On Sunday we joined with Washington Community Action Network and Seattle Transit Riders Union to release an open letter calling for 4 big steps to address the coronavirus crisis:
1. Preservation of healthcare
2. Eviction moratorium
3. Halt utility shut-offs
4. Emergency income assistance
Yesterday, Seattle announced that Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities will commit to not shut-off utilities during the crisis. We'd still like to hear the same commitment from PSE and other utilities doing business in the state.
WA state has also taken some good steps to address emergency income assistance by tweaking rules to expand access to unemployment benefits & paid family leave. But we need more, particularly for gig workers & others left out of the conventional safety net.
Outside of WA, we have also seen some steps on legislative proposals in San Jose and San Francisco to establish eviction moratoriums. We hope to see similar leadership in Seattle, King County, and the rest of the state.
AND, over this same three days since we published our letter Sunday, more than 1000 people have signed on in support, along with FORTY-EIGHT different organizations…