Who We Are

Updated May 2026

The City of Seattle is committed to equitable engagement and inclusion with a commitment to create communities of opportunity for everyone, regardless of race or means. To that end, in March 2017, the city established the Seattle Renters' Commission (Ordinance No. 125280) to represent diverse renter voices across the city. Its purpose is to provide information, advice, and counsel to the Mayor, Seattle City Council, and departments concerning issues and policies affecting renters.

Current Members

Andrew Ashiofu
Andrew Ashiofu is a dedicated advocate for equity, public health, and housing justice with deep roots in Seattle’s community organizing and civic engagement. As a renter and longtime leader in LGBTQ+ advocacy, they have consistently worked to elevate the voices of marginalized communities across the city. From serving on the Seattle LGBTQ+ Commission to leading statewide efforts through the Washington Stonewall Democrats, Andrew has championed inclusive policies that address the intersections of housing, healthcare, and racial justice. 
 
Their passion for housing stems from both personal experience and their professional work supporting vulnerable populations. Andrew believes housing is a human right, and they are committed to advancing policies that protect tenants, prevent displacement, and create truly affordable and accessible housing for all. They seek to serve on the Seattle Renters’ Commission to bring their lived experience, policy insight, and unwavering advocacy to the table—ensuring renters are not only heard but empowered in shaping the future of the city.

Elisabeth Benham
Elisabeth Benham is a renter living in Capitol Hill. With a background in sociology and city planning, her current work promotes affordable housing opportunities across Seattle and helps give a voice to the concerns of renters across the city. Having rented in cities where tenants have more bargaining power, she hopes to advocate for policies that create a more equitable playing field between landlords and renters. Specifically, she believes renters should feel empowered to speak up against unfair practices and should play a role in shaping directives such as banning ratio utility billing practices. She is also eager to see the new social housing developer succeed and bring structural change to the current housing paradigm. Her experience in community development and affordable housing have prepared her to contribute meaningfully to the Renters’ Commission, and she looks forward to supporting its work as the city enters a new chapter in advancing affordable housing. 

Agni Bhattacharya
Agni is a product manager at Stripe, a fintech company, in their Seattle office, and a former venture capital-backed entrepreneur. He rents in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, and is excited to join the Seattle Renters Commission to balance the triangle of needs between renters, landlords, and developers by leveraging quantitative and qualitative insights from all stakeholders to drive equitable and meaningful policy change for Seattle renters.

Adora Blue
Adora Blue is a renter living in Pinehurst. She was raised in a wealthy neighborhood in SoCal, and moved to Seattle in 2014, where she subsequently experienced renting in a large variety of areas and arrangements, from high- to low-income, apartments and houses, and even subletting. She became involved in housing activism in 2020 via Rent Strike 2020 and Covid-19-inspired mutual aid efforts - unhoused support in particular - and eventually joined the board of directors of Be:Seattle, a local housing justice nonprofit.
 
More recently, she started multiple efforts to help other trans people fleeing from persecution in other states move to WA - and Seattle especially - leading to creating a couch network to provide temporary housing to relocating trans folks who often would otherwise end up unhoused. Trans people are an especially housing-insecure population due to the prevalence of losing access to family homes, and the family support that would often allow for career development. It is also the biggest obstacle that makes Seattle a hard place to move to for disadvantaged people. Adora wants to reduce barriers and make Seattle not just safe, but also accessible to trans people, disabled people, and other groups currently being forced to flee their homes due to a regressive government.

Kasey Burton
Kasey Burton is an experienced landlord-tenant law attorney, who joined the Commission to contribute her legal skills and actively shape policies that protect tenants’ rights and ensure fair housing practices. By participating in the Commission, Kasey hopes to advocate for stronger legal protections, help identify gaps in current laws, and offer expert legal insight on issues like eviction prevention and habitability standards. Joining the Commission also provides the opportunity to collaborate with community leaders, stakeholders, and other legal professionals to create a more equitable housing environment for renters.

Alanna Diggs
Alanna Diggs is dedicated to helping demystify renting for all Seattleites, especially those who are moving to Seattle and who are historically marginalized. She views variety of language, genders, identities and experiences as the strength of a neighborhood. 
 
Alanna has an extensive background in marketing and communications and has been instrumental in projects that have increased access to healthcare, funding and economic opportunities for underserved communities. She is driven to help boost inclusivity for Seattle renters who speak languages other than English and is dedicated to helping all Seattle renters understand their rights and access safe and affordable housing.

Lydia Felty - Co-Chair
Lydia Felty is a resident of Capitol Hill. Originally from Ohio, she holds a B.A. in American Studies and English and worked as an educator before landing in the nonprofit sector. She now works with small downtowns across the state as they focus on the continued care of their space and community through place stewardship, historic preservation, and small business support.

Liz Fite
As a Seattle renter, I’ve experienced firsthand the challenges of finding and keeping stable, affordable housing in our city. I care deeply about making sure renters have a real voice in shaping policies that impact our lives and I’m excited to support the SRC their push for stronger renter protections and supportive government processes.

Allan Francis
Allan is honored to be appointed to serve on the Seattle Renters’ Commission. He believes that people most impacted by housing injustice should have the opportunity to shape policy decisions that reflect the realities they’re forced to navigate; realities experienced by people too often excluded from the conversation.

Having experienced homelessness, involvement with the criminal legal system, living in poverty, and living with a disability, Allan brings a critical and often unheard perspective to housing policy. He understands firsthand what many renters face, from navigating accessibility barriers to advocating for ADA accommodations to carrying the constant worry of eviction and rising rents.

