Our recommendations for One Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan

Puget Sound Sage, along with dozens of BIPOC-led community organizations across the city and county, have developed a long-term vision for our communities to thrive in place, which we call Community Stewardship of Land (CSL). Within a CSL framework, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities permanently own or control land for long-term, collective self-determination primarily through land trusts, cooperatives, and other non-profit models.

We believe CSL is the only antidote to unending cycles of displacement for BIPOC communities. Only with our homes and neighborhoods protected from real estate speculation can we withstand the global forces that have dispossessed our communities’ homes for hundreds of years. The more land we take off the real estate market and into collective ownership, the more stable our communities will be, now and far into the future.

For Racial Justice, Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan should center Community Stewardship of Land

The City of Seattle has the power to create meaningful regulations through its Comprehensive Plan, like zoning, labor standards and environmental protection, for the health and welfare of its residents.

We believe that the Comprehensive Plan can and should help even the playing field between community-driven public development and land speculation. The plan should prioritize policy that centers BIPOC communities and public or non-profit developers as the preferred entities to control and develop land for community-driven projects, especially in areas at high risk of development.

Lifting single family zoning is not the magic bullet some may imagine

Reimagining single-family neighborhoods unveils deep-seated property and homeownership interests like nothing else. Public debate so far in Seattle shows a willingness by many to upzone, driven in part by a desire to undo racial segregation, but the Comprehensive Plan must dive deeper into racial equity outcomes to find a more comprehensive solution.

The case has been well made by many others to get rid of single-family zoning, such as: 1) we need more land to accommodate the people who are already here or will move here in the next 25 years; 2) we must increase density to take advantage of Seattle’s transit rich urban corridors and nodes to fight climate change; and 3) single family zoning was a tool of systemic racism, resulting in segregation and multi-generational loss of wealth for BIPOC people, and must be rejected.

But will lifting single family zoning really accomplish these things? To address number one, we need to upzone significantly. Looking at the experience of Minneapolis, it is unclear that single family property owners will rush to sell or convert their homes for triplexes and townhomes, even in a hot real estate market. Number two: to take advantage of Seattle’s rich transit service (relative to the suburbs), we need all the new people moving here with high incomes to give up their cars (or at least greatly reduce their use) – but it is unclear that is happening either. And finally, to repair the harm done to BIPOC communities over the last 100 years, it is unclear that a wave of new construction in single family zone areas will increase affordability or accrue benefits to BIPOC households.

Relaxing single-family zoning is not the cure-all and, by itself, may actually exacerbate existing racial inequity and disparity. We acknowledge and agree that racialized zoning got us into this mess, and that single-family zoning continues to be a problem, but getting rid of it alone does not undo the damage:

• In no way does it restore the loss of multi-generational wealth to BIPOC communities specifically named in racial covenants.
• In no way does it guarantee a right to return to all the families and households pushed out over the last 30 years.
• In no way does it guarantee future BIPOC households the opportunity to move into these newly re-zoned areas.
• Finally, unless done with explicit centering of their needs, it may not even give BIPOC communities a shot at creating generational community and family wealth in the future.

How to get zoning for racial justice right

We join many other organizations calling for a more racially and economically just future for Seattle. Our contribution is to call for non-market driven development outcomes at a significant scale, e.g., that up to 1/3 of land in high displacement risk areas be owned and stewarded by non-profit or public entities.

To assess this potential, we suggest the following actions:

1. City planners should model potential location outcomes for low-income households, BIPOC communities, immigrants and refugees, queer people, and disabled persons, (all of whom currently face barriers in the real estate market and are at risk of displacement) for each of the alternatives.

It is not enough to project that more housing supply will automatically increase equity. The City must estimate who will live where after the changes to zoning, who will economically reap the rewards, and who is most likely to be displaced. We urge the City to find sophisticated consultants and analysts who know how to develop models that drill down to race, ethnicity, gender, and ability. This data will be critical to making an informed choice.

2. In all analyses of the alternatives, the City should assess what large-scale, community-led development and land ownership would mean for racial equity and environmental benefits.

There is evidence that higher density options will create more available land for development and that could include Community Stewardship of Land. But what happens when we assume stable, low-income BIPOC neighborhoods in both high-risk and low-risk displacement areas, based on widespread community stewardship of land? How would community stewardship of land help public transit use? How does it impact open space, resiliency, and sustainability?

