I’m proud to disclose that the Association of Washington Cities has chosen me as one of this year’s City Legislative Champions.
The association created the awards “to annually recognize legislators who went out of their way to advocate for one or more key city priority issues,” according to Dave Williams, the association’s director of government relations. In announcing my selection, Dave said the association credited me for “advocacy and leadership on housing and homelessness issues – something that cities across the state find increasingly challenging.”
While it is an honor to be recognized for my efforts, the sobering reality is that we are only just starting to address these urgent needs and the scope of the challenge is daunting indeed. Our regional housing shortage is so acute that our area has seen the highest rent increases in the nation in recent months, and the annual homeless count earlier this year revealed that the already untenable homelessness crisis has been spiking.
So we have our work cut out for us, and in the months to come I will continue to work with the association and with other regional officials to take steps to address these vital needs.
