Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has issued an order calling for his City Hall departments to “take action to assist communities impacted by the unjustified and violent invasion of Ukraine.”
The executive order issued this week directs departments to support Ukrainians with legal, language, mental health, and financial assistance for immigrants and refugees resettling in Seattle. The effort will be led by the Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs with assistance from the Human Services Department and Office of Economic Development.
The Harrell administration has also directed the Office of Intergovernmental Relations to work with local Ukrainian community organizations and regional and federal partners to help transfer medical and humanitarian supplies to organizations in Ukraine and European nations serving Ukrainian refugees.
The order also directs the Department of Finance and Administrative Services to “identify and end any contracts” Seattle City Hall holds with “Russian state institutions or major corporations.”
According to the city’s announcement, the order was shaped by a meeting between Harrell and Valeriy Goloborodko, Honorary Consul of Ukraine for Washington and Oregon, late last month.
The executive order comes as fighting continues following Russia’s February 24th invasion of Ukraine. Two million people have now fled from the war in Ukraine, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
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While we’re helping the Ukrainian refugees, can we also find housing and services for all of the people living in tents and in encampments?
Wild guess here, but I’ll bet refugees (Ukrainian or from elsewhere) that come here don’t tend to refuse what is offered no matter how different it is than they are used to or less than perfect it may be….
I assume the mayor’s order also abolished single family zoning throughout the city, and radically streamlined the construction permit process? If not, this is mostly just exacerbating a preexisting housing crisis.
And while we’re on the topic, if you have an, “in this house we… welcome refugees” sign in your front yard, and you don’t support radical upzoning, your opinions are bad and you should feel bad.
Couldn’t wait to see if folks would complain about us not housing our own people. Yep. Didn’t disappoint. In spite of people given the option to get off the street, many chose to stay outside. Let’s not confuse this with showing compassion to people fleeing a war. Kind of different, don’t you think?
Refugees should be welcomed with open arms. Drug addicts from Florida that come to camp in the park, steal to fuel a meth addiction, trash the city and take advantage of Seattle’s insanely enabling policies, not so much. I will add that the later reduces our ability to help refugees and locals that have fallen on hard times.