3. The City should assess the impact of preserving all older multi-family buildings and the contribution that it would make to climate resilience, affordability, and racial equity.

The assessment should apply across all alternatives the City chooses to study. Preserving older buildings is the most effective strategy to stabilize communities in the face of gentrification and redevelopment, both residential and commercial. Again, this kind of analysis reduces the wishful thinking that increasing building envelopes creates opportunity for all – instead, it allows us to imagine what equity would look like and provide opportunity for real comparison.

photo by KUOW – Where should Seattle build homes for newcomers?

Ab Juaner, Sage’s Equitable Development Program Manager, on putting down roots in the Graham Street Neighborhood.

Ab Juaner (she/her/they/them) was born in the Philippines but spent most of her adolescence in Los Angeles. There, she started her work as a labor organizer for immigrant care workers, a demographic that most often consisted of Filipino women. While working as an affordable housing policy advocate, Ab wanted to further deepen her understanding on housing and economic development and so moved to New York City to pursue a graduate degree in Urban Planning.

After graduating in 2019, they sought to move to Seattle where their family now resided. “I’ve always imagined that my urban planning practice will be rooted in deep community organizing, and I was looking for that kind of work in Seattle,” Ab says. Around the time when they learned of Puget Sound Sage’s work in South Seattle’s Graham Street neighborhood, Sage was also looking to hire someone to manage that program.

“The job almost felt meant to be – to be able work on the intersections of social issues that are important to me as a queer Pinay immigrant woman, while practicing urban planning, and being with community.”

^{Abdi Yussuf (left), Sage’s Equitable Development Organizer, and Ab (right) holding a Stop Speculating on our Homes banner outside the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development building in Washington, D.C.}

She remembers those first few months on the job as being equally exciting as it is terrifying – not only being new on staff working with communities with deep roots to the neighborhood, but also being new to Seattle overall and settling herself in this new home. “I didn’t know a whole lot yet. I didn’t know the people. I didn’t know their stories. I didn’t know about the Cham community until I met Sarya, and she told me about her community. I also didn’t yet know how I would see myself, see my life, engaging within the Filipino community here in Seattle.”

Ab recalls the pivotal time when they felt truly bonded with the neighborhood.

Four months in Seattle and after years living without a car, she found herself driving a fifteen-passenger van full of Graham Street community leaders to Portland, Oregon to tour the nation’s first Community Investment Trust. “I’ve never driven anywhere south of King County, haven’t driven in a while being car-less for so long, actually. So I felt honored that everyone entrusted me with their lives,” she laughs. “But we shared so many stories on the road and I felt like during that day trip, our relationships with one another deepened in a lot of ways.”

^{Puget Sound Sage staff with our coalitions, the Graham Street Community Action Team (CAT) and the Community Real Estate Stewardship Team (CREST), after touring Plaza 122 in Portland, OR.} 

The group toured around Plaza 122 – a 29,000 square-foot commercial retail mall in Southeast Portland with about 30 businesses, where tenants can follow a long-term path to collective ownership of the building by investing $10-$100 per month.

Seeing a real-life example of a community-owned model inspired the group. “A few years later, Seattle is now exploring a Community Investment Trust model. The fact that we got to see it in Portland and be part of that story for Seattle’s future model is pretty incredible.”

Six months into living in Seattle, the pandemic hit.

It was then that Ab got to witness the true power of community resilience, and the strength of the relationships the Graham Street Community Action Team (CAT) built with one another over the past four years.

“There was just so much hopelessness and despair and feelings of insecurity when the pandemic started, and seeing the CAT members become a resource to one another, whether that’s through sharing meal program locations or sharing personal protective equipment. Seeing the connectedness that was developed through the Graham Street work, and having them show up for each other.

We already know that these organizations are frontline workers, that they are the first responders in their communities when danger or crisis happens, so to see them center community, show up as community leaders, be stewards of community resources to just help the neighborhood navigate through such a difficult time, I think that it speaks a lot to that vision of planning around people, around communities, and knowing that they know what they need to survive, to thrive, and to have full lives. I think the Graham Street program is an example of what true community resilience looks like.”

