Office of Housing reports racial equity progress, highlights workforce stabilization gains

The Office of Housing on Jan. 8 briefed the Seattle City Council Housing and Human Services Committee on its 2024 Race and Social Justice Initiative work, presenting data on housing disparities, investments in community-led developments and early results from a permanent supportive housing workforce stabilization program.

Deputy Director Andrea Kieta and analyst Nathan Antonio described how structural racism shows up in homelessness and housing cost burden and enumerated policy changes, investments and pilot programs intended to reduce disparities and stabilize operations for providers of affordable housing.

Why it matters: OH cited King County point-in-time data showing racial disparities among people experiencing homelessness (the department reported that 19% of people counted identified as Black or African American while that group is about 6% of the county population; Native American representation in the count was 7% vs. roughly 1% of the county population). OH also presented data…