“Being born and raised as third-generation Seattle, what I can say is I am making more money than I ever have and cannot afford to live in my city, let alone my neighborhood. And I say it’s mine because this is where I was redlined to, and this is where I was kicked out of. So, there are issues that are beyond and not just for renters, but for homeowners, that the circumstances they place us in on purpose so that we have to leave the only place we’ve known and can’t afford to be at home. It hurts. It hurts individuals. It hurts families. It hurts legacies. It hurts communities, and it hurts the vibrant space that is Seattle, and that should be Seattle. This is not the Seattle I was born into. This is a different place, and I refuse to let go of the beauty that made the city the place that people came to beyond the Great Migration.”
“The current rental market in Seattle is too high, particularly for marginalized people. The wages are just not keeping up with the amount of rent cost, which is why, here at Africatown Community Land Trust, we are buying and developing affordable housing for people in our community.”
“The current rental market is hard to afford for people who have medium income, and especially minority African Americans and Asians. It is very difficult to afford, and it has always been that way. Even though the markets have kind of cooled down a little bit, I think it still is difficult to afford. The affordability is a big issue for the community around us, and Africatown Community Land Trust is doing the best they can to help communities with that affordability and being able to buy their own homes.”
“I mean, obviously, compared to the rest of the country, it’s very high. Like, if you want to live somewhere pretty decent, where you don’t have to deal with a lot of randomness or chaos, I mean, that costs money. And even then, there’s a surprising thing – you can live in a super expensive place and still have to deal with all that stuff. But I could definitely see how it could be tough just with prices the way they are, especially within Seattle.”
“I think the question itself reflects how myopic people are thinking, because renting is not new, and access to housing that’s helpful and safe is not radical. So, the conversations people are having about the rental market in Seattle are because non-Black people are being affected, and so the access to homes that are taken care of, that people can afford, that are where they want to live, work, and play, because white people and non-Black people are being affected. It’s why it’s now a current issue. I’m not from Seattle, but I’m from a community, L.A., that is experiencing the same thing Seattle is experiencing, where the places that are popping to live, non-Black people are coming back to and pushing people out who made it vibrant. So, I think to have the conversation, you can’t look at now; you have to look at who was here before, and also why do people want to be here now.”
“I think that the current housing market has been positioned for profits and not for accessibility, and with that, there have been, obviously, continual city regulations that have had to be edited and updated. Fair housing laws exist because there are people who have different compositions of their life that have been pushed out of Seattle because of the pricing. I think that there needs to be a baseline created of entry points so that Seattle can continue to be a diverse community, versus there being only pockets of representation of people who look like myself and the majority of the communities in Seattle proper.”