Allan is a foster care survivor who has overcome immense challenges, including a felony conviction connected to untreated mental health issues. Today, he is stable and focused on his well being. He views his past as part of a path that shaped his deep commitment to meaningful change.

Daniel Lugo
Daniel Lugo is pleased to serve the Seattle Renters Commission as a member who has lived in low-income housing. That micro studio in Capitol Hill gave Daniel the stability he needed to pursue his career and wellbeing. His experience includes working at the state legislature as Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp’s legislative assistant, as well as local community nonprofits serving youth experiencing foster care, homelessness and more.

Daniel has secured over $10 million from various levels of government to support youth programming and housing services, as well as developing policy to improve and expand government systems of care. For example, Daniel initiated and shepherded the policy development process for the YMCA of Greater Seattle’s Lifeline program, which was a no-wrong-door access point to crisis prevention services for young people in need. Lifeline has been a relief to people across the state, especially during devastating events like the recent bomb cyclone.

In his free time, Daniel enjoys exploring Seattle, walking to Volunteer Park with his dogs, playing video games, and more.

Kate Rubin - Co-Chair
Kate Rubin is a renter living in Beacon Hill. She serves as the co-executive director at Be:Seattle, a grassroots non-profit organization focused on housing justice. Kate has played an instrumental role in advancing various renter protections in Seattle. She works to empower renters to advocate for their communities and organize for landlord accountability and stronger protections. She believes people most affected by policies and decisions should have real power in shaping them, and that everyone has the right to a safe, stable, and comfortable home.

Julissa Sanchez
Julissa Sánchez (she/her/ella) is a fierce Xicana Sinaloense, originally from Los Angeles, who grew up along the West Coast. She serves as an activist, liaison, and community organizer centering transformative justice. She is a dedicated advocate for youth, cultural education, anti-displacement housing rights, anti-racist work, and language justice. Her passion for culture, decolonization, intergenerational healing, and justice led her to study Latin American Studies, with a minor in Human Rights at the University of Washington. 

Julissa has dedicated her career to empowering historically underserved communities by advocating for progressive policy reforms and redistribution of resources. Working in solidarity for collective liberation through policy reform, cultural education, and transformative justice. 

Julissa worked in housing justice for five years at the Tenants Union of Washington State, where she developed the Language Justice Program to ensure the Latine community was informed of their tenants' rights in their own language. She tenaciously worked and advocated to make sure Latine tenants stayed housed, empowering them to fight against unlawful evictions, especially during the COVID pandemic. Julissa was also an essential organizer working in collaboration with the community for the Just Cause Eviction Protection bill and tenants’ rights package in the city of Burien and the State of Washington. 

Currently, Julissa is dedicated to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline as the Director of Advocacy at CHOOSE180, through policy reform, transformative justice, youth empowerment culture, and intergenerational healing. She is focused on creating programs that are youth-led, where youth voices are centered and amplified. Because housing justice is youth justice, Julissa continues to work in tenant rights as a Commissioner for the Seattle Renters’ Commission. 

Julissa is a published author, contributing to "Women Who Lead the Future of Entrepreneurship," a collaboration of women leaders from around the world, where she highlights her work in housing and language justice. She is currently writing her first novel based on the true story of her miraculous life. Julissa is passionate about writing as a form of self-expression and believes in the power of owning one’s narratives. Her writing focuses on lived experience, aiming to inspire women to own their stories, power, and live their truths.

When she is not working in the community or on her writing, she is dedicated to mothering the revolution and intergenerational healing, as the mother of a 16-year-old son.

Karen Taylor
Karen Taylor is a disabled renter in the Beacon Hill area, living on a fixed income from SSDI. In her 20 years as a renter, she has dealt with various issues such as lack of accessible units, having to spend 70% of her income on rent, and the constant need to find new roommates to afford a place to live in the city. She rents from a small landlord and is passionate about renter protections including renters who rent from landlords who manage only a small number of properties, and extending to sublettors. She is an active member of the Transit Riders Union, fighting for progressive taxation, a living wage for all, and renter protections. She imagines a world where everyone who needs them has accessible units and can afford to live on their own if they so choose.

Sasha Wasserstrom
I am excited to serve on the Seattle Renters’ Commission because I believe the voices of renters must not only be heard, they must shape policy. In Seattle, renters make up the majority of our residents and are constantly impacted by the whims of powerful landlords. Housing policy too often feels reactive, delayed, or disconnected from the urgency many of us experience month to month. I am motivated to serve because I believe the Commission plays a critical role in ensuring that renter protections are not symbolic gestures but durable, enforceable, and responsive to real conditions on the ground.
 
My background in public policy and coalition leadership has shown me how critical it is to bridge lived experience with institutional process. I want to help ensure that renter perspectives are translated into clear recommendations, measurable accountability, and policies that reflect the full diversity of Seattle’s neighborhoods and identities. Serving on this Commission would be an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the future of a city where renters are not an afterthought, but central to how we define equity and stability.
 
I am thrilled to be joining this commission and I look forward to all the great work that we will be doing together.

Sam Wolfson
Sam has lived in Seattle his entire life, and saw firsthand the explosion of growth that came with the city’s newfound position as a hub for technology. As someone who loves Seattle and wants to see it thrive, he personally understands the importance of making housing in our city affordable, welcoming, and plentiful for the increasingly large number of people who want to live here.