Danielle

Helping Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento 101 – August 19, 2026

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This training covers the following: Thank you to our presenters and co-facilitators from TeamChild. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act – the basics >> Join SchoolHouse Connection’s Mailing List Virtual Resource Fair Lutheran Community Services Website: https://lcsnw.org/ Legal Counsel for Youth and Children Website: https://lcycwa.org/ Kids’ Mental Health Washington Website: https://kidsmentalhealthwa.org/ Team Child Website: https://www.teamchild.org/ Open Doors for Multicultural Families Website: https://opendoorswa.org/ Register for our next General Membership Meeting Thursday, September 17, 9-10:30 a.m., Zoom

General Membership Meeting – July 16, 2026

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At our July 2026 General Membership Meeting, we heard from the Washington Health Care Authority and Northwest Health Law Advocates about changes to Medicaid for asylees, refugees, and other noncitizen adults coming October 2026. The Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence shared information about the latest Trans Resource Referral Guide, including how to submit information about resources. We were also joined by King County Elections, who talked about the August 4 Primary Election, safeguarding voter information, and securing voting rights against federal actions. If this wealth of information is something you want to share with others or access again, please subscribe to the Coalition’s YouTube channel, where our membership meetings and trainings are collected. Coalition Announcements Our next training has been scheduled for Weds, Aug 19. This Helping Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento 101 class is designed for human service workers, frontline providers, school employees, and others who work with students and families experiencing homelessness. You will learn how to help students access public school resources guaranteed by federal law under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Join us from 9-11 a.m. over Zoom. Register here. Do you believe in this Coalition? We want to hear why. We’re hosting our third annual Truth to (Staying) Power fundraiser at The Royal Room on Thurs, Sept 17 and to prepare, we’re gathering stories from our membership about how this Coalition shows up for them. Email Danielle Palmer-Friedman (danielle[at]homelessinfo[.]org), our Communications Lead, to share yours. Changes to Medicaid for Asylees, Refugees, and Other Noncitizen Adults NoHLA healthcare options for uninsured immigrants fact sheet available in English at:  https://nohla.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Immigrant-Health-HR1-Timeline-Resources.pdf  Also in Spanish: https://nohla.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/affordability-Jan-26-Spanish-ES.pdf simplified Chinese:  https://nohla.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Health-Affordability-Resources-WA-ZH_CN.pdf and Vietnamese: https://nohla.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Health-Affordability-Resources-WA-VI.pdf Trans Resource Referral Guide 2026 King County Trans Resource and Referral Guide Request Info: To Request Copies of the guide: 2026 King Co Trans Resource and Referral Guide Request Form – Fill …

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Tukwila Speak up NOW: Don’t Banish Tukwila Residents

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Do you work or live in Tukwila? Your city councilmembers need to hear from you NOW to stop a bad bill that would punish and banish people experiencing homelessness. The city council is poised to vote on this dangerous bill this Monday, July 20 at 7 p.m. The proposed new ordinance would make it a crime to “camp” on public property, punishable by up to 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine. We know laws like these are designed to punish and banish people experiencing homelessness.  Please SPEAK UP TODAY! Send your message to Tukwila elected officials and Interim Tukwila Police Chief Eric Lund using the sample message below. Let them know that when thousands of people in King County communities lack basic shelter every night, it makes no sense to punish people who have no place to stay, or to push them out of their community. This proposal is cruel, shortsighted, costly, counterproductive, and it will NOT help people experiencing homelessness in Tukwila. Speak up before Monday at 7pm to stop this bad bill! Email Template Note: It’s great to personalize the subject line and the message if you have time. If you don’t have time, that’s OK! Just copy, paste, and hit send – numbers matter! TO: verna.seal@tukwilawa.gov; armen.papyan@tukwilawa.gov; hannah.hedrick@tukwilawa.gov; dennis.martinez@tukwilawa.gov; kate.kruller@tukwilawa.gov; joe.camacho@tukwilawa.gov; jane.ho@tukwilawa.gov; Mayor@tukwilawa.gov; E.Lund@TukwilaWA.gov SUBJECT: No Tukwila Banishment Law Dear Tukwila City Councilmembers, Mayor McLeod, and Chief Lund, As a Tukwila resident, I want all my neighbors to have a safe place to sleep at night, and I want our community to help people when they don’t. I’m glad that we have some shelter in our city but right now, we don’t have nearly enough affordable homes or shelter. As a result, too many people must try and survive outside. We should use our public resources to help people meet their basic needs, not punish them when they have …

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General Membership Meeting – June 18, 2026

