Comments

1
500%? The base rates from which rents are being raised would be handy...
2
I heard it was one bazillion percent.

the SHA is in a pickle: this is a GOP douchebag policy they're being forced to enact.

I bet High Point isn't as pissed off.
3
There was an article in the Seattle Times which discusses it a bit. It doesn't clarify the base rates but gives some examples. From the article you can infer that some people are paying less than $200/month in rent. Tenant income is currently a big factor in rates, but the proposed changes may take other factors like apartment size into account:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2…

4
@2 It would be really nifty if any of those details were present in the article. It's difficult to care about people who are yelling during a public meeting without the context for why.
5
@1: Click on either of the first two links.
6
If you allow passing of public comment time to CM Sawant then you'll keep hearing over and over from welfare-check-fraud-ing Zimmerman and Bellomio about their right to do so.
7
for every tenant there's ten on the wait list, why not take turns getting the benefit?

it's called sharing.
8
So after 5 years, rents will increase to about half market rate for about 1/3 of tenants in the system? Isn't there a huge waiting list of people in need of these services? If an able-bodied (not elderly, not disabled) adult is going to hang out in this housing 5 years, I don't see why they should pay the lowest rate while people on the list languish.
10
All of the actual statements about SHA's proposal made in the video are true.
11
Hi, (6) and (8), how are things in Tim Eyman's neighborhood?
13
@11: I'm not sure what that means. I'm not advocating getting rid of public housing. Just the opposite: I'm advocating making it available to more of those in need. There's elderly and disabled people sitting on a wait list just because some able-bodied people aren't willing to take a hand up.
14
Lot of healthy looking men in that video. I wonder what they do all day long.
15
Hold on a second: the minimum wage gets raised, and people are (in theory) going to be making more money...but they don't want to pay more in rent despite having more money in their pockets?
And why not go after the reason why rent is going up, Sawant? Oh yes, because the reason rent is getting higher is because OF THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED YOU INTO OFFICE: "Many studies show that one of the crucial steps to gentrification — Disneyfication, some might say — is the presence or creation of artist/creative communities."
That, and aside from the hipsters, government regulations also have a big part in it. Source: that "right-wing rag" NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014…
No one ever gave me any government help with my housing, and I'm as working class as they come. These people will NOT be homeless. Instead, they'll just move out of the city limits or into a different place and maybe *gasp!* get jobs.
And for the record, Mesa Arizona has a population of over 400,000, is also a growing city, and yet has housing that cost HALF of what Seattle housing does (and is cheaper all around in general) Mesa is also the most fiscally conservative large city in America...coincidence?
Sources: http://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living…
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2…
16
"Lot of healthy looking men in that video. I wonder what they do all day long."

Figure out how to get you to pay their rent all day long. stupid infidel.
17
15.

pues, vete a mesa guey.

y no dejes k la puerta le de el puertazo en culo.
18
@15

To;dr. Move already.
19
An Indian (who fled failed state) Socialist (failed political construct) with a government job, leading East Africans (who fled failed states) want to give advice on what they should do with other people's property.

Seattle doesn't end well.

Seattroit!
20
I like the way the fuckers at slog make a point to repeatedly refer to the local housing authority as the Shaw, all while that idiot fucking white trash camera man only points the camera at people who are dressed to look more like people whom the cattle from Seattle would call Muslim, and less likely to call them People

If All the People don't start opening their eyes, these punk ass journalists will have the masses programmed to be slaving away to benefit their over privileged white manipulative asses

I don't know what message the tabloid is trying to implant in this article, but if after a "500%" increase in rent a two bedroom in Seattle is only "$800 a month" ,

the one thing I know for damn sure is the numbers presented are far from factual

Fuck you Slog, spread your "Islam is the problem" bullshit propaganda at your next starbucks journalist only get together, and publish truthful stories like journalists are supposed to print,

your propaganda shit isn't funny asshole
21
^^ whaaaaaa?
22
#15: Obviously, if rent is calculated by taking 30% of a household's income (as is currently the case), a tenant's rent DOES increase as their income increases. It just doesn't increase to an amount some of them can't possibly afford, despite their best efforts.
23
Are they saying that lots of these people won't be able to manage to make $15/hr in FIVE YEARS?! (That's $32K/yr and $2667/mo.) Even when the minimum wage becomes $15/hr?



If they DO make that, then the $800/mo cited above will be the same 30% of their income that they pay now!



Amazing how many people here (and there) can't do the basic math.



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Also, didn't people opposing Welfare to Work programs scream and yell just like this, and yet how many THOUSANDS of welfare recipients now earn a living? It CAN be done.



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One more thing: how do so many African immigrants and refugees get into SHA housing while there are thousands of born-here African-Americans waiting in shelters and transitional housing? Why don't native-born Americans come first?
24
The smaller, older black man standing next to the woman who ceded to Kshama (he may have taken her mic without bringing it to Kshama) is the evil SHA head legal counsel, James Fearn. He and his legal sharks evict people on minor offenses and mis-management, and will spend huge amounts of money opposing reasonable claims by residents.



The tall, professional-looking black man seen barring the way at the left is Rod Brandon, Director of Operations, who means well, but presides over a disrespectful, incompetent, sometimes malevolent bunch of Maintenance and Property Management staff.



Seen to the left of Rod, almost linking arms, is a tall impassive white guy. That's John Forsyth, who presides over some really overpaid, incompetent or disrespectful Community Builders who say all the right lefty stuff and then drive residents away from participating in community efforts. He does absolutely nothing.



SHA needs a serious overhaul. Only the Mayor and Council can do it and a new Executive Director would have to fire half the staff to do it.

Please wait...

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