Organizers trying to get the House Our Neighbors initiative to create a new public developer “to build, acquire, own, and manage social housing” on Seattle’s November ballot say their signature gathering effort is falling short of goals and are asking for support to help wrap the process up before the end of June.

“It is a common practice for signature gatherers to be highly visible in public spaces because of the great opportunities those provide,” an announcement from the House Our Neighbors organizer reads. “However, our approach is conscientious of the spirit and intent of events and gatherings, such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Day and we opted to not interrupt those sacred moments of healing out of respect, and instead we showed up in solidarity.”

The group says its grassroots approach, the spring’s bad weather, and a limited budget have put its signature gathering effort at around 15,000 signees — short of its goal of gathering the approximately 27,000 signatures it needs by June 20th.

The group headed by homelessness advocacy group Real Change is asking for supporters to add their signatures to help make the total.

“The weather is improving, we’ve got several weekends of big events coming up, and the people power of thousands of residents across the city that are ready for a change in the way we house our neighbors,” Real Change advocacy director Tiffani McCoy said in the statement.

Backers of the House Our Neighbors! coalition say their proposed ballot initiative would establish a developer to create more rental housing options in the city, powered by public funding, and protected from free market influences, and city and county restrictions.

Unlike the existing Seattle Housing Authority which typically serves only low-income residents, backers of the House Our Neighbors proposal say the new authority would be free of federal constraints on income levels and could be made available to renters with earnings ranging from 0% to 120% of area median income to help create a diverse pool of tenants across the authority’s properties.

The House Our Neighbors coalition is led by Real Change and was formed last summer in opposition to the so-called Compassion Seattle initiative as a response to the proposal that would have paired tough new restrictions on encampments with more money for shelters and services. The Real Change coalition formed, it says, to bring forward “concrete solutions to improve people’s lives, funded by progressive taxation, that provide paths for people to gain permanent housing, and end the conditions that lead to homelessness.” The Compassion Seattle drive, meanwhile, ended in September when an appeals court upheld a decision finding the downtown chamber-backed proposal was an illegal use of a local ballot initiative and violated state laws.

Under the proposal, the public development authority would create and acquire only publicly financed housing and maintain the properties as permanently affordable developments.

The ballot initiative would also create a renter-led board to form a charter for the authority and lead the development.

The initiative also includes environmental and labor restrictions including requiring new development to be built to Passive House energy standards and to use union labor.

The Real Change deadline of June 20th is self-imposed. Rules allow the group 180 days from its mid-April start to gather the signatures.

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