Demand that the City Fund Affordable Housing at New Hope, Historic Black Church in Central District!

Mon Aug 02 2021 at 11:30 am

New Hope Missionary Baptist Church | Seattle

Councilmember Kshama Sawant
Publisher/HostCouncilmember Kshama Sawant
Demand that the City Fund Affordable Housing at New Hope, Historic Black Church in Central District!
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Join us for a Community Meeting on Monday, August 2nd at 11:30 AM to prepare to call-in and testify to the full City Council in support of the New Hope Affordable Housing project! We'll be meeting at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church (124 21st Ave, Seattle, WA 98122) in the Central District.
You can also watch the meeting livestream here at 11:30 AM: https://www.facebook.com/cmkshama/live/
In 1969, Seattle’s political establishment launched a so-called “Urban Renewal” program, through which they used the threat of eminent domain to force Black working families and small businesses out of their neighborhoods. One such target was the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church—a historically Black church in the Central District—and Black homeowners and small businesses in Seattle’s Central Area.
Under this program, the Central District’s Black community was labelled to be home to “the colored, the poor, the ignorant, the unfortunate, the undesirable, the weak,” and the “undeserving poor.”
It’s long overdue that the City of Seattle officially acknowledged these past injustices, and committed to reversing the damaging racist and economic gentrification of our city, where working-class communities, especially of color, have been pushed out over decades, either by legalized racist redlining as in the 1960s or by skyrocketing rents in a profit-driven market like today.
That’s why District 3 Councilmember Kshama Sawant is putting forward a resolution, alongside pastor Reverend Jeffrey of New Hope, and a number of other Black clergy and community organizations.
This resolution, if approved by the City Council, would acknowledge the past practices of racist redlining, but it won’t stop there. The resolution would also commit the City Council to provide public funds of $10.5 million to allow the New Hope Family Housing Project to be completed (creating 90 affordable homes), and to greatly expand the overall funds for affordable housing in our city by increasing the Amazon Tax. Later this year, during the autumn budget discussions, our office will also put forward a People’s Budget demand to fund New Hope’s $10.7 million project.
We cannot simply rely on City Councilmembers, many of whom speak progressive rhetoric but then have excuses for why it’s not the right time for ordinary people to win a measure of justice in this deeply unequal city. But we know we can win, because using our movement-building approach, we have had an unparalleled track record of winning affordable housing (like the historic Amazon Tax) and numerous renters’ rights victories as part of an ongoing struggle for a Renters’ Bill of Rights that includes residential and commercial rent control.
11:30 AM - Community Prep Meeting (in-person + livestreamed)
12:00 PM (Noon) - Sign up for Public Comment:
https://www.seattle.gov/council/committees/public-comment
2:00 PM - Speak in Public Comment
and watch the City Council Meeting here: http://seattlechannel.org/
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New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 124 21st Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122, United States

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