Who I Am & Why I’m Running
Hi, I’m Caitlin, and I’m running for Kenmore City Council Position 2. Despite the spelling it’s pronounced “Kat-lynne” – which is why my kids insisted that I include a cat in my logo.
I’m running for Kenmore City Council not just to create a better future for our residents, but to change the way that we think and talk about housing. For over a century we’ve doubled down on housing policies that were designed to keep low-income residents and people of color out of our communities. It’s time to put these racist and classist policies behind us, and work towards equity in our community.
If the rationale behind them isn’t bad enough, these same policies have accelerated our climate crisis, driven up the cost of housing, increased traffic, triggered a decline in school enrollment, bankrupted our cities, caused a crisis of homelessness – the list goes on.
I’m tired of our local elected and appointed officials saying they care about housing and then voting for policies that exacerbate the crisis and ignore our working families. We need to elect people who not only understand the housing system but care deeply and will work tirelessly to improve it for everyone in our community.
As a small-business owner with extensive experience in housing – everything from rentals to sales and infill development – I understand how the system works, why it’s failing, and how to fix it. I also understand the complex way that our decisions on housing impact our ability to succeed in all our other policy goals. Leading with education, data, and a willingness (and desire) to engage with our community, I am running for City Council to improve the future of Kenmore for our current residents, and the next generation.
On a personal note — I was born and raised in Seattle, and after graduating from University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in philosophy, mathematics, and interdisciplinary visual arts I worked in the legal field, began my career in housing, and started a small business in leathercraft. I left my job as a paralegal when our daughter was born, and after the birth of our son we moved our family from Seattle to Kenmore because of the reputation of the Northshore schools, which our children still attend. Currently, I am a managing broker with Compass and work primarily with infill builders and first-time homebuyers. I serve on Port Angeles’ Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and Kenmore’s STEP Housing Committee, and spend my free time gardening, reading books on housing, and advocating for better housing policy. As a family we enjoy paddleboarding on the slough, hiking at St. Ed’s, and playing frisbee with our two rescue dogs.