Does Seattle love social housing enough to fund it?

There is a special election coming up in Washington state on February 11. And in Seattle, there’s something big to decide on: a new way of creating and paying for housing. Voters approved the formation of a social housing developer in 2023, and now will decide how to fund it and whether to put guardrails on the nascent developer. We break down the options with the host of KUOW's Booming, Joshua McNichols.

Plus, we take a look at the White House directive that froze potentially trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. That order was first halted by a judge, and then rescinded a day later, but not before causing panic at agencies and non-profits across the Pacific Northwest.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundpoliticsnotes.

Sound Politics is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

Our editor is Gabe Spitzer. Our producer this week is Hans Anderson. Our hosts are Scott Greenstone and Libby Denkmann.