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Join us in welcoming our new board members to Bellwether Housing. All have robust professional experience and share a passion for increasing affordable housing Seattle. Carla DewBerry is a lawyer with K&L Gates, working in its firm-wide healthcare group. Carla represents health care clients with a wide range of legal issues. In addition, Carla is a Certified Public Accountant, with experience working for a large accounting firm as part of a firm-wide healthcare group. Carla has lived in Seattle for over 30 years and raised her two children in this community. Her first experience on a non-profit board was at Capitol Hill Housing from 1986 to 2007, during a period of great expansion and change for the organization. Carla presently serves on several boards. "Affordable housing is important because it supports diversity across our community," says Carla, "I'm excited to join Bellwether's board because there is great joy in being part of something that benefits us all." Kate Joncas is the is the Director of Urban Strategy and Development for MIG, a design firm focused on the built environment. She served as Seattle Deputy Mayor from 2014 - 2017, directing 32 departments, leading waterfront redevelopment and Convention Center expansion. Previously she was the CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association for 20 years, leading a nationally recognized revitalization of downtown with public transportation, jobs, thousands of residents, and a growing, diverse economy. Cambrie Nelson is a Managing Consulting Manager in Accenture's Public Service practice. She works with clients to respond to their toughest public interest and public benefit challenges. Her client work has ranged from process design for a city department's housing partnerships to change management for a tech company's leadership transformation program. Her professional pursuits and personal passions center on the intersections of equity and innovation. She's interested in evolving economic and community development approaches and is involved in the CDFI and social entrepreneurship communities. Previously, Cambrie was the Strategy Director for a civic design firm and a high school educator. Gregg Colburn is an assistant professor of real estate in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. In his research, Gregg studies the housing outcomes of households with limited financial resources. This research includes projects focused on the effects of the Housing Choice Voucher program, the seasonality of family homelessness, the prevalence of housing cost burden, and the effects of housing stock expansion. He has published housing research in leading journals such as Urban Studies, Housing Studies, and Housing Policy Debate. Gregg is actively engaged with policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and housing developers on matters related to housing and homelessness in the Puget Sound region. Gregg previously worked in finance in the private sector. Gregg enjoys teaching courses in housing, economics, and finance at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Bradley Karvasek is Senior Vice President of Development at Equity Residential. He supervises the company’s development activities in Seattle, San Francisco, Southern California and Denver. While at Equity Residential, Bradley has managed the development of 4,000 + apartments, 3.0 million + net rentable square feet of residential development, 100,000 + square feet of retail for a total development value exceeding $1.4 billion dollars. Bradley has been in the real estate and development industry for over 25 years. He is actively involved with a number of industry groups, where he has served in various leadership roles.

