A heartfelt plea from our Legislative Director, Amina Abdalla, on the housing crisis

Dear KCYD members,

After graduating from college I struggled for nearly a year to simply find an affordable place to live. The job I was working at the time, although it paid okay, it did not pay enough for me to be able to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment. Like many young people, I lived with my parents for a while before giving up on my dreams to live on my own and deciding to find a roommate. I come from a low income family, so continuing to live with my parents was not an option for me especially since we are a big family and the house was already extremely crowded. 

The fact that you cannot afford a modest place to live on the salary you make even after graduating from college (especially while paying off debt) is completely preposterous. Situations like what I and many other young people went through are what essentially causes homelessness, and they’re completely preventable. I had to work two jobs and get a roommate just to be able to afford a safe, clean and modest place to live. That is not okay!        

There should be no reason why the state of Washington is not committing to bold budgets that invest deeply in affordable homes and homelessness prevention. Not only does Washington state have a strong economy to commit to these bold budgets, it has nearly $1 billion left in federal COVID funding. WE HAVE THE RESOURCES to invest in all housing justice priorities. 

The Senate and House are currently in intense negotiations to reconcile their differences about the budgets. Use this action tool provided by the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance to quickly email your legislators and urge them to commit to fully funding affordable housing. Please also share this on social media and with friends, family and coworkers. The more of us raising our voices the better chance we have of making sure housing justice priorities are met.

Amina Abdalla,

KCYD Legislative Director