SEATTLE—March 14, 2007—Mayor Greg Nickels has appointed Yusuf Cabdi and John Littel to fill resident and at-large board positions on SHA's Board of Commissioners.
These positions will fill Commission seats vacated by Marie Cook and the late Al Winston, Jr. Both appointments are subject to the City Council's confirmation. Interviews with the two appointees are scheduled for Tuesday morning, March 20, in front of City Council's Housing and Human Services Committee.
Yusuf Cabdi, a low-income public housing resident, is the Mayor's appointment for the resident position. Cabdi left Somalia in 1991 and lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for seven years before coming to the United States. He has worked with Somali and Muslim family and housing issues since settling in Seattle in 2003.
A resident of SHA's Tri Court apartments, Cabdi has also lived at Denny Terrace, where he was elected to be an at-large representative to the Denny Terrace Resident Council in 2006. He has also served as the Somali Community representative in the East African Association and as a Community Support Specialist with the Somali Community.
Cabdi speaks four languages: Somali, Arabic, Amai, and English. More than 1,700 households in SHA's low-income public housing buildings speak a language other than English as their first language, 28 percent of the total population in SHA-owned housing.
John Littel, Political Director of the Northwest Carpenters Union, is the Mayor Nickel's appointment for the at-large position on the Commission. Littel was previously Assistant to the Executive Secretary of the Seattle Building Trades Council where he was responsible for negotiations and labor relations at SHA and King County Housing Authority.
Littel also serves as the Vice Chairperson for the Washington State Correction Industries, a board member on the King County Workforce Development Council, and as the Chairperson for the Seattle School District School-to-Work Advisory Council. He is also a part of the Washington Environmental Council, and currently serves on SHA's Yesler Citizen Review Committee.
The seven-member Board of Commissioners, two of whom are SHA residents, is nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. The Board of Commissioners is responsible for approving SHA’s annual budget, and for setting the specific policies that guide SHA’s operations.