The Issues That Matter
As a longtime South King County resident, I understand the importance of safety, stability, and opportunity for our diverse community.
The top concerns I hear are public safety, homelessness, housing, and affordability. People want to feel safe in their neighborhoods, see meaningful progress on homelessness, and be able to afford to live in the region they’ve helped build.
Addressing these issues requires real investment in behavioral health services—because untreated mental illness and substance use are driving too many of the crises we see on our streets. Small businesses are also feeling the strain, facing rising insurance premiums, theft, and out-of-pocket costs for theft and property damage.
When local businesses can’t thrive, it affects the entire community. We need common-sense, coordinated solutions that restore safety, support those experiencing homelessness, and ensure our public systems are delivering real results.
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Public Safety.
I’ll work to rebuild trust and improve response times by ensuring we have both strong accountability and the right mix of resources, including law enforcement, behavioral health teams, and culturally responsive crisis response options. That starts with fully staffing our police, fire, and EMS departments.
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Housing.
I’ll support a balanced approach to increasing supply in a way that both expands affordable and workforce housing options across income levels but also protects long-standing communities from displacement. We need more housing, faster. And we need to build it in the right places, with the right tools.
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Affordability.
Too many people in South King County are being priced out of the communities they’ve helped build. Whether it’s rising housing and insurance costs, utility bills, or childcare expenses, the cost of living is outpacing wages—and families are feeling the squeeze.
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Homelessness.
Homelessness is one of the most visible and urgent challenges facing our region and a symptom of deeper system failures in behavioral health, housing access, and care coordination. Addressing it requires more than one-size-fits-all solutions.
Public Safety
We must treat acts of violence, home invasion, organized retail theft, and drug dealing as the serious crimes they are and hold offenders accountable.
I’ve met with most of the police chiefs in the district, and they’ve been clear: they’re stretched thin and need more support to respond effectively and build relationships in the community.
At the same time, we must expand co-responder and alternative response programs that connect people in crisis with the right kind of help. I recently did a ride-along with the Seattle CARES team and saw firsthand how well co-response models can work, but the system breaks down when there are barriers to helping someone find shelter, treatment, or stabilization. Without real-time data, sustainable funding, and real regional coordination across and collaboration with all providers, too many people fall through the cracks because the services aren’t connected.
We must treat behavioral health as part of a fully integrated continuum of care with supports that follow people through transitions like detox, inpatient treatment, housing, and long-term recovery. It’s also why I support earlier investments in youth violence prevention, school-based mental health, and community-centered crisis response. Public safety must be grounded in collaboration and trust. We can re-establish both by being honest about what’s working, holding criminals and the system accountable, and making sure public systems are not just well-intentioned, but effective.
Housing
Increasing supply means modernizing outdated zoning laws, streamlining permitting, and digitizing infill development reviews to cut unnecessary delays and costs.
As we grow, we must do so in a way that’s intentional and community-informed. That means planning for new housing near transit and schools, expanding housing choices—like ADUs, townhomes, and mid-scale apartments—in a way that reflects local needs and values, and making sure growth in one city doesn’t push families out of another.
That includes upzoning around transit and schools, thoughtfully expanding housing choices like ADUs, townhomes, and mid-scale apartments, and ensuring that one city’s development pressures don’t displace families into another. Housing and transit policies must be planned in alignment across the region because this is a shared challenge, not one that any city can solve alone.
Affordability
We need to take a comprehensive, countywide approach to reduce everyday costs for working families, seniors, and small businesses.
That includes expanding access to affordable childcare and afterschool programs, increasing property tax relief for seniors and low-income homeowners, and strengthening tenant assistance programs.
Affordability isn’t just about housing—it’s about ensuring people can thrive here, not just survive. That means investing in the supports that residents rely on, creating more access to workforce development and jobs, and making sure public dollars are being spent wisely to deliver real value for everyone in South King County.
Homelessness
We must build a broader, more flexible approach that reflects the complexity of people’s lived experiences.
That includes safe and accountable low-barrier shelter, transitional housing, supportive services, and pathways to treatment and recovery.
Our goal must be to move people not just into housing, but toward lasting stability, supported by a continuum of care that is accountable, coordinated, and driven by real results.
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