Seattle Plan to Hike Minimum Wage Could Squeeze Charities

The PBS NewsHour talks to the head of a Seattle nonprofit about the impact a city proposal to set a $15 hourly minimum wage could have on his group and other agencies serving the region’s neediest residents.

Bill Hobson, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center, said he supports the minimum-wage increase but that it should be accompanied by tax increases to help city-financed charities cover higher payroll costs. Nearly a third of the center’s 520 full-time employees now make less than $15 an hour.

Without additional revenue, Mr. Hobson said, his organization will have to cut staff and reduce its housing services for homeless and behaviorally disabled people.

The NewsHour also interviews a counselor and a supervisor at the center about their struggles to get by on, respectively, $12.30 and $14 an hour.