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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2009)
■Il llp street tr roots | 5 Educate Education * Dialogue * Independence NATIONAL Seattle OKs $145 million housing levy BY CYDNEY GILLIS REAL C H A N G E N E W S he ayes have it for putting a $145 million 'low-income housing levy on Seattle’s fall ballot Seattle’s City Council unanimously approved a seven-year, $145 million levy renewal proposed in April by Mayor Greg Nickels — with some critical modifications that, housing advocates had sought. Among them, the council adopted language in the levy’s underlying ordinance on how the levy’s $104 million rental Jiousing hind, which fs expected to subsidize 1,670 affordable units, can be spent. Where the mayor had proposed spending at least 55 percent of the rental housing money on units serving the poorest — those with incomes at or below 30 percent of area median ($17,700 for one person) — the council stipulated at least 60 percent will be spent for poorest and no more than 10 percent for those making 61 to 80 percent of median ($35,400 to $47,200) — a category, housing advocates argued, that’s in less need of rental subsidies. Some advocates had urged the council to .top the mayor’s proposal and raise the levy to $167 million, but Councilmember Tim Burgess lamented that there just weren’t the votes to do it. Councilmember Jan Drago, who is running against Nickels for mayor, put forward a motion for a $120 million levy, arguing it would stand a better chance with voters, but, in the end, she, top, voted for the $145 million measure. “We got what we wanted. That was great,” said the Seattle Displacement Coalition’s John Fox after the meeting. “Without qualification, we Pan strongly support the levy.” ■ Courtesy o fR e a l Change News, Seattle, Wash. J Mother Nature’s Earth Friendly Baby Products I Large selection of cloth -diapers & wraps) natural baby & mama care products, 7 baby slings & carriers, organic cotton baby clothes, wooden toys, personal service 2627 SE Clinton St. 503-230-7077 - P H O T O B Y R E U T E R S /C A R L O S B A R R IA ( U N IT E D STA TES BU SIN ESS S O C IE T Y Night vision A resident walks to h is tent a t the tent city homeless community, know n as Pinellas Hope in Pinellas Park, Florida June 6, 2009. A Florida tent city for'hundreds o f homeless people lies a t the end o f a dead-end street, but residents say they have not given up hope o f a better life despite the U.S. economic'downtum. The Pinellas Hope camp, 2 5 0 singleperson tents in neat rows on land owned by the Catholic Diocese o f S t. Petersburg in a wooded area north o f the city, has room fo r about 270 an d has been filled to capacity since it opened two years ago. Survey: Foreclosures driving up homelessness STALE R EPO R TS T n a national survey of homeless service and advocacy agencies, 79 percent of JL respondents stated that at least some of their clients-were homeless as a result of foreclosure, and about half estimated that more than 10 percent of their clients were •homeless because of foreclosure on a home they had been occupying. The survey was commissioned by a partnership o f national homeless organizations, including the National Coalition for the Homeless, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth; National Law Center on Hotfièlessness and Poverty, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness. They have release a joint report on the impàct of the foreclosure and economic crises and the. ^unprecedented growth in the number of individuals and families left without a home in the United States. During 2008, RealtyTraC reported | 3,157,806 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sàie notices arid bank repossessions, an 81 percent jump from 2007 and a 225 percent increase from 2006. “We are one step away from foreclosure. More and more families and children are affected by job loss and the economy. ‘Getting back on your feet’ is next to impossible in today’s society. Thè public needs to fee made aware of who is becoming homelessi.. and that they could be next - just like any average family,” an individual respondent to the national survey from North Carolina reported. The study found that-there are many interrelated consequences of the economic downturn th at lead to both home I Street Roots is forever grateful to all of its incredible volunteers. Thank you for all you do! foreclosure and to homelessness. There is an increased need for affordable housing, as well as targeted legal assistance, health care, living-wage jobs, income supports, .access to education, civil rights protections and the various supports that will continue to bè heeded as a result of the recession. John Parvensky, Board of Directors President for thè National Coalition for the ► Homeless and Executive Director of the ■ Colorado Coalition for the Homeless states, “This report underscores the fact that we as a nation need to strengthen our efforts to prevent homelessness resulting from this economic crisis, while creating sufficient new affordable rental housing to ensure that no family in America has to experience the tragedy of homelessness.” y Source: N ational Coalition fo r the Homeless, Washigton, D.C.
