Support Housing Levy 1590

Support Housing Levy 1590

Time Range For Action Alert: 
Nov 02 2020 to Nov 30 2020

Now is a crucial time to put pressure on our city council members, as some are still deciding whether or not to vote for the Spokane Housing Levy 1590 on November 30th.

Please contact your city council member and encourage them to pass housing levy 1590. This money would go directly to funding more necessary and affordable housing in our community. In Spokane, we face a simple choice: pass a housing levy 1590 to build homes that people can actually afford, or allow landlords and developers to drive more Spokane residents into homelessness. The best way to influence City Council is to send them a personal letter to your City Council members and the Mayor.

City Council President Breean Beggs - bbeggs [at] spokanecity.org
Dist 1 - Michael Cathcart - mcathcart [at] spokanecity.org and Kate Burke -kateburke [at] spokanecity.org
Dist 2 - Betsy Wilkerson bwilkerson [at] spokanecity.org and Lori Kinnear lkinnear [at] spokanecity.org
Dist 3 Karen Stratton - kstratton [at] spokanecity.org and Candice Mumm cmumm [at] spokanecity.org

Below are some key points and tips for writing a personal email or adapt for a call.

1) Explain why you care about having more affordable housing in Spokane. Why is having a safe place to live important to you? Are you struggling to afford your home? Do you have friends or family who can’t afford rent?

2) Use effective messaging to frame the letter:
No matter what we look like or where we come from, home is where we lay our heads, hug our loved ones, and make our memories. But every year, rising rents and luxury home building leaves more and more of our neighbors without a home they can afford, forcing them to survive while living on our streets. There simply are not enough affordable homes for veterans, seniors, and working class families.

3) Do talk about housing inequity: There is a 3 year wait list for affordable housing in Spokane and a 1% vacancy rate. The legacy of racism in housing through redlining, predatory lending and other discriminatory practices mean that our Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) neighbors are the most impacted by this crisis.

4) Explain what we can achieve for Spokane: Pass the Spokane Housing Levy, so together we can build up to 2,000 new homes that our neighbors can actually afford. I believe the $16 a year we would each chip in is well worth this critical investment in our community.

5) Urge them to address housing inequity and the racial wealth gap: I urge you to pass this levy by the end of the year and to make sure the ordinance prioritizes projects that address the racial wealth gap and housing inequities. I urge you to add a requirement that the project selection committee is made up of a majority of our BIPOC neighbors who have been most impacted.

More about Housing Levy 1590 

The City council has been given authority by the Washington State Legislature to raise the sales tax by 1/10 of one percent. Those funds are to be used to fund affordable homes in Spokane for the 1500+unsheltered in our city. Our city has proposed a bridge shelter to help those suffering from homelessness to transition to safe housing. How can our community expect our unsheltered to transition to safe housing if we have no housing available to meet their needs? During the 2020 Washington State Legislative Session, the LWV Washington supported the adoption of HB 1590.

 

Issues referenced by this action alert: 
Local Government
Downloads: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon LWV - Spokane Area Letter to the Spokane City Council.113.2 KB