Kshama Sawant says blocking the bunker will pay off with $160 million for affordable housing in Seattle — if the city changes the way it uses Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) funding.

The Socialist District 3 representative rallied supporters Thursday at the Central District’s Washington Hall for a night to celebrate what Sawant says was a “historic victory” for “anti-racist and social justice activists” after Mayor Ed Murray’s announcement that the $160 million plan to build a new Seattle Police precinct headquarters in North Seattle was being pulled back for a racial equity review.

With the bunker blocked, at least temporarily, “we can build 1,000 homes” is the new rallying cry. Thursday, Sawant outlined a proposal for the City of Seattle to modify its policy for how it can utilize REET funding:

Recently, the Mayor and his staff have said that the City cannot allocate the $160 million in Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) funding that was previously attached to the development of a new North Police Precinct building on affordable housing. They’re wrong. On September 22, 2016, the Legislative Department’s Central Staff published a memo which explains, at length, how this funding could be used by the City to fund the development of affordable housing. It goes on to describes various constraints on the uses of REET funding, and outlines an approach that would make REET funding available for affordable housing while satisfying those constraints. In short, it confirms that, “the City could amend its financial policies to employ REET as a substitute for other more flexible funding sources and then use those flexible fund sources to pay for affordable housing.” I encourage all concerned to read the memo, and then reach out to my office at kshama.sawant@seattle.gov or 206-684-8016 to discuss how we can continue to build our movement to use this funding to build 1,000 affordable homes in Seattle.

“This is what elected officials are supposed to be doing: trying their very best to address the urgent needs of working people,” Sawant’s message concludes.

On Monday, the mayor will share details of his proposed 2016-2017 budget for the city.