Shelter

Speak Up Against HUD’s Attempt to Dismantle the Equal Access Rule

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Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has proposed a rule change that would remove protections for people to access HUD-funded shelter, housing and services that best fit their gender identity. Tearing down the “Equal Access Rule” would make those resources contingent on matching biological sex, and it would allow service providers to demand proof of someone’s biological sex in order to access services. That would further marginalize trans, intersex, and nonbinary people who are already at high risk of homelessness and dangerous situations while they are homeless. Speak up today against this terrible rule change! Write your comment before June 29, 2026 using the template below. HUD is legally required to review all comments and respond to them in their final rule. We have successfully stalled out other terrible rule changes before by submitting an overwhelming number of comments – let’s do it again! Sample comment – please customize it if you have time: 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 …

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Analysis of House Bill 2266 for Housing Fairness (Passed into Washington State Law in 2026)

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Disclaimer: this summary was prepared by Coalition staff in April 2026, and is intended to help the public understand the impact and importance of HB 2266. It should not be used as legal advice. Background Since the Growth Management Act went into effect in 2021, cities and counties are not allowed to prohibit STEP housing (Shelter, Transitional Housing, Emergency Housing, and Permanent Supportive Housing) in certain zones within their jurisdictions. Unfortunately, many jurisdictions found loopholes in that law and imposed unreasonable requirements, restrictions, and barriers – many rooted in stigma or neighborhood opposition – to work around this requirement and make developing STEP housing more costly, burdensome, and vulnerable to disruption. These local regulations include opaque, complex, and arbitrary approval processes, restrictive spacing requirements (i.e., banning shelter within 1,000 feet from another shelter), and unfunded mandates for providers. These practices create barriers that make it extremely difficult to create or operate much-needed shelter and housing. In some cases, these barriers even required existing shelter to shut down. Some examples are listed below. To the best of our knowledge, these will all be unlawful once HB 2266 goes into effect later in 2026. HB 2266 closes loopholes in the Growth Management Act and paves the way for more STEP housing to be created in jurisdictions across the state. Summary Expanding siting: HB 2266 changes how cities and counties must approach siting(approving a location) for STEP housing. It requires cities and counties to allow: Limiting requirements: HB 2266 also places important limitations on what cities and counties can require as a condition of siting or developing STEP housing. Under this bill, cities/counties are generally not allowed to: If a city/county uses a design review process, that process must be administrative (done by the lead city planner, not elected officials) and it must …

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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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General Membership Meeting – February 19, 2026

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During our February 2026 meeting, we were joined by Senator Patty Murray’s staff to hear about federal funding for housing and homelessness services in 2026, learned about a new legal aid hotline for long-term-care residents from the Washington Office of Civil Legal Aid, got a crash course on progressive revenue and the Washington tax code from Balance Our Tax Cod and the WA Budget & Policy Center, and heard a mid-session update on the 2026 legislative session from the Coalition’s Community Policy Manager Hali Willis. 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. Federal funding for housing & homelessness services The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, passed in early February, authorized federal funding for homelessness and housing programs in 2026 and set up crucial guardrails for the Continuum of Care (CoC) program, which supports 4,400 homes in King County alone. Senator Patty Murray and her team did considerable work on these federal funding bills to ensure they protect programs that work. We thank them for their good work and are reminded that advocacy works! We must continue contacting our lawmakers, sharing how policy decisions impact us, and activating people in our networks to speak up, too. Read more about 2026 Fiscal Year HUD funding and protections for the CoC program here. New legal aid hotline for long-term-care residents In January 2026, the Washington Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCLA) opened an intake hotline to provide legal counsel for people living in long-term-care facilities. If somebody is facing discharge or has been discharged from a community-based long-term care facility, this hotline can provide them legal information, advice, and representation. The statewide intake line, run by Disability Rights WA, …

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Mini General Membership Meeting – October 16, 2025

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During this abbreviated General Membership Meeting, we heard updates from community partners, reviewed important information for the upcoming General Election on Nov 4, learned about the Seattle and King County budget cycles, and shared our budget priorities for this year (and took action together!). We are hosting another Membership Meeting this month in partnership with the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence on Thursday, October 30 in person (!) at LANGSTON Seattle from 9-11 a.m. This meeting will cover the intersection of homelessness and gender-based violence to better equip service providers, advocates, and community members to serve people with complex needs. Please join us! There will be refreshments and costumes are encouraged. Register here: bit.ly/Oct30Meeting 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’s Happening at the Coalition Our next free, virtual training is on Social Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI). This training is presented in partnership with the Benefits Law Center. Please join us on Tuesday, October 28 from 9-11 a.m. over Zoom. All registrants receive a copy of the recording and presentation afterwards. Preparing for the November 4 General Election Jump to 00:12:42 to view this section of our meeting. The General Election is less than two weeks away. Ballots were mailed on Wednesday, October 15, so you and your clients should have them by now. If you don’t, call King County Elections at 206-296-VOTE (8683) or print a ballot online here: bit.ly/KCprintballot. There was a recent KOMO news piece about the postal service’s new system and speed for postmarking mail. Because of this change, KC Elections is advising people to return their ballot by mail EARLY (by Monday, October 28) to ensure …

