Tuesday night, Seattle City Council member Teresa Mosqueda will give over the meeting of her Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers’ Rights Committee to a special public hearing on Seattle’s housing gap:

On Tuesday, Feb. 20, a special meeting of the Housing, Health, Energy and Workers’ Rights Committee (HHEWRC) will find out. From 6 to 7:30 p.m., a panel composed of housing and homeless service providers and advocates will inform City Councilmembers what structural obstacles exist to creating enough affordable housing for everyone in Seattle, and what steps could be taken to overcome these challenges. A slide presentation will show how the loss of housing for very-low-income households is part of the broader affordability crisis. Discussion among panelists and Councilmembers will be followed by public comment. This event is hosted by Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda in collaboration with the Housing For All Coalition, and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Mike O’Brien, and Kshama Sawant.

“Last fall the City Council passed Resolution 31782, expressing their intent to pass an Employee Hours Tax and use the revenue to ‘assist people who are homeless or at a high risk of becoming homeless in obtaining and retaining stable housing,'” an announcement on the hearing from the Housing For All Coalition reads.

“The Progressive Revenue Task Force thus created in January is now close to finalizing its recommendations on the details of that tax, including its size. The Housing For All Coalition expects legislation to be introduced sometime in March. But how much would be enough? Not only to ameliorate the latest wave of destitute Seattleites, but to decisively reverse the tide of unhoused poverty and stabilize the dissolving social fabric of our city?”

Tuesday night’s meeting is slated to begin at 6 PM in City Hall’s council chambers.

The special meeting panel is planned to include:

Katie Wilson, Transit Riders Union and Housing For All Coalition

State Rep. Nicole Macri, Downtown Emergency Services Center

Miguel Maestas, El Centro de la Raza

Johnny Schilling, REACH Program

Gerald Donaldson, Leschi Elementary School

Alison Eisinger, Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness

CHS wrote about the Progressive Revenue Task Force earlier this year.

Earlier this month, Kshama Sawant held a hearing on the loss of funding for groups that provide emergency-style overnight shelter services as City Hall turns more of its focus on longer-term housing solutions.