Today the Seattle City Council passed JumpStart Seattle, a progressive payroll tax on high salaries paid by large businesses. JumpStart Seattle lays a path to a new and more robust approach to our housing crisis. It expands local investments in housing without burdening lower income people.  We support JumpStart Seattle. Seattle's housing crisis has taken on a new urgency in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.  Expanded public investments in housing could: bring people out of homelessness into stable housing to promote public health; support struggling lower income families who have had their livelihoods destroyed; and spark economic recovery through construction activity. Our current tools for expanding public investment in housing are inadequate. They are insufficient in scale and put an unfair burden on lower income people. We must use our new perspective in a world turned on its head to reimagine how our community invests in housing. JumpStart Seattle is an opportunity to do this. Before the pandemic, people in our region already struggled to maintain housing.  Over 100,000 households in King County spent over 50% of their income on housing. In the past decade, we've lost over 100,000 homes that were once affordable. At last count, more than 11,000 people are experiencing homelessness here. Now, the economic impacts of COVID-19 have slammed low-wage workers. While the general unemployment rate is 15%, it is 40% for low-wage workers. About 30% of Bellwether's wage-dependent residents have their lost jobs. They are now relying on rental assistance programs and unemployment to survive.  Lower income families living in market rate apartments have inadequate support programs available. Plus, they are likely paying twice as much rent as Bellwether residents. The pandemic has had major racial disparities, especially harming Black and Latin-X Washingtonians. COVID-19 has further exposed our unfair State and local revenue streams. Washington has the most “upside-down” tax system in the United States. It asks the most of those with the least.  Sixty percent of our state and municipal revenue comes from unfair sales taxes.  Low income people pay a greater percentage of their income on sales tax than the wealthy. Washington is one of seven states that has no income tax. We have limited tools to offset the regressive nature of the sales tax. Our state's poorest residents are taxed at a rate nearly six times higher than its wealthiest residents. Given the conversations about structural racism, we cannot ignore that Washington’s tax system perpetuates the racial wealth and opportunity gaps that exist between white families and families of color, who are disproportionately lower income. Washington’s tax structure is unfair. It is incapable of responding in times of economic crisis. We are reliant on sales tax to fund critical public needs. During a recession, consumer spending drops and remains depressed longer than incomes. JumpStart Seattle increases Seattle’s investments in housing. As a progressive tax, it shifts the burden away from lower income people. The program taxes employers with payrolls over $7 million only on salaries over $150,000.  It would raise $86 million in the first two years, to pay for COVID-19 relief programs. After 2022, it would create over $200 million a year, mostly for housing. This more than triples Seattle’s typical annual investment in housing. This is not a time to pull back from investment in housing. Our current crises call for deepening investments in housing and services. JumpStart Seattle generates new, progressive revenue that supports economic recovery and housing. We support this step toward a progressive revenue structure. We support JumpStart Seattle.

The civil uprising we’re seeing now marks the beginning of a new civil rights movement. Bellwether Housing is committed to advancing our anti-racism work within our organization. We recognizes this as an important time in history and an opportunity to make a difference by engaging in deeper conversation and taking additional action against racism. Bellwether Housing will observe Juneteenth as a company holidays to show our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and more specifically to acknowledge our country’s history of racism. We are encouraging staff to use the day to reflect on racial injustice, learn about the history of racism in our country, take action, and further their anti-racism work. Recognizing Juneteenth as a company holiday is only one step in organization's ongoing anti-racism efforts. Juneteenth occurs annually on June 19 and commemorates June 19, 1865 which marked the end of slavery in the United States. Although the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, it took over two years for news to reach Black people enslaved in Texas. This year marks the 155th anniversary of this historic day.

We are devastated by the recent murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Manuel Ellis, Tony McDade and Breonna Taylor, adding to a long list of Black Americans unjustly killed by civilian vigilantes and police, once again laying bare the deep-rooted and systemic racism that continues to define our country. We know many of you are feeling deep pain and despair, too. This is especially so for Black Americans and other people of color. Black lives matter to Bellwether Housing. We stand in solidarity with the Black community. As an affordable housing organization, we recognize the significant role that our country’s housing system has played in upholding the power of white supremacy that this country was founded on. This has resulted in discriminatory practices and a wealth gap that advantages white people and disadvantages Black people and other people of color. We live in a city with a history of housing segregation, redlining, and systematically denying people of color access to safe and affordable homes. We cannot create stable communities through affordable housing without addressing racial justice. Housing justice is racial justice. Bellwether Housing continues to aspire to do the challenging work of putting forth anti-racist education and action within our organization and in our wider community. Our current high-priority actions include: · Ensuring that our policies and procedures are equitable and inclusive. We regularly re-evaluate our practices for inherent racism and bias and have changed those policies. · Deepening our partnerships with organizations that center the work and voices of Black and Indigenous people and other people of color · Conducting daily checks on our buildings to ensure that residents are safe and secure in their homes · Creating a $250,000 rental assistance fund to help resident households impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted Black and LatinX communities · Joining Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County’s Statewide General Strike and March for Black Lives tomorrow, Friday, June 12th. We are closing early tomorrow. All staff can use the day to rest, reflect, protest in person, or act remotely. We call on our supporters to join us in acting for racial justice: · Join us at the Black Lives Matter Seattle General Strike and March for Black Lives tomorrow Friday, June 12th. If you can’t join the march in person, look out for virtual action opportunities from BLM – SKC. · Support and donate to Black-led organizations in Seattle such as Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and King County Equity Now. You can find more organizations and actions to take here. · Educate yourself about anti-racism. We are committed to becoming an anti-racist organization and continuing to do the work to dismantle the systemic and institutionalized racism that our country was built on. Please join us in this crucial work.

