
About the header photo: Fox Newsâ Kennedy called Seattle a âsocialist hellholeâ in a July 12 broadcast. We wish!
This week, weâre mostly talking about housing in Seattle. Anyone that lives here knows that housing is too expensive, and that landlords and cops will take any opportunity to make you pay more for it or kick you out of it; socialists know that housing is a human right. Weâve got some stories to tell about housing, and since itâs 2017 in America, weâve also got a story about white techbros who are secretly Nazis. Welcome to the Hellhole.
Shoeboxed In Seattle
Some will tell you that the only way to get more affordable housing in Seattle is to beseech developers to solve the housing crisis for us through tax breaks and selling off city land, and for the most part, Seattleâs political leaders have gladly acquiesced. Hereâs what that gets you– a housing stock so scarce and overpriced that a 345 square foot apartment costs $1500 a month.
Thereâs not much more to say here, other than this is bound to get more common in Seattle as time goes on– unless we start pushing back. One way is to elect candidates that understand Seattleâs housing crisis from the perspective of renters, and the Seattle DSA has endorsed just such a candidate.
âSeizureâ is an Ugly Word
If you canât afford exorbitant rents, you might try living in your car or an RV. Bear in mind, you might return home to find out that the police have taken it, and want you to cough up hundreds of dollars to get it back. Unsurprisingly, many who live in their cars donât have that kind of cash, and so will end up sleeping outside, while Seattle sells their home (literally) to the highest bidder.
The good news is that the Housing for All Coalition, joined by some politicians and candidates you may have heard of, are working on fixing that. Even better news– you can help!
Howâre We Doing?
A task force, half-appointed by homeless encampment-sweep-happy former Mayor Ed Murray, has begun a review of rules that govern such sweeps, euphemistically defanged as Multi-departmental Administrative Rules, or MDARs. The task force has one entire year (!) to evaluate the policyâs effectiveness, which disturbingly grants wide latitude to instigating sweeps sooner than a 72 hours’ notice based upon the extenuating circumstances of a camp being declared âa hazard.â Additionally, the data sets being used to evaluate the program donât seem to include reentry into homelessness for those accepting services. Â
Meanwhile, at Nickelsville Ballard, time is running out for residents, whose access to a parcel of land ends after its maximum two yearsâ availability in November. âWe donât have anything but our word,â says a resident and so the community has no choice but be displaced once again, after being denied two sites they were shown. Instead, theyâre being pointed toward a lot, smaller than the current one, with âaccess issues,â a lack of space for private meetings to take place with service providers and time running out to attempt any necessary, meaningful outreach with a new neighborhood into which theyâd be thrown.
Loftium says itâll help you buy a house, but weâre not so sure
Maybe you, like most people, would like to buy a house in Seattle but donât have a large chunk of cash lying around to put towards a down payment. Loftium, a Seattle-based startup, is trying to fix that problem, but in an insidious way.
The startup promises to provide down payment assistance for people, but only if theyâre willing to rent out a room in their home on Airbnb for an extended period. The founders, Yifan Zhang and Adam Stelle, seem to think itâs exciting that this could become a standard option for coming up with a down payment; we think itâs terrifying. Airbnb has been shown time and again to be detrimental to local economies, and on a larger scale, itâs another way for capitalism to commodify a basic human need and create a self-reinforcing cycle of benefit for everyone but you. This parasitic scheme is built, and plans to profit, from the affordable housing crisis here in Seattle and elsewhere. Loftium makes money, Airbnb makes money, and you end up beholden to both companies. It all begs the question — What if housing wasnât so astronomically expensive in the first place, and what if it was actually treated like a human right?
On top of all this, thereâs one more gem: A previous company started by Zhang, Pact Inc., just settled a claim with the Federal Trade Commission for $940,000 for not paying people who used the companyâs accountability app. âConsumers who used this app expected the defendants to pay them rewards when they achieved their health-related goals, and to charge them only when they did not,â said Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTCâs Bureau of Consumer Protection. âUnfortunately, even when consumers held up their end of the deal, Pact failed to make good on its promises.â Â And now this same person says sheâs going to give people money for a down payment? Hmmm.
?-Intermission-?
Letâs Recap!
Hereâs what the preceding four articles are trying to tell you to do if you live in Seattle: move.
If you donât want to move, or canât move because you donât have enough money to rent a U-Haul and uproot your entire life, hereâs the life Seattle can currently offer you: live in an apartment; be rent-burdened; work at Amazon 80 hours a week; cry at your desk.
