Seattle Social Housing Board
Seattle Social Housing is governed by a 13-member board of directors. Members are appointed by the Seattle City Council and Mayor, Seattle Renters Commission, and community and labor organizations. Board members have a breadth of relevant expertise and experience spanning development, planning, finance and the lived experience of being a renter in Seattle’s market.
ChrisTiana ObeySumner
Board Member
CHRISTIANA
About
ChrisTiana ObeySumner (they/them) is a nationally recognized disability and housing justice advocate, social equity strategist, and founder of Epiphanies of Equity. Their lived experience with housing instability across six states—including Seattle—deeply informs their lifelong commitment to transformative, intersectional, and community-centered change. With over 325 clients served nationally, ChrisTiana has supported organizations in embedding anti-oppression frameworks that center those most impacted by systemic inequity.
Though initially applying for the Community Development seat, they were honored to accept a seat appointed by the Seattle Renters' Commission to bring their personal experience, passion, and strategic insight to the forefront. They view this appointment as a vital opportunity to help shape Seattle’s future in social housing by uplifting renter voices and advancing reparative justice.
Katie
LeBret
Board Secretary
KATIE
About
Katie was appointed to the board by the Seattle Renters Commission. Katie is Native American and comes from a small-town reservation in Belcourt and has lived in Washington state for 7 years. Katie is currently living unhoused as a vehicle resident in Seattle, having lived previously in supportive housing, youth-oriented shelters, and having received rapid rehousing assistance. Katie has experience navigating Seattle’s complex system of resources geared toward serving people living unhoused and with that experience carries the knowledge of the challenges associated with accessing services, and with staying housed in our current ecosystem. Katie is a proud trans woman who has faced a lot of no’s and hurdles growing up. Katie wants to help others help themselves and to be a role model for others.
Kaileah
Baldwin
Board Vice Chair
KAILEAH
About
Kaileah was appointed to the board by the Seattle Renters Commission. Kaileah is a queer Black ciswoman born and raised in Seattle and living in the South Park neighborhood (98108). Her professional background is in non-profit people-centered HR, which she currently does at Seattle-based advocacy organization, Puget Sound Sage & Sage Leaders. HR approach to HR and life in general people- and care centered, in opposition to white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy, and celebratory of QTBIPOC ways of working and being. Kaileah’s multiracial background (mixed white & Black) has given her personal insight into how Seattle’s history of racialized land use and housing policy impacts people today. While both her white and Black grandparents having moved to Seattle within 15 years in the mid-century, she is the only Black person across three generations who continues to live in the city due to the region’s subtle yet persistent anti-Black racism and the sheer unaffordability of Seattle housing.
Kaileah is looking forward to helping the new Seattle Social Housing Developer add permanently and actually affordable people-centered housing to reinvigorate the city’s affordable housing landscape and meaningfully tackle our homelessness and displacement crises.
Karen Estevenin
Board Member
KAREN
About
Karen was appointed to the board by Martin Luther King County Labor Council. Karen Estevenin has proudly served as the Executive Director of PROTEC17 (Professional and Technical Employees Local 17) – a labor union with over 10,000 public sector members across Washington and Oregon – since May 2019. Alongside talented staff and dedicated member-leaders, she organizes through collective action for social, economic, and racial justice in our workplaces and communities.
As Executive Director, Karen is the responsible for the vision, direction, and operations of PROTEC17. She represents the union in official business and in advocacy and organizing efforts to build power for working people. Her passion for housing is aligned with the union’s mission to inspire action, advance equity, and build community – housing is a human right, especially for workers in and at the City of Seattle whose contributions are vital to making our city thrive.
Working in berry fields and fruit processing plants while growing up in Whatcom County was formative in the development of Karen’s passion for dignity and respect for workers. Years later as a tech-worker in Seattle, she led an organizing campaign in her own workplace to form a union with WashTech of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Over the last 20+ years she has worked for CWA, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 3000, and Teamsters 117.
When not causing good trouble, Karen is active with her community and family in Seattle. A graduate of the University of Washington, she loves the Huskies, is an avid runner, and enjoys spending time in the mountains with her husband and three boys.
Tom
Barnard
Board Chair
TOM
About
Thomas was appointed to the board by the Seattle Renters Commission. Thomas was born in 1954 in Syracuse, NY, and lived there until 1980, moved to San Francisco and then Oakland during the early 1980’s. then moved to Dallas, TX in 1985, and then to Seattle in 1987. Thomas relocated to Seatac in 2018, as they could not find affordable rent in Seattle. Thomas spent three years in factory work, and many years in the restaurant business as a cook/chef, transitioning out in the late 1980’s after moving to Seattle.
In the 90’s Thomas received a BA in Political Economy and Community Development from Evergreen State College andworked for the WA State Legislature as a Session Aide and as an organizer, researcher and writer in two nonprofits. In the 2000’s Thomas received a Master in Public Administration from theEvans School of Public Policy with a concentration in urban issues, including housing, workforce and economic development and transportation. Worked as Policy Analyst for the Port of Seattle Commission from 2008-2016. Thomas ended working life driving for 3 years for Uber/Lyft. Retired in 2019-2020.
Ryan
Driscoll
Board Member
RYAN
About
Ryan was appointed to the board by the Seattle Renter's Commission. Ryan (he/him) has been a renter in Seattle for over a decade. His professional background is in education, community engagement, and policy. He has worked as a social worker supporting people in navigating the affordable housing system and engages frequently with renters through his current position with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. Through his work in community-based conservation and community organizing, he has become a firm believer that the people most impacted by programs and policies should be centered in their creation, iteration, and assessment.
Ryan learned about social housing while studying housing policy at the University of Washington. He was a signature gatherer for I-135 (which created the Social Housing Developer) and was a field lead for I-137/Prop 1A (which created a dedicated funding source for the Social Housing Developer). He firmly believes in the mission of the Social Housing Developer to create publicly-owned, permanently affordable, mixed-incoming housing where renters have a central role in influencing the direction of the developer. He is excited for the developer to create climate-resilient spaces where communities can grow and thrive.
In his free time, Ryan enjoys reading science fiction, running, exploring local breweries, and playing board games.