Yessler Terrace Public Housing

Yessler Terrace, the last public housing location in Seattle, was the subject of a local documentary film recently screened on the SCAN television station. The film featured the viewpoints of Yessler's low-income residents, activists from the Community Coalition of Environmental Justice (CCEJ), and the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA). Plans are about to begin for the conversion of the site into a mixed housing community, as previously in Holly Park, High Point, and Rainier Vista.

Logically, mixed housing seems a wise and humane choice for the sustenance of urban communities that are welcoming of ethnically diverse people with low and moderate incomes. However, according to public housing advocacy groups, the conversion to mixed housing in the other neighborhoods, while including units for low income people, has resulted in the overall displacement of 1000+ former public housing residents.

Check out a Pepperspray video for a short online version of the film.