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This District 3 candidate wants to use affordable housing to help save Seattle from a ‘death spiral that we’ve seen in cities that have gone boom to bust in a way that only American cities do’

Efrain Hudnell has solved Seattle’s housing crisis with a tiny condo above 12th and Madison but he knows his path to home ownership isn’t available to everybody.

And it costs him plenty.

“The VA has a home buying loan service where you don’t have to put money down,” Hudnell said. “It’s a great program and lowers the barrier to entry for home buying for a lot of veterans, myself included. But I’m still, for this like studio condo, 600 square feet — I’m still paying half of my income.”

With programs like the boost the former Army intelligence officer got from the Department of Veterans Affairs a rarity, Hudnell said he sees housing affordability “as probably the most imminent existent threat to the city.”

The current King County Deputy Prosecutor is now making the cause of housing affordability the center of his campaign, joining the race for the District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council.

“If we do not create enough housing, if we do not have enough affordable housing for the workforce, we will begin that population decline and we will enter that death spiral that we’ve seen in cities that have gone boom to bust in a way that only American cities do,” Hudnell says.

With the prosecutor’s office since 2020 and active with the 43rd District Democrats group, Hudnell is seeking to bring a new voice on housing-focused progressive policy to the race that has now stretched out to seven candidates to fill the seat being left vacant by incumbent Kshama Sawant’s decision to leave office at the end of this year.

ELECTION 2023

His military background, he quips, has prepared him for Seattle City Hall.

“In terms of navigating bureaucracy, there is no bureaucracy like the Department of Defense. So, I think I’m pretty good there in terms of navigating the personalities and collaborating where necessary and taking the stand where necessary.”

But is he ready for the battle of a campaign for the Seattle City Council?

Set to announce his candidacy and start his stretch to qualify for the Democracy Voucher program this week at a small event with friends and supporters, Hudnell is bringing forward policy priorities out of the gate including a vacancy tax on vacant or unused commercial property, programs to make it easier and more profitable to develop infill projects on underused land in the city like parking lots, and a strategy of surgical upzoning.

“The idea is to upzone in places where there’s access to transportation, upzone in places where there’s access to public spaces, upzone in places where there’s access to things like hospitals, upzone in places that we’re least likely to displace marginalized communities.”

Meanwhile, he says his work with the prosecutor’s office handling cases in the Regional Mental Health Court will inform a better approach to crafting public safety legislation for District 3 and the city.

“I ended up coming to the prosecutor’s office because I realized I’m a systems thinker,” he said. “If we were to have the just results that we demand as the city, as a progressive district, we need prosecutors to buy into that as well.”

Hudnell says, if elected, he would work to transform Seattle’s municipal court and its focus on low-level misdemeanor cases to “a therapeutic/rehabilitative court model.”

“The idea,” he says, “is there is an underlying issue that needs to be addressed. And if we address that issue, we probably are not going to see them again in a criminal court or criminal prosecution context.”

He now joins a race with fellow progressives as D3 voters must sort out their priorities on the issues they see in their neighborhoods and their city. Hudnell will be up against candidates like Alex Hudson (CHS), Transportation Choices Coalition executive director, and cannabis entrepreneur and third generation Central District resident Joy Hollingsworth (CHS), with longer track records and a head start.

It is a race with big potential.

“As we figure out housing affordability, create density within our neighborhoods, create more walkable spaces, create a climate resilient town that’s vibrant and equitable, I see a city that’s connected to a regional on the rise through high speed rail, a city with a lid over I-5, reconnecting downtown to our district,” Hudnell says. “I’ve lived in quite a few places. I’ve never seen a city as much potential as Seattle.”

Learn more at electefrain.com.

 

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15 Comments
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Derek
Derek
1 year ago

Great candidate. I really like his stance on progressive prosecution and upzoning. Got my vote!!!

LSRes
LSRes
1 year ago

After the CH Safeway Design Review last night I’m skeptical of anyone from Seattle Subway.

chres
chres
1 year ago

Add in vacancy taxes for residentials too and he’d have my vote immediately

LSRes
LSRes
1 year ago
Reply to  chres

Because you like taxes that have as much administrative costs as revenue?

chres
chres
1 year ago
Reply to  LSRes

Because I like having homes actually be filled c:

Paul Chapman
Paul Chapman
1 year ago

Andrew Ashiofu is also in the race.

public spaces belong to people
public spaces belong to people
1 year ago

Ideas are good – but I also would like them to take a stronger stance on tents on public sidewalks, parks etc.

None of that belongs in a city; so let’s get the help those folks need, so they’re off the streets

Derek
Derek
1 year ago

No.

Guesty
Guesty
1 year ago

The idea that if we only had more “affordable housing” homelessness would be fixed is naive – most of the drug addled or mentally ill street people will never be able to afford ANY rent much less maintain an apartment.

Let's talk
Let's talk
1 year ago
Reply to  Guesty

You’re right. I haven’t heard a candidate talk about investments in treatment. It’s as if it’s a dirty word here.

Jeremiah
Jeremiah
1 year ago
Reply to  Guesty

This is true and everyone knows it but it’s hard for a certain crowd to admit it.

chres
chres
1 year ago
Reply to  Guesty

This. I’m pretty damn progressive but it drives me up the wall when fellow liberals won’t acknowledge just having a roof over your head doesn’t solve the problem. Having a home should be an integral part of the solution, but it just doesn’t work on its own for a lot of them.

Fairly Obvious
Fairly Obvious
1 year ago
Reply to  Guesty

Getting people shelter is a major part in overcoming addiction or mental illness. If there’s no affordable housing, there’s significant downward pressure that pushed down hard on those with issues, including homelessness. You aren’t going to cure addiction or treat mental illnesses if people are living on the streets.

I know we have a bunch of “by their own bootstrap” billionaire blog trolls that love to comment on social policy, but they tend to gloss over the fact that they’ve always had guaranteed shelter over their head.

AuggieDog
AuggieDog
1 year ago

I like Efrain’s vacancy tax and I like what Efrain has done as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney working to give small criminals a plea bargain deal that gets them off of drugs in lieu of prison. His position on upzoning and building more housing in areas where transit exists makes more sense. What a breath of fresh air for District 3!

Ballardite
Ballardite
1 year ago
Reply to  AuggieDog

We already ate upzoned for more housing in transit areas. In fact under current zoning there is enough capacity to meet 2050 goals. And at current building rates we will have no problem meeting them.