One view of Seattle's affordable housing future
There are plenty of headwinds affecting affordable housing construction and maintenance right now. Building costs are going up, and federal funding is uncertain. Affordable housing providers in Seattle and beyond have struggled as COVID-era rent subsidies disappeared.
Colleen Echohawk has been thinking about these issues a lot. She is the new CEO of Community Roots Housing, a Public Development Authority that manages over 2,300 affordable housing units in Seattle. They’re set to open more units in 2026, so we spoke to her about her plans for the organization.
Echohawk is also a member of the transition team for Mayor Katie Wilson, co-chairing the a group working on affordable housing and community needs.
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Related Links
Seattle’s affordable housing industry is in crisis. The city faces tough choices - The Seattle Times (June 2025)
Seattle doubles bailout for ailing affordable housing sector - The Seattle Times (December 4th, 2025)
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Libby Denkmann
Host, Soundside
Libby Denkmann joined KUOW in December 2021 as the host of the midday show Soundside. She’s a native Pacific Northwesterner who grew up in Redmond, graduated from the University of Washington, and covered local news as a producer and reporter with KIRO Radio.
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Gabrielle Healy
Senior Producer, Soundside
Gabrielle is a senior producer for Soundside, covering everything from politics to culture.
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Sarah Leibovitz
Supervising Producer, Soundside
Sarah joined KUOW in 2019 as senior producer on The Record. She is now Supervising KUOW’s new noon time show, Soundside. Prior to working at KUOW, Sarah was lead producer at the Seattle podcast production company Larj Media, and a teaching artist with Path with Art.
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