During our September General Membership Meeting, we were joined by two King County programs that recently expanded capacities: the Public Health Street Medicine Team and the Youth Mobile Crisis Team. We also heard some announcements from our members, took a moment to recognize the role of advocacy in today’s world, and shared some Coalition upcoming events.
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Upcoming at the Coalition
We are preparing our community for the November 5 election. Our team of trained, nonpartisan Voting Rights Volunteers are visiting our member organizations this month and next for voter education and registration. If you’re interested in having our team visit your program or site, please reach out to Kevin Lee at kevin[at]homelessinfo[.]org.
There are two candidate forums coming up that you should attend as a voter who cares about housing and homelessness issues. These forums are opportunities for voters to learn about candidates and, specifically, hear their positions on human service issues. Candidate forums are also a space to educate candidates on what their constituents care about and what their communities need.
“Lots of times, people feel disconnected from elections and from candidates because they don’t think that their issues are being addressed,” said Alison Eisinger, Coalition Executive Director. “This is part of how we change that. And it’s also part of how we educate the candidates.”
These forums are an opportunity to show candidates packed houses of voters who passionately care about housing, homelessness, and human services. Please join us:
- King County Candidate Forum – Virtual – Wednesday, September 24 – 6 p.m.
- Seattle Candidate Forum – In Person – Wednesday, October 9 – 5:30 p.m.
Learn how to be an effective advocate for housing justice right in time for budget season! Our county and city budgets determine what resources are allocated to support people experiencing homelessness and this year, with large funding restraints at the city, county, and state, we’ll need every voice to speak up with us to support funding for shelter, housing, and supportive services. Join us for one of our Housing Justice Advocacy trainings to learn the tools you need to speak up for housing and homelessness priorities during budget season and beyond:
- Housing Justice Advocacy Training – In Person – Wednesday, September 24 – 6 p.m.
- Housing Justice Advocacy Training – Virtual – Friday, October 3 – 12 p.m.
Next month’s General Membership Meeting is a little special. We’re hosting our first in-person meeting since the pandemic! We’re partnering with Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence to bring both our networks together to talk about the intersection of homelessness and gender-based violence.
Please join us on Thursday, October 30 at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center from 9-11 a.m.!
NOTE: This meeting is NOT on the third Thursday of the month, however, we have a mini, virtual membership meeting at our regular time: Thursday, October 16, 9-9:30 a.m., Zoom.
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.
King County’s Public Health Street Medicine Team
King County’s Street Medicine Team ensures people who are unsheltered in King County have access to the healthcare they deserve, on their terms, via person centered services that are equitable and racially just through a harm reduction, trauma informed lens.
Jump to 00:19:00 to hear the presentation from King County’s Street Medicine Team.
The Street Medicine Team was previously known as the Mobile Medical Program, which was one team that provided medical and clinical care at locations where homelessness services were provided. The program was redesigned as the Street Medicine Team to be more flexible and extend to more remote locations, such as encampments and rural locations.
The Street Medicine Team’s primary focus has always been folks who are sleeping outside. The Street Medicine Team provides:
- Acute and episodic medical care
- Harm reduction services
- Basic needs
- Interdisciplinary coordination of care
The Street Medicine Team now consists of three outreach-based street medicine teams—comprised each of four medical professionals—that roam all of King County at a variety of “anchor sites.” Anchor sites adjust monthly. The month’s schedule is posted on Street Medicine Program website here: kingcounty.gov/streetmed. The posted schedule shows that Street Medicine hours differ based on each site to match the resources being distributed and the populations accessing these resources.
Street Medicine assesses anchor sites quarterly and is open to suggestions from the public for new or adjusted sites. To suggest changes to anchor sites, email streetmedicine[at]kingcounty[.]gov with your suggestions and reasoning. There is no guarantee that your suggested site will be incorporated, and please note that each potential site must also meet certain eligibility criteria. However, the Street Medicine Team is connected to the larger Healthcare for the Homeless Network umbrella and will hand off suggestions they cannot accommodate to the larger network for consideration.
