Starting my first month in office, many days would start and end with calls and messages from community members and leaders asking for additional help for the humanitarian and housing needs of asylee-seekers coming to our region and finding their way to the Riverton Park United Methodist Church (RPUMC) in Tukwila, inside of District 8. In fact, starting in late 2023, when I was still on the City Council of Seattle, we heard testimony from community partners like the Church Council of Greater Seattle and One America asking for support for the hundreds of newly arrived asylum-seekers.

This has been an unprecedented occurrence for our region and our local systems were not set up to deal with the scale of the challenge, but we've stepped up to meet the moment. Many in the group are asylum-seekers from Venezuela, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, fleeing violence and conflict in their homelands. They have fled unspeakable horrors, making a difficult journey with young children to seek what we all want, a better life and a brighter future for those we love. Many came here unaware of the affordable housing crisis we are currently dealing with. Their struggles are further complicated as while they await decisions on their asylum cases, they are unable to obtain work permits resulting in them being a uniquely vulnerable population.  

After visiting RPUMC last October to understand the situation better, I successfully allocated $200,000 in Seattle’s budget which was used to provide temporary housing for families during this winter's deadly cold snap. Other local governments and organizations also contributed to house people. King County Council last fall allocated over $3 million to provide emergency hotel housing to asylee-seekers; Tukwila is providing many services including a large emergency heated tent and services; interfaith groups and anonymous family foundations provided philanthropic support. Finally, the state legislature allocated over $30 million in a funding package, that will be available in July. Even with our previous work, the needs and situation continue to grow and evolve.  

I've been working hard collaborating with Executive Constantine, my Council colleagues, neighboring jurisdictions and state legislators to advocate for additional funding from State and Federal partners. After a conversation with Councilmember Barón and me after our first month in office, the Executive and his team were able to secure $1 million to support the group, and led an inclusive yet expedited process to determine where the funding should go. We've just learned the Executive's team has been able to allocate an addition $1 million resulting in $2 million of new aid to help keep people housed and healthy.

Four nonprofits will receive funding: 

-Lutheran Community Services Northwest will receive $750,000 to provide housing and case management services to asylum-seeking families and individuals in partnership with the Riverton Church leaders.  

-Northwest Immigrant Rights Project will receive $250,000 to provide asylum-seeking individuals and families with legal services to navigate work authorizations, notices of appeal, temporary protected status, asylum applications, and motions to change venue/change address. 

-Refugee Women’s Alliance will receive $750,000 to provide housing and case management services to asylum-seeking families and individuals, in partnership with Low Income Housing Institute.  

-Coalicion Dignidad Migrante (in partnership with Cooperativa Sanarte) will receive $250,000 to support case management and wrap-around support services. 

See King County’s press release for today’s $2 million announcement for more information:

NEWS: King County awards $2 million in grant funding to further assist asylees and refugees in Tukwila (govdelivery.com)

This week, at our Transportation, Economy and Environment committee, we passed a measure raising the minimum wage for the unincorporated areas of the County to bring it in line with the many cities that have already done so. Thanks to Councilmember Zahilay for leading this effort as prime sponsor, and Councilmember Dembowski as Committee Chair and co-sponsor for shepherding this through committee. It passed committee with a 4-1 vote.  

We know when workers make more, they spend more in their local economies – more on pizza, ice cream, rent, groceries, in small local businesses. This is an economic stimulator and gender equity issue. Raising the minimum wage matters to moms! According to the national organization Mom’s Rising: 56% of minimum wage workers are women; and 28% have children. This is also not about just about increasing wages for first time wage workers or teens. The statistics show the average age of a minimum wage worker is 35, and 44% have some college experience.  

This legislation has been carefully crafted including the last year before I arrived on council. The councilmembers heard the request to phase in the implementation date for small businesses to have more time to adapt, and the effective date has now been pushed out January 2025. I supported that change recognizing we must do education and outreach to both employers and employees so people know the new law, can plan, can have predictability, and time to implement. Another change made is that smaller employers start at a lower wage rate and phase in slower.   

We tracked the communication we received in addition meeting with all entities that asked to discuss this legislation. I received 35 emails with requests to oppose this legislation, and 156 emails in support of passing a higher minimum wage for King County workers.  

