traffic incidents, often the most vulnerable. That is unacceptable,? said Mayor Durkan. ?We are rolling out a series of investments and changes we know will work to improve safety in our City and help all our residents feel safe getting where they need to go.?
Speeding is a critical factor in traffic collisions; a pedestrian is twice as likely to be killed if hit by a car travelling 30 mph than a car travelling 25 mph. On roads where the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has already implemented a 25 mph speed limit, the department has measured a 35 percent reduction in crashes, a 20 percent reduction in severe injuries and deaths, and negligible impacts to traffic congestion.?
Read more about these changes here.
 Fresh Bucks, the City?s healthy food program focused on getting more fruits and vegetables into the hands of families with low incomes, is tripling the number of customers enrolled in the coming year. With $2 million in funding in Mayor Durkan?s 2020 budget plan was approved by City Council, Fresh Bucks will enroll over 6,000 Seattle residents in 2020, up from 2,000 in 2019. Customers enrolled in Fresh Bucks Vouchers receive $40 a month in benefits that can be used like cash to buy fruits and vegetables at participating retailers. Read more here.
Mayor Durkan?s decision to triple the number of people Fresh Bucks serves comes as the Trump administration issues a final rule which would result in 3.7 million fewer people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits each month, including nearly one million students who would lose access to free or reduced lunches. In Seattle, SNAP helps nearly 77,000 residents, or 11% of the city?s population, and SNAP helps 929,000 Washington residents, or 13% of the state population put food on their tables. In April 2020, Mayor Durkan submitted a public comment in opposition to the administration?s changes to SNAP.
 The United States District Court for the Northern District of California today issued a ruling in support of the City of Seattle?s request for an injunction to temporarily block the Department of Homeland Security?s (DHS) changes to the fee waiver rule.
In late October, the?City of Seattle,?Immigrant Legal Resource Center,?Catholic Immigration Legal Network,?Self-Help for the Elderly,?OneAmerica, and?Central American Resource Center of California?with?Protect Democracy,?Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC, and Mayer Brown LLP filed a lawsuit against DHS for its changes to the naturalization fee waiver process. The Trump administration?s changes will disproportionately impact low-income residents seeking to become United States citizens.
More information on the successful injunction can be found at the Protect Democracy website:?https://protectdemocracy.org/update/breaking-judge-bars-dhs-from-implementing-unlawful-changes-to-fees-for-citizenship/
 Photo courtesy of Argosy Cruises
Christmas Ship Parade of Boats: Friday, December 13; 7:30 p.m. ? 9:30 p.m.
Philippine Holiday Lantern Festival: Saturday, December 14; 9:00 a.m. ? 9:00 p.m.
Celtic Yuletide: Saturday, December 14; 7:30 p.m.
Holiday Maker?s Market @ KEXP: Friday, December 13; 2:00 p.m. ? 6:00 p.m. ?
 For this week?s edition of the Weekend Read, we encourage you to check out the Seattle Times?s coverage of the City?s recent $110 million investment in affordable housing:
This year, Seattle will invest the most it ever has in affordable housing, a total of $110 million, Mayor Jenny Durkan said Monday.
All of that funding will go toward the construction and redevelopment of new units, the most ever generated through Seattle investments in a single year ? 1,944 in full ? across the city.
Durkan, speaking from the Rainier Beach meeting hall of the Ethiopian Community in Seattle (ECS) on Monday afternoon, stressed the urgent need for affordable housing in a time of great economic growth and displacement.
?Look, we know that our city has grown so rapidly, and so many people have been pushed out of the community instantly, that I think it really threatens who we are as a city,? Durkan said.
Ethiopian Village, an ECS project that received $10.7 million from the city as part of today?s announcement, aims to counter some of this displacement by providing 89 units for low-income seniors in the neighborhood.
Seattle taxpayers have decided to?fund much of the city?s affordable-housing investment through the Seattle Housing Levy,?last renewed for another seven-year period in 2016, but this year the city was also able to use a?state sales-tax credit?authorized by the Washington Legislature last session. It allows local governments to invest in affordable housing. An additional $13.3 million came from that tax credit, as did $32 million from real estate excise-tax revenue and $12.75 million from the?sale of the Mercer Mega Block.
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