Who We Are

Updated April 16, 2025

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

Lydia Felty - Interim 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.

Daniel Godfrey
Daniel Godfrey was raised in the Seattle area, and now rents a shoebox in Uptown. He studied Medical Anthropology at the University of Washington Honors Program, where he spent his time on chronic pain research and community work at grassroots organizations combating inequity. After graduation, he traveled on a Bonderman Fellowship to examine global economic inequality. Grounded by Covid-19, he returned to begin social work at a local non-profit. Now, he serves the community and individuals experiencing homelessness as Coordinator with the LEAD Program. Daniel believes that activism and thoughtful policy can lead Seattle to be affordable and accessible for individuals of any background.

Atif Osmani
Atif was raised on the north side of Chicago, in the city’s South Asian enclave. A majority of his family immigrated to the United States in the 80s, so his ethnic and cultural heritage has always been an important aspect of his identity. In high school, and later college, he was surrounded by a more affluent and largely white group of peers. This dichotomy in populations, among many other factors, propelled him to learn about systemic social issues and how individuals, communities, and governments can work to solve or alleviate societal inequities. He attended the University of Chicago for his undergraduate degree, where he studied Public Policy and specialized in health policy. This program was an ideal interdisciplinary environment to deconstruct social issues because it leaned on economic, statistical, and multiple qualitative frameworks to view problems. Health policy issues hit close to him because he grew up helping his father and grandparents with their health impairments. Additionally, the study of health policy goes far beyond medical intervention and is fundamentally tied to the wellbeing of people. 
 
Atif believes that housing is a crucial part of a person's health and wellbeing, so he's excited to serve on the Renters’ Commission as an advocate for holistic and people-first housing policies. One of his first rental experiences in Seattle involved an agreement to run an Airbnb for "discounted rent". This work was on top of a full-time job, so Atif understands and empathizes with anyone struggling in the current rental market.  
 
Atif wants to further engage with the community to get a sense of what people care about and try to find solutions where possible. The community comes first and foremost, so he is doing what he can to center them in his work.

Kate Rubin - Interim 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.