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For our June GMM, we learned about crisis care options in King County (including DESC’s Mobile Rapid Response Crisis Team), Washington’s summer EBT program (SUN Bucks), and talked about federal impacts on our local system of housing and care. King County Crisis Care Washington’s SUN Bucks program Time to Take Action Protect HUD’s Equal Access Rule The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has proposed a rule change would remove protections for people to access shelter, housing and services that best fit their gender identity, instead making those resources contingent on matching biological sex. That would further marginalize trans, intersex, and nonbinary people who are already at extremely high risk of homelessness and dangerous situations while they are homeless. Leave a comment today in opposition to this rule change. Comments are due at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 29. Sample comment below: I strongly oppose the proposed changes to the Equal Access Rule issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This proposal would remove critical protections that ensure fair and equal access to housing and services for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. By stopping people from choosing services that align with their gender identity, forcing them into programs and services that do not meet their needs, and allowing providers to require proof of a person’s biological sex, this rule opens the door to discrimination, denial of services, and dangerous conditions for people seeking HUD-funded shelter, housing, and services. According to data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, transgender people are more likely to be unsheltered than their cisgender peers, and those who are unsheltered have worse health and experience more dangerous conditions than those who are sheltered. More data is available at https://endhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Trans-Homelessness-Brief-July-2020.pdf. Instead of discriminating against trans, nonbinary and intersex people experiencing …

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Annual Membership Meeting – May 21, 2026

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2026 Annual Membership MeetingThursday, May 21, 8:30-11 a.m. 9:15 – 9:30 a.m. Welcome and Introductions 9:30 – 10 a.m. The Power of Being in Coalition Together 10 – 10:40 a.m. Who Can Call King County Home? A conversation about the housing affordability crisis with: 10:40 – 10:50 Coalition Board of Directors Candidate Slate 10:50 – 11 a.m. Member Announcements Speak Up Against HUD’s Attempt to Dismantle the Equal Access Rule COMING IN AUGUST: Helping Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento 101 A training for public school, housing, and human services staff working with students experiencing homelessness in area public schools. SAVE THE DATE: Truth to (Staying) Power Thurs, Sept 17, The Royal Room – Tickets on sale in June Support the Coalition and celebrate a milestone of staying power for our Executive Director, Alison Eisinger (20 years!). PAST COALITION MEETINGS & TRAININGS: bit.ly/SKCCHYouTube INTERESTED IN MEMBERSHIP? Individual, Allied, or Organizational Email membership[at]homelessinfo[.]org or call 206-204-8350 for more information. Join our next Membership meeting Thursday, June 18, 9-10:30 a.m., Zoom Register here.

2026 Legislative Wrap Up – April 16, 2026

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At our 2026 Legislative Wrap Up, we welcomed Washington state lawmakers and advocates who are champions for homes, homeless services, and progressive revenue. We were joined by Representative April Berg (LD-44), Representative Strom Peterson (LD-21) and Senator Alvarado (LD-34), as well as Emma Scalzo from the Balance Our Tax Code (BOTC) coalition, Emily Vynanek from the Washington Budget & Policy Center, and Lianna Kressin from the Statewide Poverty Action Network (SPAN) to unpack the 2026 Washington State legislative session and celebrate our wins together! If this wealth of information is something you want to share with others or access again, please subscribe to the Coalition’s YouTube channel, where our membership meetings and trainings are collected. What the Millionaires Tax means for our communities Jump to 09:42 in the recording to hear Rep. April Berg speak on this new legislation. The Coalition joined the Balance our Tax Code (BOTC) coalition and the Statewide Poverty Action Network (SPAN) in supporting the Millionaires Tax (Senate Bill 6346). Representative Berg was a huge champion of this much-needed update to our tax code, which will add a 9.9 percent tax on household incomes above $1 million. When it goes into effect in 2029, the Millionaires Tax will help fund a significant expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), which puts more money into the pockets of people living on low incomes. It will make other important changes too, like making school breakfast and lunch free for all K-12 students in Washington’s public schools and eliminating sales tax on certain hygiene products and over-the-counter medicine. House Bill 2266 passes for Housing Fairness Jump to 18:34 in the recording to hear from Rep. Strom Peterson and others about House Bill 2266 and what it means for our communities. The Coalition and our community of advocates across …

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Truth be told, advocacy works: How a five-year-old helped advance housing justice during the 2026 legislative session

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On Monday, January 26, 2026, a five-and-a-half-year-old named Truth visited the state capitol for the first time with her mother, Danisha. The two made the trip to Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day (HHAD) on the Coalition’s Nancy Amidei Advocacy Express bus. “I just got word and jumped on the bus,” Danisha said when we met for coffee two weeks after our visit to Olympia. Danisha has been subscribed to Coalition emails for years. She’s worked in social services for the past decade and is currently a graduate student at the UW School of Social Work. She’s been a shelter counselor at DESC and Compass Housing Alliance and a housing advocate—helping people find housing, navigate resources, and communicate with landlords—at Neighborhood House, all Coalition member organizations. While working to find stability for others in our regional system of housing and care, Danisha said she was always one check away from being in shelters herself. “We’ve been through the ringer with housing,” Danisha said. She and her family went through the shelter system when Danisha was young. By age 13, Danisha had lost both her parents and was living with relatives. She never had a formal guardianship and was unable to access any of the foster care resources for kids who age out. “I just kind of turned 18 and just kept going in life,” she said. Right now, Danisha pays $2,150 in housing expenses for a two-bedroom apartment in Seattle for her and Truth. “It’s not even one of these new ones where you have a gym, and a roof top, and a little grill,” she said. Eight years ago, Danisha lived with her two siblings in a five-bedroom house with two bathrooms, a front yard, and a backyard. They paid $2,150 in rent. The house was in the same ZIP …

