Upisode 47: Seattle housing advocates Laura Loe and Ethan Goodman stopped by the bookstore for what started out as an update on pro-housing, anti-homelessness legislation and turning into a sprawling rumination on life changes, self-empowered community development, the uselessness of “supply and demand” as a basic rhetorical device, and even the status of the left/liberal divide as it applies to housing and urban planning policy. Both gave reasons to be optimistic, as well as concerned, about the future of urbanist policy in Seattle.
About Laura Loe
Make Apartments Legal Again
Laura Loe is an educator, Gen-X musician, bus driver and gardener from Colombia via NY, LA, and Chicago, who has lived in Seattle for 8 years. Using the hashtag #YIOBY (Yes In Our Backyards), she works intersectionality to connect Seattle communities working for more equitable, climate resilient cities with many more housing choices. Laura Loe tweets as @sharethecitiesand is affiliated with organizing efforts for: Affordable Talaris, Seattle for Everyone, MOAR Backyard Cottages, and Red May Seattle.
A former Washington State Sierra Club Executive Committee member, Laura was also campaign manager for Tony Provine’s City Council campaign. She formerly served as editor of “The Roosie,” Roosevelt’s community newspaper. Laura, a former middle school math and science teacher, studied biology at UCLA, and brings a deeply methodological approach to housing, affordability, equity, and social justice; she is one of Seattle’s primary resources on social media for real-time updates for all city, county, and state legislative initiatives. Stay tuned to Cascadia Underground for more on Laura’s upcoming “Land Use 101” educational series.
Find Laura’s Patreon and support her activism here.
About Ethan P. Goodman
Ethan P. Goodman is a software developer, entrepreneur and civic organizer, is the founder and lead organizer for Seattle Tech 4 Housing, a grassroots education and advocacy group fighting for progressive housing reform. Seattle Tech 4 Housing was founded on the principals that the tech boom can and should benefit every Seattle resident; that abundant and affordable housing is the foundation of an equitable city; and that the tech community in particular has a responsibility to fight for solutions. Ethan, UW Husky who served at the Center for Democracy and Technology and Sunlight Foundation in Washington DC, watched the Citizens United ruling completely upend the relationship between corporations and government from up close.
Ethan is also the founder of Seattle in Progress, a real estate tech consultancy and website for tracking construction in Seattle. Read his latest Urbanist article on the “headcount tax” here.
