by Vee Hua 華婷婷
On Tuesday, June 11, King County Executive Dow Constantine delivered his annual State of the County address regarding the governmental and financial state of the county. Topics he focused on included gun violence, crisis care, the climate, and investments in arts, heritage, and science organizations. In addition to the victories King County has had and hopes to undertake in the future, Constantine also named the looming budget shortfalls that face the county and called for tax reform in order to help fund essential services, which, unless funded, risk facing cuts in the fall.
Constantine began his address with the "crisis of homelessness." Calling it "one of the most obvious, most impactful challenges in our community," he said that the root causes of homelessness were many, but that the crisis required "the policy and fiscal leverage and the strength of our entire region to solve … not an annoyance to overlook, but a challenge we can help people overcome."
Accomplishments he listed included the launch of King County's first hotel to combat the homelessness crisis and the subsequent purchase of 10 more properties that would provide homes for 6,000 formerly unhoused individuals. He also spoke of working alongside County partners to fund 640 affordable housing units last year for veterans and individuals needing transitional housing, as well as $25 million in additional affordable housing investments this year, which serve working residents with modest incomes.
The King County Sheriff's Office has recently brought "de-escalation and anti-bias expertise" to their offices and will begin to employ dashcams and body-worn cameras next week. The adoption is supported by $1 million in recently acquired federal funding.
The King County Council and King County voters restored the Conservation Futures Fund in November 2023. The open space grant acquisition program helps purchase parks and open spaces, opens salmon habitats, and has worked with collaborators such as the Muckleshoot Tribe to improve major waterways.
Regarding King County Metro's goals to transition to an emissions-free fleet of electric buses by 2035, Constantine also spoke of investments in 40 new battery-electric buses, with more to come. His address did not state, however, that King County Metro has recently realized that due to shortfalls in bus manufacturers and technological limitations, the County must consider zero-emission options that expand beyond the bus fleet and into other climate mitigation options. A June 11 audit and presentation offered alternate recommendations for how the County can reach its 2035 goal.
Toward the end of his address, Constantine addressed the critical issue of behavioral health in the region. "How many people are in jail when they need to be in a treatment bed? How many people are at risk on the street when they just need a place to recover?" he asked. "Providing crisis care and treatment beds and compassionate professional help is the right and decent thing to do, but it's also the smart thing to do at a time when jails and hospitals are bursting at the seams."
He spoke of an upcoming levy developed with King County Council, law enforcement, behavioral health professionals, and others. If passed by voters, it will address issues related to the addiction crisis through the creation of five new crisis care centers, including one for youth, to account for the lack of walk-in urgent care facilities; investments of $15 million in restoring community residential beds in treatment facilities; and investments in workforce development around behavioral health care.
With the arrival of summer, the last issue of note in Constantine's address covered the gun violence epidemic during a time of year when the weather changes and gun violence is highest. He proposed the launch of 100 Days of Action, which would "use this summer and fall as a time to intensify and align our work" with other cities, community partners, the Regional Peacekeepers Collective, and the Sheriff's Gun Violence Reduction Unit to try to curb violence during the summer and early fall.
"Last week, three King County high school students were shot and killed. Cristopher Medina Zelaya was shot across the street from Kent-Meridian High School. Hazrat Ali Rohani was killed outside a sporting goods store in Renton. Amarr Murphy-Paine was shot on the campus of Seattle's Garfield High School," Constantine stated as he spoke of the difficulties in solving the gun violence epidemic. "Each of these students was a family's beloved child, a community's hope for the future. Each of these deaths is an unthinkable tragedy, on the heels of so many tragedies …There is no quick fix in a nation awash in guns. But if this approach, which seems to be working elsewhere, can save even one life, we have to do it."
Adding to their Housing Equity Fund website, Amazon announced on Tuesday, June 11, that they would be committing an additional $1.4 billion to preserve and create an estimated 14,000 affordable housing units in the three areas nationwide that it has the most employees: the Puget Sound Region, Arlington, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee.
The investments come in light of national criticism about the "Amazon effect," which hypothesizes that Amazon's presence in the region has caused a surge in housing prices and limited housing stock. Builder Online reported, "While Seattle's rents pre-2010 were on par with the national average, rents soared once Amazon built its corporate campus there. By 2017, the median rental rate in Seattle had increased 41.7% in seven years, compared with a 17.6% increase in the national median rental rate."
The first wave of the Housing Equity Fund launched in 2021 with $2.2 billion in grants and loans towards 21,000 affordable housing units across five years. In the Seattle area, the fund has previously supported Mary's Place, a shelter on Amazon's downtown campus, as well as a pilot program to build affordable housing near transit stations.
The fund now totals $3.6 billion, though Amazon has stated that the recipients for the new funding are not yet totally defined. According to reporting by The Seattle Times, $40 million of those funds may be spent on a pilot home ownership project around the Seattle area that includes 83 homes and may eventually expand to serve 800 homeowners.
Like the first round, the majority of funds will be disbursed in a mixture of loans and grants, designed for projects that support individuals earning between 30% and 80% of the area's median income. King County Housing Authority data from 2023 shows that the median income in the area would average between $28,800 and $70,650 per individual and $41,100 to $100,900 per family of four.
As previously reported in the Emerald, the Washington Department of Commerce has estimated that "over 1.1 million new housing units must be added across Washington state over the next 20 years to meet projected needs at all income levels."
The Rainier Beach Farm Stand returns on June 15 to offer fresh, culturally relevant produce sourced from local BIPOC farmers. The farm stand will take place every Saturday through Oct. 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at 9059 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S.
Similar services can be found the last Sunday of every month at Skyway Farmers Market.
Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the editor-in-chief of REDEFINE, a long-time member of the Seattle Arts Commission, and a film educator at the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they previously served as executive director and played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences. After a recent stint as the interim managing editor at South Seattle Emerald, they are moving into production on their feature film, Reckless Spirits, which is a metaphysical, multilingual POC buddy comedy. They have a master's in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
📸 Featured Image: King County Executive Dow Constantine delivers his annual State of the County address focusing on gun violence, crisis care, the climate, and investments in arts, heritage, and science organizations on June 11, 2024. (Photo courtesy of the King County Executive Office.)
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