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Navigating SNAP: Program basics & new HR1 requirements – March 25, 2026

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PLEASE NOTE: The information in this training is accurate as of March 25, 2026. Benefit programs are undergoing significant and ongoing shifts. Here are a few resources where you can verify the information provided in this training: We invite you to watch and share this training on Navigating SNAP: Program Basics and the New HR1 requirements with your colleagues and communities who will be impacted by new limits to accessibility. The Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness is proud to present this in partnership with attorneys and public benefits experts from Solid Ground’s Benefits Legal Assistance (BLA) team.  In this training, BLA staff go over program basics (who can access programs and how to apply), explain what is changing, and how the communities you support will be impacted. You will also learn how to access BLA services for appeals on decisions and case consultation. The HR1 changes to the SNAP program are now the largest changes to eligibility since the 1996 Federal Welfare Reform Act. We know the most vulnerable will be disproportionately impacted by these changes, including people experiencing homelessness and people living with disabilities. We bring this information to the frontlines to help you advocate for and support the folks you work with. Please share this information and check our website for future training opportunities concerning SNAP benefits and other vital programs for communities impacted by HR1. For information and action about the harmful effects of H.R. 1 in terms of SNAP, please bookmark this page from FRAC: SNAP Cuts Mitigation Hub: Responding to H.R. 1 – Food Research & Action Center  Thank you to Solid Ground’s Benefits Legal Assistance team for presenting this informative training. Q: Do ABAWD requirements apply to being 18-21 and a student enrolled in high school? A: Students ages 18–21 who are enrolled at …

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General Membership Meeting – March 19, 2026

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For our March 19 General Membership Meeting, we were joined by folks at Northwest Health Law Associates (NoHLA) and Community Health Plan of WA (CHPW) to hear about the impacts to Medicaid under HR1. We also heard a brief legislative recap from our Community Policy Manager Hali Willis, took action on some proposed rules at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and learned about the Coalition’s efforts to prepare service providers in the stadium district for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. If this wealth of information is something you want to share with others or access again, please subscribe to the Coalition’s YouTube channel, where our membership meetings and trainings are collected. Changes to Medicaid Under HR1 Jump to 07:18 in the recording to hear this presentation. Read about the statewide impacts of HR1 from the Washington State Office of Financial Management here: https://ofm.wa.gov/budget/resources/h-r-1-impacts-on-washington-state-people-and-budget/#section-health-care-medicaid-enrollee-impacts Key dates: Oct 1, 2026: HR1 Eliminates Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility for certain lawfully present immigration status’ (refugees, asylees, and other non-citizen adults). COFA migrants, Cuban/Haitian entrants and lawful permanent residents will still remain eligible. Dec 31, 2026: Work requirements go into effect for Medicaid expansion adults (adults age 19-64, up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level) unless they qualify for an exemption.  Work requirements under HR1 impact Medicaid Expansion clients. If your coverage is labeled as any of the following, it is not Medicaid Expansion: • Pregnancy Medicaid • Parent/Caretaker Medicaid • Aged, Blind, Disabled (ABD) Medicaid • SSI-related Medicaid • Medicare Savings Program • Long-term care Medicaid • CHIP (for children) Generally “work requirements” and “community engagement requirements” are used interchangeably with “community engagement” being the formal phrase in the bill. The requirements can be met by working sufficient hours but also by volunteering, school, etc. …

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Access to services during the 2026 FIFA World Cup

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This page was last updated Weds, March 18, 2026. We will update this page as we receive additional information and resources. The 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament—occurring Thursday, June 11 through Sunday, July 19—is the largest event ever to occur in Seattle. Hundreds of thousands of people will visit Seattle from all over the world and are expected to stay an average of 7.5 days each. Our entire city will see the impact on our roads and in our neighborhoods, but the most impacted neighborhoods are the ones immediately surrounding Lumen Field, i.e. the “stadium neighborhood”: Pioneer Square, the Chinatown/International District, and SoDo. Many people access services, healthcare, housing, and shelter in these neighborhoods. Your Coalition has been working with the local organizing committee—SeattleFWC26—to get good information to housing, service, shelter, and healthcare providers in the most impacted neighborhoods. If your organization is not currently involved in these information sessions and your services are in Pioneer Square, the CID, or SoDo, please contact Kevin Lee at kevin[at]homelessinfo[.]org. The information in this post is useful for us all to be aware of and is specifically important for frontline staff and the people who sleep or access services in Pioneer Square, the CID, and SoDo. Match Days There are a total of six match days: *Note: Since this game was announced, Iran has pulled out of the competition. We do not yet know if this match will still take place with a different team or who that team will be. Each match has the capacity for roughly 63,000 attendees at Lumen Field. The match on Juneteenth between U.S. and Australia will likely see the biggest crowd, but the Local Organizing Committee expects every match to sell out. Some matches are not yet set—who will play will depend on the tournament outcomes, but …

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