By Alexis Mercedes Rinck

In response to an openly antagonistic federal government more interested in interior decorating than keeping food on the kitchen tables of over 40 million Americans, and an austerity-minded state government, local governments are being asked up to step up more than ever to keep our communities fed, healthy, and thriving.

In the past 11 months, we have seen the Trump Regime 2.0 fundamentally rock the foundations of our country by taking a wrecking ball to nearly every federal agency. This has sabotaged federal funding streams for research and critical programs, and decimated the federal workforce. At the same time, the administration has issued a flood of hostile executive orders and administrative changes to grant applications designed to disqualify organizations and jurisdictions, like Seattle, that serve immigrants and the queer community.

This year’s state legislative session did not come to the rescue as we hoped. While House and Senate Democrats put forward legislation to enact progressive revenue with powerful coalitions rallying in support, the legislature ultimately failed to pass many of these options. This translated to austerity for many programs Seattle residents depend on, including the Encampment Resolution Program—a highly successful program focused on removing encampments on state right-of-way and getting people into housing .

These cuts are destabilizing to organizations that serve actual people. The public may not know or care if a clinic or a food bank is funded from federal, state, or local dollars—but they will feel the pain when it disappears.

Local government cannot backfill all the losses in state and federal funding. Our charge must be to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of the people living under our care. Within the 2026 city budget, I have proposed a number of amendments to do just that.

The first would provide $1.4 million to stabilize and backfill federal and state cuts to homeless youth service providers. Earlier this year, organizations providing services to LGBTQ+ and immigrant youth were unable to receive federal Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) funds, and more changes and cuts at both the state and federal level are anticipated  in 2026.

The number one predictor of adult homelessness is experiencing homelessness as a young person. Without intervention we could leave hundreds of young people in an even more precarious position.

Our next amendment would add $1 million to gender-based violence survivor services. Due to Trump Regime executive orders and calculated administrative changes, local domestic and sexual violence programs from organizations such as Refugee Women’s Alliance, NW Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), and API Chaya, are facing an impossible choice: Either deny lifesaving services to queer and immigrant survivors, or risk losing federal funding In addition to the threatened federal funding, state Victims of Crime funding has been cut annually since 2018, even as providers face rising costs.

During the 2025 city budget cycle, funding for tenant services were cut by $1 million, or about 40 percent. I have introduced an amendment that would restore this funding.

Tenant services is a broad category that includes legal counsel for low-income renters facing eviction, legal clinics for individualized support to prevent eviction in the first place, as well as guidance and counseling on how to deal with common issues facing renters, including conflict mediation and payment negotiations. In 2024, King County landlords filed more than 7,000 unlawful detainer cases (evictions)—the highest number in state history.

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In a majority renter city that is grappling with an affordability crisis, we need to invest in measures that keep people housed and provide tools to protect their rights. Restoring $1 million to our tenant services programs will enable organizations such as the Tenant Law Center, Housing Justice Project, Solid Ground, and Be:Seattle to continue their work.

None of this critical human services work would be possible without the frontline workforce. The devaluation of care work has created a doom loop for the people who work in the human services field. Seattle remains one of the most expensive cities in the country, and too many human services workers are paid at wages that, in some case, qualify them for the programs they work in.

In 2023, a city-funded study found that nonprofit human-services workers make 37 percent less than private-sector workers with comparable jobs, a disparity that makes it hard to hire and keep qualified staff. Those who left nonprofit human services jobs saw an average pay boost of 14 percent, the study .

The mayor’s budget proposes a three percent wage equity increase for nonprofit service providers, but we need to move the needle further. A livable wage is fundamental to a thriving workforce, and the City Council has long recognized that basic fact when securing pay City employees. The most recent  contracts included a cumulative 10 percent pay increase over two years, while members of the Seattle Police Officers Guild received a retroactive pay increase last year of roughly 24 percent over three years.

Human services workers at the nonprofits that provide Seattle’s safety net also deserve fair pay. That’s why I’m sponsoring  an amendment to provide a 5 percent wage equity increase for human service providers. The full five percent increase fulfills promises the city  , and is critical to sustaining and uplifting the human services system our community depends on.

Over the next three weeks, the council will be considering these amendments along with many others that represent priorities in our city. We need a balanced budget that puts people first. Contact your councilmembers and make your voice heard.

Alexis Mercedes Rinck is a Seattle City Councilmember representing all Seattle residents in citywide Position 8.