Last Chance for Justice

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Founding Director

Articles by Timothy Harris

Without new investments, homeless services will be cut

By Timothy Harris | October 28, 2015

One thing you gotta say about the federal government, they’re not afraid to be aspirational.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) says veteran’s homelessness will be ended by 2015. Shortly after, chronic homelessness will be ended by 2016. And youth homelessness? By 2022, that, too, will just be another awful memory.

Subpopulation by subpopulation, the people who brought you our recently failed Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness think no problem is too big to divide and conquer.
...

Focusing in on the good of the street paper movement

By Timothy Harris | October 14, 2015

This week, I bought a street paper in Trafalgar Square. The vendor looked exhausted and didn’t speak English. I gave him five pounds, which is about twice what The Big Issue London sells for.

It was a small gesture. A way that I could use my privilege for good. We live in an unequal world, filled with uncomfortable contradictions.

For more than 20 years, street papers have reduced social exclusion and offered a way for economically marginalized people to earn immediate cash.
...

Has the leopard changed his spots?

By Timothy Harris | September 23, 2015

Rent control in new packaging

Nearly 35 years ago, when trickle down economics was the bright shiny new idea that was going to make America great again, Seattle activists ran a rent control initiative and got their asses kicked all the way to Olympia. Renters and Owners Organized for Fairness got out-fundraised by a factor of four and lost by a landslide.

After their victory in Seattle, the real estate industry took the $400,000 they raised from across the state — well over $1.1 million in current dollars — and pressed their case at the Statehouse. ...

21 years of Real Change

By Timothy Harris | August 19, 2015

September 17, Real Change will celebrate 21 years of opportunity and activism with more than 500 of our closest friends. Our annual breakfast takes place from 8 – 9 a.m. at the Washington State Convention Center, and we’d love for you to be there with us.

Over the years, Real Change has directly impacted thousands of lives and made Seattle a better city — a city where people care for each other and support real solutions to homelessness, and a city that rejects criminalization and incarceration as the go-to solutions to visible poverty. ...

White people don’t get to decide when race is on the table and when it’s not.

By Timothy Harris | August 12, 2015

Let me tell you a story I heard at the Westlake Rally for Social Security last Saturday; a story about paper-thin commitment to the struggle and politics as spectator sport.

It was still early in the afternoon. The rally had moved from opening music to speeches, and those promised to go on a while. We’d been there 20 minutes, and my daughters were getting restless. ...

Small steps towards change

By Timothy Harris | July 29, 2015

The Licata-Sawant resolution is a first step on the long road to a more fair housing and rental market.

Imagine a time and place where organized tenants are bitterly disappointed at a ruling that limits rent hikes to 1 percent on a one-year lease or 2.5 percent on a two-year lease.

This was New York City, just last summer, and the ruling came by a hotly contested 5-to-4 vote of the Rent Guidelines Board.

This — the lowest increase in New York’s 45-year history of rent stabilization — was a defeat for the rent-freeze campaign. ...

Taking Back the Power

By Timothy Harris | July 22, 2015

The rent is too damn high.

The rent is too damn high. Whatcha-gonna-do? Are you going to try to set some limits on some kinds of increases? Or, are you gonna say messin’ with markets never works, take a robust supply-side approach and let the invisible hand work its magic?

Councilmembers Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant went head-to-head on rent control at Town Hall July 20 with libertarian housing wonk Roger Valdez and Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, and it was glorious. ...

Reducing Homelessness with Alternate Solutions

By Timothy Harris | July 15, 2015

I know a guy who’s been homeless in Seattle for nearly two decades. Most of that time, he’s slept in a parking garage. He’s coming unraveled. No surprise there. My only question is, “What took him so long?”

A crisis exists on our streets, and we’re losing ground. Our shelters are more crowded than ever, and the numbers of unsheltered homeless people are at an all time high and climbing.

This is unsurprising. The average annual income for the bottom quintile of workers in Seattle is just $14,300. And rents are rising at an alarming rate. ...

Advocacy works, but we still have a lot of work to do

By Timothy Harris | July 8, 2015

While housing and homeless advocates won some very important battles at the Statehouse this year, Senate Republicans are still winning the war. Let’s have a look.

First, the good news. The operating budget passed last week contains no cuts to poor people’s survival programs, and, with $75 million for the Housing Trust Fund, the capital budget adds some badly needed new housing dollars. ...