According to the New Yorker, a new study finds a higher minimum wage creates jobs. “Between 2014 and 2022, California increased its minimum wage by 56 percent in inflation-adjusted terms. Over a similar time period, New York raised its wage floor by 72 percent. Permanent double digit unemployment did not ensue. In fact, not only did these historically large minimum wage hikes fail to put all fast food workers out of job, but a new study indicates that they actually induced job growth.” This complements other national and local studies that lead with headlines that read ‘the sky is not falling’ from Seattle’s minimum-wage hike 

Thanks to all who testified, showed up, called in, met with us in unincorporated King County to provide input on the bill. We will be taking up the legislation at full council next month on May 7th so please be on the lookout for more updates going forward.

North Delridge - you have been speaking up, and I have been listening. After nearly two years of trying to work behind the scenes with Sound Transit staff to connect with small impacted businesses, after hosting a walking-tour to physically see the concerns in N. Delridge last quarter, and after hearing just a week ago that any specific small refinement request would need to go through a subcommittee - I attended and testified at the Sound Transit Systems Expansion Committee. This is an ongoing ask, not last minute, for adjustments to be considered. I asked for refinement options to utilize unused surface parking lots and underutilized roads and dead-end streets - all while protecting Longfellow Creek, Dragonfly Park, and the small businesses, childcare and local gym/pool that could complement a N. Delridge station location.  

In the last #TeresaTuesday Newsletter we shared the details of the walking tour I previously coordinated to help Sound Transit better understand the impacts of the preferred alternative site and pillars. As I noted – everyone on the tour and every small business expressed support for light rail in North Delridge at this location. But they believe it is possible for us to save critical community assets, like the West Seattle Health Club that is home to N. Delridge’s only large swimming pool with lessons for kids, the multiple small businesses along N. Delridge including all ages music venue and music lessons for kids, as a well as the largest childcare on the peninsula. I believe we can and should be more creative and shift the location of the pillars and station by a matter of feet to make this station a destination for people to ride light rail as well preserve community assets, businesses, the creek or Dragonfly Park. I continue to believe there is a solution to be found here, we can keep working towards making these minor shifts before any vote this summer. Add your voice, Sound Transit Board Meets next Thursday 

I envision a Sound Transit location that complements the childcare and the gym so that people can drop their kiddos off or go work out in the morning, get off Sound Transit and go to their local restaurant and the gym afterwards, pick up their kids from school where kids can get music lessons and go to all ages shows. I'm asking Sound Transit at the very least, to consider refinement options that shift the proposed site and lines by a matter of feet that could possibly save public assets and also save money. 

From day 1 my priorities have been clear, Health, Housing and Workforce Development:  

King County, like jurisdictions across Washington state, is in the midst of updating our Comprehensive Plan, our guiding policy document for land use and growth in the County’s unincorporated areas over the next 20 years. The Comprehensive Plan is our once-every-decade opportunity to update our land use and zoning policies to better support our region’s housing needs, promote cohesive, walkable, and connected communities, and protect our forests, farmlands, and shorelines that support health, livability, and have deep cultural significance in our region.  

Since taking office in January, my team and I have hit the ground running, digging into the policy weeds, meeting with community members, and participating in discussions as a member of the Local Services and Land Use Committee to create a suite of amendments to the proposed plan that reflects the needs our of communities while responding to policy issues impacting affordability, equitable access to services and amenities, and quality of life in our region. Here are a few highlights from my work on amendments in response to what I’ve heard from community so far: 

• Promoting more opportunities for affordable housing and housing overall, and creating effective incentives to yield more affordable housing that compliments the County’s investments into deeply affordable housing. Over the last decade, we’ve seen twice as many new jobs as housing units added in Washington state. This has created a dire shortage of housing, driving up costs and creating a housing crisis that’s impacting those with the least across our communities. Further, the single most important thing we can do in Washington to address the looming climate crisis is to create more—affordable--housing near transit. We must use this opportunity to plan for a future where our communities are healthy, housed, and resilient—and that means adequate housing to meet current and future needs. 
• Fighting displacement by addressing practices that are eating up precious housing stock and driving up rents, including regulating the proliferation of short-term rentals that are reducing our housing stock in our unincorporated areas, and discouraging the use of price fixing algorithms by corporate landlords shown to significantly increase rents in our cities. Addressing these items in the Comprehensive Plan would help to tee up future legislative action to address these issues.  
• Removing barriers to creating not only housing, but critical services like childcare and health services. During a housing and childcare crisis, we need to do everything we can to bring new housing, childcare, and other services online as quickly as possible, and we’re scrubbing the code for any unnecessary red tape we can eliminate through this plan.  
• Creating healthy, connected, and cohesive communities through zoning and design that supports small businesses, allows for walkable amenities like neighborhood cafes and corner stores our urban residential areas, promotes universal design in our build environmental for greater accessibility for all, and supports the use of non-toxic materials in building construction.  

