May 21, 2021

Dear SHA Residents,

The national Centers for Disease Control recently released new guidance on masking that suggests people who are fully vaccinated can be around others who are vaccinated without a face covering or social distancing. The CDC cites several exceptions however, and specifically states that people need to continue to follow guidance and policies set by local organizations.

On Thursday, May 20, Public Health – Seattle & King County issued an official directive that people should continue to wear face coverings and social distance when indoors, vaccinated or not.  The directive is based on local vaccination and COVID-19 case rates. The Seattle Housing Authority will follow the local public health directive and will not change our COVID-19 policies and practices that require face coverings and social distancing when residents are in indoor common area spaces, such as elevators, hallways, lobbies and offices.

We are all excited that vaccination is allowing some activities in our lives to resume and SHA hopes many of you are safely enjoying closeness with loved ones and friends or engaging in cultural activities after a hard year away from others. At SHA we will continue to monitor the situation, and national, state and local data and directives, in the hope we can soon permit mask-free contact in our residential facilities and begin to open community rooms and other spaces when it is safe to do so.

The safety of our residents and staff is paramount and until our local conditions and public health directives indicate otherwise we will continue to protect everyone at SHA to the extent possible by continuing the safety measures that have proven necessary and  effective so far. SHA staff will continue to wear face coverings in all SHA settings whether indoors or outdoors. For residents, we recognize that SHA properties are your homes and, while we will continue to require face coverings in building common areas indoors, we will not have the same requirement for outdoor spaces on SHA property. We ask residents to respect the choice of others to continue wearing face coverings and staying six feet or more apart, even if outdoors. Please note that masks may be required outdoors for residents participating in organized programs.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact your property management staff anytime. If you don’t know how to reach them, call 206.239.1589. You can also go to our website at seattlehousing.org and select “Contact us” then select “Contact your property manager.”

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Denille Bezemer

Acting Director of Housing Operations