After living in the middle of a crisis and deepening relationships with their new community, Ab now calls South Seattle their home. Living so close to Graham Street, they love sharing the story of their work to loved ones, especially friend groups who are also urban planning nerds.

“I tell them that I’m working with this multi-faith, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural group of community leaders who are trying to ensure that their communities are not driven out and that they are the ones leading the development of a train station in their neighborhood. To be able to highlight a real-life example of how we can practice planning more thoughtfully, democratizing the process, and really empowering community to lead, that’s always fun for me to share to everyone I know.”

^{Ab is inspired by the Do-It-Yourself Public Realm Activation they’ve seen in their old neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, i.e. street murals and old tires converted into public planters. Ab hopes to encourage the practice of reimagining public spaces to create more shared spaces with communities.}

They say it’s been nice to feel hopeful again lately, after what transpired in the last two years.

“I feel like I’m exiting this brain fog I’ve had since the pandemic started. I’m able to trust my skills, my knowledge, my experiences, and pair these with the gifts and talents of our community collaborators,” Ab says excitedly. She and the CAT members are currently working on the next chapter of Graham Street, an action plan that will make the vision the community had imagined for the neighborhood back in 2018 a reality.

“As a queer immigrant woman in America, imagining an equitable society, creating an inclusive built environment, and feeling emboldened to challenge and change systems of oppression for a feminist future, I just feel fortunate to be doing it here.”

Abdi Yussuf, Sage’s Equitable Development Organizer, talks about his experience organizing and working with the Graham Street neighborhood throughout the years. 

For the past four years, Puget Sound Sage has organized with the Graham Street community – a primarily BIPOC neighborhood in the Rainier Valley – to get ahead of the displacement and gentrification that will inevitably come with the construction of a new light rail station. This year, alongside seven community-based organizations that make up the Graham Street Community Action Team (CAT), we are creating the roadmap to make the Graham Street Neighborhood Vision a reality, as well as preparing the transition of the Action Team from Puget Sound Sage’s leadership into its own self-sustaining coalition.

Abdi: “I think that the CAT is the best argument for the capacity building that Sage does. We organized, built really close-knit relationships with the organizations, and together we identified what the neighborhood needs and what it’s going to take to get to that level. Now, they’re in a place where they feel confident enough, organized enough, and have enough capacity to lead that work, with Sage stepping back into a support role.”

In 2031, Sound Transit will open a light rail station on MLK Jr. Way South between the Othello and Columbia City stops, which will be the new Graham Street Station. Along with the new station will come a hub of new businesses, homes, and infrastructure, but investments in public infrastructure without adequate planning often lead to gentrification and displacement. Communities who have been rooted in the neighborhood for decades get priced out of their homes, forcing them to move farther from jobs and accessible transit.

In order to form a different outcome, Puget Sound Sage organized the Graham Street neighborhood in 2018 – local leaders, business owners, and institutions that are deeply committed to preserving and growing the Graham Street community – to create a shared community vision for their future. The months-long visioning process comprised of listening sessions, surveys, and planning sessions, which reached over 2,000 people. What resulted was a vision of multi-cultural and multi-generational spaces where neighbors are thriving, supported and stable.

How did you initially approach organizing in the neighborhood?

“I realized that in order for us to have a truly community-centered approach, we need to give special attention to faith centers.

Faith centers like Al Noor Islamic Center, Co Lam Pagoda, and Cham Refugees Community are not only faith centers, they are also cultural centers, community centers, and counselling centers. These are the places the community comes to in order to get answers to all the problems that they’re dealing with. The mosque is not just a place where you go to pray. It’s where you consult with the Imams. They know the ins and outs of the community, know the problems that the community is facing. If a community member is facing homelessness or is getting pushed out, this is where they go. Faith institutions are the cultural anchors of the neighborhood.”

What was the general sentiment when you were first talking with the community?

“Fear, confusion and hopelessness. They recognized that they were going to be overpowered by the development that was coming. They feared that they were going to lose their base and also get displaced themselves once rent starts going up or developers start buying up properties, because the folks who attend these faith centers also support them.

So that’s where we come in and say, “If 5, 6, or 7 community organizations work together, you can have power. You can build the power to make sure your communities get to stay in this neighborhood.”