Bellwether Housing and Mercy Housing Northwest (MHNW) are breaking ground this week on Cedar Crossing, a new 254-apartment affordable housing development next to the future Roosevelt Light Rail Station. Cedar Crossing, which will open in 2022, is made possible by numerous community partnerships. Sound Transit offered Bellwether and MHNW the site at a discounted land price and the Seattle Office of Housing committed $15 million. “In these times, the value of a safe, stable, affordable home is more apparent than ever. The Office of Housing is pleased to support Cedar Crossing, which delivers on a community vision to bring hundreds of new affordable homes and community amenities to a thriving neighborhood,” said Emily Alvarado, Director of the Office of Housing. Said Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff: “Sound Transit was proud to sell this property at a discount to ensure that it would be used to create the affordable housing so desperately needed in our region.” Cedar Crossing will provide affordable homes to families making between 0-60% of the area median income, who struggle to find affordable housing options. The development includes 87 two- and three-bedroom apartments for larger families. A public plaza will create a sense of place in the neighborhood and provide pedestrian access to the light rail station. The building will also feature a playground, social service offices, ground floor retail, and a large public community room. In a partnership with Mary’s Place and Seattle Children’s, 20 apartments will be set aside for families simultaneously experiencing homelessness and caring for children with chronic health conditions. “When a family has a child in the hospital, the last thing they should have to worry about is not having a stable place to call home,” said Suzanne Petersen Tanneberg, Vice President of External Affairs and Guest Services at Seattle Children’s. “We are incredibly grateful that our community is coming together to offer this affordable housing option to the patients and families we serve, so families can stay focused on their child.” "These affordable and larger units are life-saving for families who have lost everything waiting for their child’s miracle. What a tremendous asset for our community!” said Marty Hartman, Executive Director of Mary’s Place, a network of shelter for families who are experiencing homelessness. El Centro de La Raza will run a multi-cultural, bilingual affordable childcare on site, with capacity to serve 68 children. “We are honored and privileged to partner with MHNW and Bellwether,” said Estela Ortega, Executive Director. “We will provide a high-quality bilingual, bicultural curriculum emphasizing cultural diversity, social justice and family involvement.” The Roosevelt Neighborhood Association (RNA) was an early supporter of the project, requesting deep affordability, large apartments for families and a community gathering room. "The Roosevelt community fully supported the 100 percent affordable housing and childcare components and looks forward to this rewarding project,” said Jay Lazerwitz, RNA Land Use Committee Chair. The partnership between Bellwether Housing and Mercy Housing Northwest gives the organizations a unique opportunity to build to scale, share risk and leverage complementary strengths. Mercy Housing Northwest will provide on-site resident services, and Bellwether Housing will be the property manager. Cedar Crossing is the second of four Bellwether developments that will break ground over the next 12 months, as part of Bellwether’s Building Opportunity Campaign aiming to create 750 new affordable homes by 2022.