If you donât have the right degree, or âarenât a good fitâ for Amazon, you can live in your car, where the tickets fall like confetti, and youâll be harassed by police and your fellow citizens.
If you canât afford that, you can live outside, where youâre still subject to harassment and derision in addition to the elements, youâll have no fixed address and so will be limited in the jobs (and pay) you can apply for, and any security or possessions you manage to cobble together will be thrown away by the police every three months.
Thereâs a reason the DSAâs slogan is âsocialism or barbarismâ.
?-Back 2 The Hellhole-?
Whatâs Your Excuse?
Anyone can organize their workplace, even in one of the most notoriously-exploited workforces in the United States– temporary farm workers working with visas. Fed up with poor conditions and frequent verbal abuse, they organized, stopped work, and won concessions from their employer, Larson Fruit.
In case you need a reminder that the capitalist class doesnât care about your happiness, Larson Fruit owner Rick Larson stated âI am kind of thankful that they were able to air their concerns⌠No one is perfectâ. Read that again– heâs kind of thankful that his workers spoke up when his managers were abusing them, because apparently, he wouldnât have found out (or cared) otherwise. Pobodyâs nerfect!
I Guess Weâre Biking Now
The Madrona Venture Group, the investors that helped make Jeff Bezosâ Amazon a tax-cheat powerhouse, have released a policy timeline for when theyâd prefer to see Interstate 5 limited to driverless vehicles – by 2040! Madrona thinks that Seattle can boldly lead the way in this technological integration, which would boost the market for the high-tech parts made by three firms theyâve invested in. This, of course, flies in the face of Seattleâs working class, actively displaced from city jobs to suburbs via exorbitant rents with wages that canât keep pace. With I-5 becoming Capitalâs own highway, theyâd have the rest of us idling in surface streets. Theyâd let us drive on it during weekends and nights, though.
Seattleâs Nazi Problem
David Lewis of the Stranger recently went undercover at a secret white nationalist (read: Nazi) convention, held in Queen Anne.
Why wouldnât these Nazis want you to know who they are? It might be because theyâre your co-workers and neighbors– according to Lewis, âmost of the people there looked like you might run into them on Capitol Hill or in the U-District … According to my observations, the standard Seattle Nazi is a white male under 30 who either works in the tech industry or is going to school to work in the tech industryâ.
The fact that they met in secret at least implies they know most people think theyâre disgusting; the fact that they were able to fill a Masonic lodge is more than a little troubling. If this bothers you, maybe consider joining an organization that roundly rejects racial oppression— just saying.
Pity the CISO
The Seattle Times treated readers this week to a bizarre story on the employment tribulations of chief information security officers, or CISOs. âThe job of CISO (pronounced see-so),â the Times wrote, âused to be the digital equivalent of stocking the moat around the castle with crocodiles and making sure the drawbridge functioned.â Exciting! Failure, now, is expected in this role, but, not to worry; âa shortage of experts in cybersecurity is such that landing another job is nearly assured…honestly itâs âgoodâ if you have been through a breach.â Half of the nationâs identities and financial standing may have been compromised via the Equifax breach, but weâre happy to report that itâs actually good for that executiveâs employment prospects.
Class enemy of the week: Rental Housing Association of Washington
A letter from the Rental Housing Association of Washington Political Action Committee surfaced this week, and it paints a truly terrifying picture (but only if youâre bloodsucking landlord concerned with protecting your precious real estate investment).
It appears to have been sent in May of this year, and makes the case that a ârash of bad legislation was enacted against landlords in the past year.â This âbad legislationâ is actually good for the rest of us, and includes protections like caps on move-in fees and the âfirst-in-timeâ requirement, which helps prevent landlord discrimination against prospective, qualified tenants. The fear-mongering continues as the letter claims Seattleâs terrifying âanti-landlord agendaâ could lead to overturning the stateâs ban on rent control entirely (which would be amazing). Â It ends with a plea for cash — of which these people have plenty — and a statement that the PAC just wants to elect candidates who âappreciate the service we provide for our community.â Barf.
A quick look at the Public Disclosure Commission reveals the PAC has raised almost $100,000, and even includes a $2,000 personal contribution from our favorite 45th Legislative District Senate candidate, Jinyoung Lee Englund.
One final thought:Â We declare October 5 Seattle Politicians Attempt To Humanize Capital Day. Corporations will never care about you, and “pro-worker” rhetoric is the only rhetoric that matters.
? Get involved with Seattle Democratic Socialists of America ?
Learn more about us | Come to our next meeting | Read more Hellhole