And this is just a snapshot - we’ll be working on the Comprehensive Plan, listening to feedback from King County communities, and generating and refining ideas to strengthen the plan throughout the year. You can follow the Comprehensive Plan discussion by visiting the Local Services and Land Use Committee website and tuning into meetings via King County TV.  

See below for a recap of the Vashon Island Comprehensive Plan public hearing on April 4th! 

Speaking of the Comprehensive Plan, my team and I took the ferry to Vashon Island on April 4th for a public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan, and while we were there, we made a day of it, meeting with community members doing great things for the Vashon Community. Here are the highlights from our Vashon District 8 Day:  

I was thrilled to see such great turnout at the Vashon Center for the Arts for the public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan, and was proud to join my colleagues from King County Council, Land Use Chair Sarah Perry, Councilmember Claudia Balducci, and Councilmember Jorge Barón, to hear from Vashonites about their priorities for the Comprehensive Plan. We heard strong support for more affordable housing to meet the needs of the Vashon community and ensure access to housing for all and ensure that families and elders able to stay on Vashon as they grow and age. We also heard policy ideas to make it easier to create more affordable housing on the Island, including ADUs. This is a community after my own policy wonk heart! 

https://www.vashonbeachcomber.com/news/islanders-talk-density-grocery-zoning-at-comprehensive-plan-meeting/ 

Thank you to the Council Central Staff Comprehensive Plan Team, my colleagues on council, and members of the Vashon Community for your engagement—and to the Metro Water Taxi and Washington State Ferry crews for getting us to Vashon and home safe and sound!  

While on Vashon I also got a chance to visit with: 

Para Los Niños de Highline is a grassroots community organization founded by members of the community serving the growing Latino population in South King County. 

In 2003, a group of Latino parents gathered to talk about education. As a result of this meeting, Para Los Niños de Highline was born with the following priorities: to support the education of Latino children, with a focus on early childhood development; to maintain and promote their culture and language; and to teach English as a second language in order to develop leadership skills and civic engagement of parents in the community as well as to communicate with the teachers of their children. In general, it is an organization that serves the Latino community from a holistic perspective, including children, adults and the entire family through it’s 7 fun programs Aprendamos Juntos, Early Learning Programs, High Schoolers Programs (Programming Club, Youth Internship, Summer Program), Summer Programs, Leadership Academy, Technology Access Program for adults. 

I invite you to the support their mission of fostering the academic success of every Latino student through parent and community involvement today! 

The King County Flood Control District announced the availability of at least $12 million in grant funding for projects that reduce the impact of flooding. 

The program targets flood reduction projects throughout King County and the deadline to apply for a 2024 grant is May 31, 2024. An online informational meeting will be offered on April 23 to learn more about the grants and the application process. The grant application will be accessed via an online portal. The information session will feature a demonstration of the portal. Please visit the Flood Reduction Grants webpage for more information. 

In 2023, over $12 million in funding was awarded to 27 projects across four categories: Flood Reduction, Urban Streams, Coastal Erosion/Coastal Flooding, and Culvert Replacement/Fish Passage Restoration. 

To qualify for funding, projects must directly address existing or potential flooding. Projects that achieve multiple benefits are encouraged. Typical projects might include: 

• Addressing surface water overflows and flooding from creeks and lakes due to outflow blockage or undersized or failing culverts or pipes. 
• Upgrading aging or undersized stormwater systems in urban or suburban areas. 
• Clearing clogged agricultural drainage systems. 
• Relocating structures outside of flood zones in coastal areas. 
• Replacing culverts that block fish passage and restrict flows and undermine streambanks. 

The Flood Control District is specifically interested in reaching homeowner associations, non-profit organizations, schools, special purpose districts, tribes, cities, towns, and agencies in King County. 

There is no cap on the individual award amount. Past grants have ranged from $10,000 to $1.5 million. Matching funds are encouraged but not required. 

Expenditure of the funds must be completed no later than 36 months after signing the grant agreement. More information about criteria, eligibility and application assistance can be found on the Flood Reduction Grants webpage. 

Interested parties should contact Kim Harper at 206-477-6079 or kim.harper@kingcounty.gov.