Amy Tipton owns, Sassafras, a small business leasing commercial space from Bellwether Housing in The Oregon Apartments in Belltown. Hi Amy! Tell me about your business, Sassafras. Sassafras is a boutique that carries clothing, accessories, jewelry and art all made by local designers. The lower level of the store is a fashion design studio. We have seven in house brands that are made right here. We also run the Belltown Art Walk once a month. What is Sassafras doing to respond to the pandemic? We’re making face masks for the medical community. I’m making masks, and so are three other designers: Shari Noble from La Macón; Katy Flynn from KFLY; and Jenn Charkow from Stone Crow Designs, who was on the most recent Project Runway series. How did you get connected to this project? I got hooked into the Crafters Against Covid-19 Seattle Facebook group. You commit to sewing a certain number of masks from a certain pattern. The hospitals are requesting certain patterns for each different facility. I’m the downtown/Eastlake captain. Tell me more about the process of making and distributing masks. The process is very simple. Let’s say you sign up for 25 masks on the Facebook group. You pick up the materials from me at the shop, take them home, create the 25 masks, and then drop back off to me. There’s nobody coming inside the shop right now – we're doing no-contact drop offs at the door. I’m here in the afternoons sewing masks. How many masks have you made so far? I’ve made about 150 masks. With the other three Sassafras designers, maybe 500. With the other people in the community, it’s a lot more than that. People will drop off a 100 at a time. They’re so easy to make. Once you get it down, it only takes 2 ½ or 3 minutes a mask. Where are you getting the materials for the masks? I pick up the materials from the main organizer in Wallingford. She’ll put materials in a bin in her garage, so it is a no-contact pick up. I bought some materials from Joann’s before they closed their doors. I got a ton of muslin. One of the biggest shortages we have is elastic. We need thinner elastic, so we’ve gotten creative. We’ve been using elastic headbands that we cut up. Who is receiving the masks? Masks have gone to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, Portland Adventist Hospital, UW Medicine, Northwest Kidney Center Renton, In Tandem Midwifery and Sequim Emergency Operations Center. They’re being used by health care workers and patients. These are washable and reusable, too. They should stand up to 5-10 washes. We’re getting requests from baristas when we get takeout coffee. How long has Sassafras been in The Oregon? We’ve been here since 2012. The space used to be an architect firm. I sew and have produced my own clothing line in the past. I wanted a space where I could work at my sewing machine and see if a customer is coming in the door. I have a studio in the back of the retail shop where I can sew. Downstairs, there’s a 30-foot-long, cutting height table that the architects used for drafting that we use for cutting fabric. The set-up is perfect for independent designers to sew. Was this your original concept for the store? At first, I wanted to start a vintage shop with vintage clothing that we would re-work. I started selling at pop up markets with vintage clothing and my own clothing line. I noticed that were lots of independent designers who didn’t have a place to sell, other than those markets. It’s a big gap between graduating from design school and being in Nordstrom. And some people don’t want to do that – they want to keep their small line. I decided to change the concept of the business to include those people. There’s so much incredible talent in Seattle and Portland. Everything we sell is from the Pacific Northwest, from designers in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver. The designers support each other. They're all women designers and artists. How is your business doing financially with the shut down? Not so great. Like with everyone, we have a much smaller percentage of sales than normal. We have an online shop. We’ve had some online sales. We’re creating packages – the staycation package, the work from home package, the unstoppable package, early Christmas shopping – if people want to support us. How can people support Crafters Against Covid-19 and get involved in mask making? You can help by donating materials. We need 100% woven cotton fabric and thin elastic. The fabric doesn’t have to be beautiful. It needs to be breathable, but thick enough you can’t see through it. People can also sign up to make masks through the Facebook group. Thanks, Amy!

Interview with Natalia, March 19, 2020: "I work in the food industry. I work for Taco Time NW. I’ve been working there 6 years. The only thing that is keeping us open is the drive-through. The dining room is shut down. My shift is always 8 1/2 hours, 40 hours a week. But now there’s no schedule anymore because of the coronavirus. We are trying to stay open as long as we can, but we don’t know how this is going to turn out. My hours have been cut – I worked 3 hours today. Not only me, we need to be equal with the employees. All our hours are cut down a lot – half the shift or even less. We go to work, and if it’s busy, with 3 people we can make it, so all the other people have to go home. We’re rotating who is working. They’re going to keep cutting our shifts as long as the corona virus stays around. Hopefully we don’t close, but down the road, we don’t know how long they’re going to stay open, because business went down a lot. I live check to check, so I don’t know if I’m going be able to have the rent money, because I also have to eat. People are going crazy in the grocery stores. This is throwing me – and many people – out of track. If I pay my rent late, then my other rent is going to be late, too. This was a blind-side. I don’t have any money saved. It is stressful. I always pay my rent on time; I always pay everything on time. Not having the money, not knowing what’s going to happen next, it’s giving me anxiety. Bottom line, my hours have been drastically cut. My worry is my rent, the taxes. That make me stressed. If they shut down, I’m going to be crazy. I’ve lived at my apartment about a year. A friend of mine gave me the website. I was living in Queen Anne in a studio. I like it, it’s nice. That’s why I’m worried. I don’t want to end up homeless. I am alone. If I don’t work, I don’t eat. That’s the thing, when you’re by yourself. Hopefully it gets better soon. I take medication for anxiety. I have to hook up with some TV shows, drawing, keep myself busy. It’s hard for me to not be doing anything. I’m not used to that. I’m like a kid. I have too much free time. I’m not used to it. It’s hard."

