Whether you’ve been homeless for years or are facing eviction for the first time, Solid Ground believes you have a right to a stable home where you feel safe – and we have programs designed to help you get there.

But the truth is that it’s simply far easier, cheaper, and more effective to keep people in the homes they already have than to try to get them back into housing after they’ve experienced the trauma and instability of homelessness.  

That’s why it’s so hard for us to understand why Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell wants to slash the city’s spending on programs that are already helping thousands of families avoid becoming homeless every year.  

“Together, the proposed cuts to Tenant Services and Benefits Legal Assistance funding represent a small and insignificant part of the city’s budget, but they would have a devastating impact on the thousands of families they serve each year – undoubtedly leading to more families falling into homelessness. Now is not the time to pull back on our work to help people meet their basic needs and keep their homes.” 

~Shalimar Gonzales, Solid Ground CEO

The proposed 2025-2026 city budget, now being considered by the Seattle City Council, would slash funding for renter education and eviction defense programs, financial assistance for renters who have fallen behind on rent, and legal help for people who have been denied or cut off from state public assistance programs. Solid Ground’s Tenant Services and Benefits Legal Assistance programs both rely on this critical city funding. 

These are very small dollars – just a tiny sliver of the city’s $8.3 billion proposed operating budget – but they have a huge impact on the health of our community, helping thousands of people each year avoid eviction, resolve conflicts with landlords, and access critical public assistance programs that allow some of our most vulnerable neighbors to pay their rent and keep food on the table. 

Fortunately, it’s not too late to keep these critical programs going into 2025 and beyond. The City Council can still choose to restore this funding, but they need to hear from constituents like you about how important it is. 

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Here’s what you can do: 

1) Sign up to give public comment. 

The City Council will hold the first of three public hearings on the budget this Wednesday, October 16 at 5pm. You can sign up to give public comment – either in person or by phone – starting an hour before the meeting. (See How to Participate in the Budget for more information.) Additional upcoming opportunities to speak up about the budget include Wednesday, October 30 and Tuesday, November 12. If you’re interested and would like support giving public comment, email phoenicaz@solid-ground.org.  

2) Email your councilmembers. 

Our partners at the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH) have also made it easy for you to Tell Seattle City Council & Mayor: Invest in Housing, Shelter and Essential Services in the 2025-2026 Budget. Just enter your home address, and SKCCH will suggest a sample email that you can easily customize to send to your city councilmember.  

3) Learn how to be an even better budget advocate. 

Join the Seattle Human Services Coalition (SHSC) and SKCCH for an Online Budget Advocacy Training on Tuesday, October 22 from 10-11:30am. This training is open to anyone who wants to raise their voice to make sure the City of Seattle and King County fund essential human services in this year’s budget.

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Here’s what you need to know about the mayor’s proposals, and how they would impact critical programs: 

We help renters – and landlords – through education. 

Mayor Harrell proposes cutting in half the amount of money the city spends on tenant services – which includes counseling for renters and legal support for those facing eviction – from more than $2.5 million this year to about $1.3 million in 2025. This money is currently split between 10 agencies, including Solid Ground, and it allows us to operate our Tenant Services Voice Message Line and host our Rent Smart Tenant Webinars several times a month in both English and Spanish. 

At Solid Ground alone, these programs help more than 1,700 people a year understand their rights as renters, find and apply for rental housing, and manage conflicts with landlords before they escalate and lead to eviction. With funding from the City of Seattle, our Tenant Counselors are also able to help people prepare for tenant screenings, request payment plans to cover move-in costs, and better understand their lease agreements and applications. 

Read more about Tenant Services in the Seattle Times: Seattle tenant hotlines, legal aid could face sweeping budget cuts. 

And these programs aren’t just about helping renters – they can also foster better relationships between renters and landlords. We teach renters about their rights and responsibilities as tenants, how to best communicate about issues with landlords, and how to make sure any health and safety concerns are addressed quickly. And when we’re able to provide rental assistance to help with back rent, that money ultimately ends up the pockets of landlords, not renters. 

Tenant Services is the first line of defense in preventing evictions and keeping families from becoming homeless. If the City Council moves ahead with the mayor’s proposal to cut funding in half, it will deeply reduce how much Solid Ground and our partner agencies are able to support renters at risk of losing their homes. 

We connect neighbors with the support they need. 

Another way Solid Ground works to keep people from becoming homeless is by making sure they’re able to access state public assistance programs that allow them to meet their basic needs and feed their families. People who rely on programs like Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are often wrongfully denied or cut off with little explanation, so Solid Ground’s Benefits Legal Assistance is here to provide legal representation and advocacy to get benefits granted or restored. 

For an example of how Benefits Legal Assistance can change lives, check out our blog post: For this priestess of puns, a little stability went a long ‘whey’. 

Every year, we help more than a hundred families access and maintain public assistance programs through Benefits Legal Assistance. Harrell’s proposed budget would eliminate the city’s funding for the program, a total of about $50,000. 

Together, the proposed cuts to Tenant Services and Benefits Legal Assistance funding represent a small and insignificant part of the city’s budget, but they would have a devastating impact on the thousands of families they serve each year – undoubtedly leading to more families falling into homelessness. Now is not the time to pull back on our work to help people meet their basic needs and keep their homes. 

Please tell your councilmembers to restore and increase this funding so we can meet the true level of community need, rather than pull away from it. 

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Image at top: Solid Ground Tenant Counselor Crystal Caleb leads a tenant webinar.