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Employment Assistance Programs: Information and Coalition Update from January 16 Zoom Call

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Although The Coalition cancelled our January Membership Meeting in recognition of the extra strain severe weather conditions put on people experiencing homelessness and on service providers, and the real difficulties of winter travel in our large county, we did host a ZOOM call to update members on the 2020 Legislative Session priorities, click HERE to visit our State Legislative Advocacy page see many ways you can take action! We had a great panel of staff from Employment Services Programs who were going to present at the meeting, and we will be rescheduling these presenters for a future Coalition meeting. In the meantime, we wanted to share programmatic and contact information for these employment and job readiness training programs so that your programs and clients can access these important resources. Please contact the programs below directly if you or your clients have any questions about their services. Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) serves people with disabilities between the ages of 16 to 80, and helps with gaining, maintaining and advancing in employment. Eligible clients must have a permanent disability (intellectual, mental and/or physical in nature) and barriers to employment. In order to refer, client must make contact themselves for intake unless they need assistance to call, and in that case, a case manager can set up the appointment if they let the front desk staff know the customer cannot make the initial contact. To request an intake, call 253-372-5900, or reach out to your local Work Source office for a referral. Please contact Allesandria Goard for more in-depth information on the services and nuances of the DVR program. Pioneer Human Services   Roadmap to Success is a job-readiness program for formerly justice involved individuals who are seeking full time employment To be eligible for the …

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2019 April 18 Membership Meeting Summary and CEA conversation materials

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Thank you to sixty-three people who joined us on April 18 for our lively meeting, including a walk through the Coordinated Entry For All process and the opportunity to give feedback on what is and isn’t working about Interim Dynamic Prioritization. Coalition staff were pleased to share news that we are hiring for our new Administrative Coordinator position, and invite people to participate in Project Cool (for information about getting backpacks for students who are experiencing homelessness, email Hillary). We sent Hallie, our Member Services Coordinator, off to her new job in Olympia with hearty thanks and well wishes. And, you got LOUD for Housing by contacting your lawmakers in Olympia asking them to #BudgetForHousing! We know that about 40 people used the email action alert during the meeting, and others made calls – thank you! Materials/Handouts from meeting: April 18 Meeting Agenda Coordinated Entry Deep Dive handout from Joanna (including CEA experience flow, CEA Priority Pool workflow, definitions, and prioritization formula). Prints best on 8.5 x 14 paper. Mobility Policy Handout also available online here. Mobility Request Form also available online here. Africatown International Diversion Fund Information. More diversion information available on All Home’s website and Africatown International’s website. CEA April Newsletter Coordinated Entry for All (CEA) Deep Dive Joanna Bomba-Grebb from Coordinated Entry For All prepared a chart of how the CEA process, from assessment to housing, currently works. Thanks to staff from member agencies, including Solid Ground and DESC, for attending the meeting to share their perspectives about how each piece of the process actually works day to day on the ground. Our discussion on the process and continuous improvement was still continuing when the meeting ended at 11, so we decided that we will set aside some time at our Thursday, June 20 Membership meeting (9 …

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Continue Support of the White Center Shelter

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As we head into a holiday that for many people is synonymous with home and family, let’s turn our attention to White Center. The former public health clinic stands empty, and King County, which owns the building, had hoped to open a shelter in that space on November 1st for 70 people. Three weeks later the shelter has not been opened. That means that 70 people have been outside when they could have been inside for 21 days. In the language of shelter providers, that means 1,470 empty bed-nights. Community members have every right to be notified, to have their questions answered, and to be assured that the shelter will be well run. But not opening the doors to an empty building when there are not only thousands of people homeless does not seem to fit our community’s ideals. We wrote a letter to our community partners in White Center, and we invite you to write your own, using our postcard template, or your own words. Thanks to King County elected officials and staff, as well as community volunteers and our member organizations for your determination to see the people behind the numbers, and to respond with urgency. We strongly support efforts to increase safe shelter and affordable housing across this region. This is a very good time for all of us to think about how we can help answer the question: how can we bring more people inside, and help them secure a home?