Seattle Mayor Durkan goes after Trump on housing in op-ed

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan penned an op-ed in Politico Thursday, criticizing President Trump for his stance on housing affordability.

Seattle, County homeless response paralyzed by bureaucracy

Durkan co-authored the op-ed — titled “Don’t let Trump take the lead on housing” — alongside Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, citing a recent Washington Post report on the president’s planned “crackdown” on homelessness.

“This week, Trump’s Council of Economic Advisors released a report that focuses on misleading assertions that this crisis could be cured by deregulation of the housing market,” the story read. “Afterward, the president visited California and spread more false narratives about the problem of homelessness.”

The president’s proposal entails moving homeless populations in major U.S. cities into new “government-backed” facilities.

This had Durkan and Kenney calling out Trump’s statements on the homeless crisis in cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, Baltimore, and more.

“Instead of looking for ways to support and partner with America’s cities to help solve this human crisis, Trump hurls insults, floats poisonous policy proposals and pushes sensational headlines, not solutions. It is time to end this political game,” the op-ed continued.

The article outlines a few alternate solutions to homelessness, including an expansion of federal funding for existing housing programs, better access to emergency shelter grants and supportive housing, and “new, competitive housing innovation grants.”

It closed by proposing a new source of funding for low-income households.

Seattle unveils new plan to curb affordable housing crisis

“Finally, Congress should create a national Housing Stabilization Fund to provide one-time, short-term emergency housing assistance to help keep extremely low-income households from experiencing imminent eviction and homelessness.”

This isn’t the first time Durkan has gone after the Trump administration. Back in April, the Seattle mayor went on Hardball with Chris Matthews regarding threats from the president to place illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities.

“It’s not a threat to us,” Durkan told Matthews. “Upholding the Constitution and taking in people is the finest tradition of America and the cities are ready to stand up and do that.”

Follow @NickNorthwest