Interview with David March 16th, 2020: "I work at a restaurant across from CenturyLink. I’m a dishwasher - I hand wash all the dishes. There’s a bar next store with the same owner – so I bar-back for that when they need me, too.  I work seven days a week. Any event down there – home shows, boat shows, concerts. You name it, we’re open for it. I’ve been there a little over 3 years. I’m constantly busy. I’ve worked in [Pioneer] Square for 20 plus years. I’ve worked at the bars that are getting shut down. With the governor shutting down all restaurants and bars, that leaves me with nothing. If people don’t go out, I have nothing to do. It put me dead in the water. Once I found out we were shut down, I contacted Todd [a Resident Services Coordinator at Bellwether], for suggestions other than unemployment. Unemployment is only 60% of what I normally make. And it doesn’t start for two more weeks, at least, so that’s going to put it close to the end of the month. I’m trying to get rent assistance, just in case I need it. I figure all the help I can get, the quicker I can get it started, the better off I’ll be. I’m going see if there’s any small odd jobs. People still need stuff done. With that and unemployment I should be able to make it until…  it could be the 31st of this month. Or it could be until the end of next month. It’s hard to make me freak out. I’ve dealt with worse. I broke my ankle and was out for 8 months awhile back. This is just another trial. I’ve done it before. Even on L&I, they don’t give you 100%. You just cut out all the niceties and get what you get. I’m going on 52. I’ve been a pipe fabricator, a roofer, I worked construction, I did cement pouring. I have two metal plates in my ankle, so I can’t go out and do construction anymore. I’ve been independent since I was 16 years old. I grew up in West Seattle. I used to come down to downtown Seattle when I was a kid on my bike. I’ve seen weird stuff happen to this city before, but this is pretty much the weirdest. I’ve been living at Bellwether for about 10 years. I’m doing my best to stay where I’m at. I like it here. You don’t panic. You just stop and think. Take a breath. You can’t just freak out. That’s the best advice I can give anybody."

We've made additional changes to our operating procedures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In addition to the increased cleaning frequency at all our buildings, we are now: · Only addressing emergency work orders at buildings; rescheduling work orders if a resident is sick. · Site Management working behind closed doors and conducting operations by phone and email · Using phone and email as primary methods to communicate with residents; no walk in appointments permitted. Stay safe and well!

Our top priority is keeping our residents and employees safe and healthy. We’ve taken the following steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Due to these precautions, we may have delays in responding to leasing inquiries and non-emergency maintenance requests.​ Cleaning 2x at all our buildings, focusing on high-touch surfaces Cleaning 3x a day at our buildings that serve seniors and others at higher risk (Meridian Manor, Security House, First & Vine, Tate Mason, & Genesee) Prioritizing cleaning over other operations including unit turns, unit inspections and work orders Using phone and email as preferred methods to communicate with residents Closing our administrative offices Employees who can work remotely are doing so. We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our response accordingly.

Effective today, Bellwether Housing is closing our administrative offices in Capital Hill and South Lake Union to prevent the spread of corona virus. Employees who can work remotely are doing so.

Yesterday, The City of Seattle Office of Housing announced a $110M investment in affordable housing, its largest investment in affordable housing to date. We are thrilled that two Bellwether Housing projects were awarded funding: Rose St II and Madison/Boylston. Rose St II is our 186-apartment family-focused development in Rainier Beach, with onsite affordable child-care, community spaces, and office space for Muslim Housing Services. Madison / Boylston is a partnership with Plymouth Housing, will be home to 368 apartments - 112 for formerly homeless seniors and 256 for low-income households. We received the land for this development at no cost from Sound Transit. We're proud of these projects and grateful for the support of our funders and investors!