Street Medicine teams also do weekly encampment outreach in Burien, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, Seattle, and White Center from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This outreach schedule also rotates and can be found on the Street Medicine Program website here: kingcounty.gov/streetmed.
The three mobile Street Medicine Teams operate in inclement weather and often provide some level of survival supplies in extreme heat, cold, and rain/wind.
Street Medicine expanded in January 2025 to offer consistent medical services four days a week at the REACH Markham Drop-In Center in Belltown, Seattle. This location is currently hiring and onboarding new staff. The goal is to have this location staffed with a Medicine Team Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Details on Street Medicine services
Street Medicine teams:
- Carry several non-controlled medications (including birth control)
- Provide wound care and wound care supplies
- Provide point-of-care testing (STI, HIV, Hepatitis-C, COVID, pregnancy)
- Do Suboxone intakes for opioid use disorder and connect clients to ongoing care
- Provide harm reduction supplies including naloxone and naloxone training kits, clean needles, glassware, and condoms
- Meet the basic needs of clients by providing food, clothing, water, backpacks, sleeping bags, and other hygiene supplies (in limited supply)
- Make referrals and connections to other available resources such as shelters, food banks, housing, legal assistance, enrollment into the ORCA Lyft transportation assistance, and enrollment into health insurance
Providing care in partnership
The Street Medicine Team relies on partnering organizations to ensure the continuity of care so clients have access to all the resources that they need when they need them. Street Medicine partners with the following organizations:
- REACH
- DESC
- Neighborcare Health
- Health One
Street Medicine connects clients to primary care and Medication for Opioid Use Disorder via the Hepatitis Education Project (HEP), Bupe Pathways, and DESC.
King County’s Street Medicine team also partners with Harborview Medical Center’s Weekend Street Medicine team to ensure clients get uninterrupted care seven days a week.
Dental services
Street Medicine does not fund dental services directly. The program is in communication with Medical Teams International to hopefully offer dental services in the future. For the rest of 2025, Medical Teams International will provide dental services at Street Medicine’s Kent Lutheran anchor site.
For more information regarding free dental services in King County, please reach out to the Adult Dental Services Program.
Youth Mobile Crisis Teams in King County
Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS), managed by the Y Social Impact Center, provide no-barrier access for kids and families through 988 or Crisis Connections. MRSS is a free, 24/7 program that offers support overnight and on weekends.
Jump to 1:05:18 to view this presentation by the Y Social Impact Center.
The philosophy of MRSS is that the family defines the crisis. In other words: It is up to the child or the family to say, “We need help right now.”
The Y Social Impact Center has had the privilege of providing these crisis services for several years, but as of just recently, they’ve been able to expand to a regional model. This new model supports three regions—central, northeast, and south—and allows for:
- Faster response times for crisis outreach
- Fewer barriers to care
- Better distribution of work for staff
- More safety measures in place
- Staff who are more familiar with the resources in their region
The MRSS team partners with existing YMCA service sites in each region of King County to offer emergency crisis dispatch along with stabilization services for youth, young adults, and families. Stabilization services last up to eight weeks and include peer roles specialized to meet a family’s needs.
MRSS is a cross-trained team of clinicians and peers that are prepared to respond to and support and pass down across a whole spectrum of populations. The staff at MRSS is currently 25 people large and the Y is looking to bring in about 25 more staff.
The expansion of this service was made possible by the Crisis Care Levy, which King County voters overwhelming passed thanks to years of advocacy and community education.
Our next General Membership Meeting
Please join us for our next General Membership Meeting IN PERSON (!) on Thursday, October 30 at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. This event is hosted in partnership with the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence and will focus on the intersection of homelessness and gender-based violence: Thursday, October 30 – 9 to 11 a.m. – In person at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center
Please also join us for a mini, virtual General Membership Meeting—focused on advocacy and voting rights—at our regular scheduled time: Thursday, October 16 – 9 to 9:30 a.m. – Zoom