Housing 4 The People Rally @ UW

Join UAW 4121 in protesting the privatization of housing for academic workers at the University of Washington!

The University of Washington announced that it intends to privatize four public housing complexes – Radford Court, Blakeley Village, Laurel Village, and Nordheim Court. Long-term contracts of up to 80 years will likely be awarded in early 2023 to a big for-profit developer. As part of the deal, the developer would be required to expand housing at those complexes, but virtually all of the expansion would be unaffordable “market-rate” apartments. This is a shameful betrayal of the broader UW community. Rent-burdened academic student employees and postdocs deserve stable, affordable, and accessible housing, rather than paying ever-increasing portions of their wages to predatory private landlords!

The UAW is banding together in Red Square outside Gerberding Hall at 4:30pm with tenants and the community to demand that UW, as a public institution, commit to a massive construction of affordable social housing, democratically controlled and operated for the public good, not for private profit. The rally is family-friendly, and will end with public comments at the Board of Regent’s meeting, which begins at 5:30pm. Please join the Housing 4 The People Rally to send a message to the Board of Regents!

Pack a bag with your rally sign, a bottle of water and/or snack, warm and waterproof layers, and a flashlight, phone flashlight, lantern, or battery powered candle to make our gathering as visible as possible as the sun goes down. Let’s light up the red square!

If you haven’t already, please sign the petition to the Board of Regents!

Read more about this issue here!

RSVP Here.