The Graham Street Community Action Team (CAT) was also formalized during the visioning process. They comprise of seven community-based organizations that now serve as the steering committee to build the long-term capacity and infrastructure that will make the Graham Street Neighborhood Vision a reality. Over the past three years, Puget Sound Sage has facilitated monthly meetings with the CAT to learn together about anti-displacement strategies as well as advocate for the stability of their neighborhood. Their most significant win was in 2021 where the CAT lobbied for Sound Transit to stop the proposed postponement of the light rail station’s construction.

Abdi: “Sound Transit has postponed the Graham Street Station twice before, and they were able to do so because the neighborhood wasn’t organized. This time the CAT was organized and played a leading role in fighting for the station to be built as scheduled.

I noticed that what started with feelings of fear and powerlessness years before was replaced by a renewed sense of energy in the neighborhood. Folks are saying, “Nobody is going to come and displace us because now we have power.” People have different faiths, speak different languages and come from different cultures, but they know that by working together they can help their communities stay rooted in place.”

This year marks the next chapter of our work with Graham Street. As we move to co-create an implementation plan of the neighborhood vision, we’re preparing to transition the coalition to be fully led and sustained by the Community Action Team members themselves.

What do you love most about being an organizer?

“I love the relationships that we’ve built. I love seeing the progress of power building over the years, seeing the commitment from the leaders and community to stay rooted in these neighborhoods. It’s really a privilege to be part of making sure these neighborhoods get to stay as diverse as they are. We all learn together about building power and help build their capacity, and it’s so fulfilling to see these community organizations use those learnings to advocate for and be the champions of their neighborhood. It just fills me with pride and joy.

news release originally published on Mar 16, 2022

King County Council adopts community-proposed motion (8-1) to replicate the successful Equitable Development Initiative in Seattle for the benefit of communities across the region 

Over the next year, the County will sponsor a community-led workgroup to co-design, with the Executive’s office, a County Equitable Development Initiative (EDI).  Like Seattle’s program with the same name, the County EDI will provide development support and resources to communities impacted by a wave of gentrification and displacement that has spread to nearly all corners of the County.

Once created, the County EDI will help local organizations buy land and develop their own affordable housing, cultural centers, and places for social services as well as supporting small business spaces. Such anchors increase resilience and stability for low-income and marginalized communities.

The  40+ member BIPOC-led Coalition that proposed the program came together last spring, alarmed by skyrocketing land prices and real estate speculation in their neighborhoods. Passing a county-wide equitable development initiative is the first step of the coalition’s long-term vision for Community Stewardship of Land. The coalition asserts that “only with our homes and neighborhoods protected from real estate speculation can we withstand the global forces that have dispossessed BIPOC communities of their places for generations.”

The Coalition worked closely with Councilmembers to create the motion and rallied community members to demand action. After months of organizing, the coalition cheered passage of the motion by County Council yesterday. Councilmembers Dembowski, Zahilay and Kohl Welles sponsored the motion and all but one Councilmember supported it in the final vote.

“Displacement is not something that happens overnight. It happens a little bit at a time every day until it’s too late,” said Maria Ramirez, chair of the Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition (DVAHC). “But when development is led by the community, solutions will emerge that will disrupt the cycle of displacement of BIPOC communities that have long called King County their home.”

“As a resident of an urban unincorporated area, we too often feel the burden of being passed up, underinvested in and not eligible for funding sources that other areas benefit from,“ said Jeannie Williams, Co-President, West Hill Community Association.  “A King County EDI will help us ward off displacement and become the developers in our own community, by building affordable housing, cultural, child care, recreation, and education spaces.”

“Nothing says progressive more than community owned and controlled land for Black, Indigenous, People of Color communities,” stated Gregory Davis, Managing Strategist, Rainier Beach Action Coalition. “For projects like our community-led Food Innovation District here in Rainier Beach, this is how government can be part of the solution.”

“My organization, African Leaders Health Board, works to address health inequity to create a healthier African immigrant and refugee community in the County,” said Board Member Kwadwo Oware. “Building permanent cultural anchors in our communities helps ward off displacement which is vital to health equity and achieving a healthier community.”