November Housing Update from Ebo Barton
by Ebo Barton (he/they), Director of Housing Services
Welcome back to the rain for which we are best known. Pluviophiles are ecstatic, transplants are wondering when it ends, all of us are layering up and I am here with a housing update for November. I have a big gratitude to all of you for your phenomenal support for our Registry campaign, a resource I’d like to share, a big event to save the date on your calendar, and someone in the community that I met that could be helpful to some of you.
First, I just want to thank you all personally for the huge wave of registry items that came to our offices! I am floored with the amount of items that our community members committed to purchasing for our tenants, and continue to hope for the same energy until we open our doors. It was so heartwarming to see the bed frames, beauty products, kitchen supplies and safety items come in! THANK YOU so much from The House! And fun fact: the registry is STILL open for purchases! You can still head over and buy something for The House (Warming)!
EMERGENCY HOUSING VOUCHERS
A resource that Lavender Rights Project is now offering is Emergency Housing Vouchers, with the intention of serving Black gender diverse community members. Eligibility requirements are:
Individuals or families that are:
experiencing homelessness, or
at risk of experiencing homelessness;
fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or
human trafficking; or
recently homeless with a high risk of housing instability without ongoing rental assistance.
At least one family member must be a citizen or have an eligible immigration status.
Household income must be below 80% area median income.
Check your income level by clicking HERE [Seattle Housing Authority external website]
What are Emergency Housing Vouchers?
Get ready for tidal wave of acronyms, but don’t worry - we’ve explained them:
The Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program is available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Through EHV, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is providing 70,000 housing choice vouchers to local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) in order to assist individuals and families who are homeless, at-risk of homelessness, fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking, were recently homeless, or have a high risk of housing instability.
If approved, you can take these vouchers to an approved landlord to secure housing with my support.
If you think that you might qualify and need this resource, please contact me at ebo@lavenderrightsproject.org by December 20, 2021. Let’s talk about it!
ELEVATE: A FUNDRAISER
Next, I am hoping you all will save Friday, January 14, 2021 at 6:30pm on your calendar! An incredible event that is being organized by a wonderful community member, Laura Kim, will be happening at the Fremont Abbey Arts Center. The artist line up is really exciting because you’ll get to see performances by Randy Ford, Anastacia Renee, Yunis & Anis, Brian Dang, Laura Kim & Serina Chang, Chima from Remember Face, Ayo Dot, Jaz Lund, and it's all hosted by yours truly! Suggested donation is $15 and all proceeds will benefit LRP’s The House! Cool, right?! So get to your calendar app, save the date for January 14, 2021 and we’ll keep you posted. Now would also be a good time to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay updated on social media when tickets go on sale, if you’re not already!
A NEW COMMUNITY RESOURCE
And last but certainly not least, I wanted to introduce you to someone I met while doing this housing work. Nicole Cote is a real estate broker creating a community, philanthropy-based team with a focus on minorities, women, and LGBTQ advocacy and opportunities for new agents that don’t fit into the stereotype real estate agent mold. She was so enthusiastic about supporting our efforts and connecting with the community that I thought I’d share her contact (with consent from Nicole, of course!). So if you’d like, please check out our friend Nicole Cote.
Have a great November, everyone!