Our first General Membership Meeting of 2025 included a couple of heartfelt goodbyes to long haulers in this work and an enthusiastic hello from new Seattle City Council Member Alexis Mercedes Rinck. We also heard from the Financial Empowerment Network, a statewide organization that serves communities traditionally unbanked or underbanked, such as people experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Finally, we learned more about our legislative priorities for the 2025 legislative session and took action together to support House and Senate bills up for hearing.
Goodbye and thank you, Colleen!
Colleen is a friend and colleague who recently retired from the City of Burien. We gathered during our meeting to say a gracious goodbye and thank you to her for all her good work and care of the people experiencing homelessness in South King County.
Colleen shared this with us:
“I just am really grateful to all of you for the hard work and for being the voice of people that need us the most. And I’m proud to know many folks in my community that are experiencing homelessness and I’m proud of the folks that we were recently able to get housed at The Bloomside and how well they’re doing. I know there’s a path forward and I just hope that everybody continues to link arms to try to make this happen for people. Everyone deserves a home.”
Go to 00:04:33 to see our tribute to Colleen and hear her words of encouragement to us.
2025 State Legislative Advocacy
The 2025 State Legislative Session is officially on! This session is a long one and runs until Monday, April 28. Download our legislative priorities for this session here: https://homelessinfo.org/statelegislativeadvocacy/
Be ready to use your voice when we need it most! Sign up for our Action Alert emails here: https://homelessinfo.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/email-preferences
Our highest priorities for this session include rent stabilization, no net loss of homelessness services across the state, and ensuring local legislation is “objectively reasonable” for use of public spaces for sitting, lying down, and staying warm.
Rent Stabilization – HB 1217 & SB 5222
Companion bills HB 1217 & SB 5222 would limit rent increases to no more than 7% each year and add new protections for tenants, like limiting move-in fees and late fees, and requiring landlords to give 6-month notice for rent increases above 3%.
No Net Loss of Homeless Services
The State needs to allocate at least $253 million to prevent the closure of emergency shelters across the state. Funding for emergency shelter comes from Document Recording Fees, but fees have been lower than predicted the last few years due to low real estate sales in the state. The legislature must close the gap to ensure no loss of capacity to care for Washington residents without homes.
Ensure Reasonable Laws Governing Public Spaces – HB 1380
We don’t have enough shelter in our state. HB 1380 bill balances the need to protect public spaces while also ensuring people are not subject to regulations that are objectively unreasonable.
NOTE: The Legislative Session moves fast. Throughout the session, bills move through committee and are amended. To stay in tune with the session and what’s currently top priority, consider joining our Easy Advocacy Power Half Hours on the first Wednesday of each month of this session.
These events are from 12-12:30 p.m. over Zoom. They are free and open to the public with a focus on easy advocacy for people who use or work in homelessness services. Registration is required!
- Feb 5: https://homelessinfo.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/feb-advocacy
- Mar 5: https://homelessinfo.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/mar-advocacy
- Apr 2: https://homelessinfo.secure.nonprofitsoapbox.com/apr-advocacy\
Another awesome way to show your support for homeless services and affordable homes is to join us on our lobby day, Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day (HHAD), hosted by the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, on Friday, March 14.
Check-in is at 10 a.m. with a rally from 12-1 p.m. Lunch is provided and then you’ll meet with legislators until 4 p.m.
Tune in at 00:10:28 to hear our full segment on Legislative Advocacy 2025.
Introducing Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck
Seattle has a new citywide council member, CM Alexis Mercedes Rinck. She stopped by our meeting to introduce herself and her staff.
CM Rinck comes from the world of working on homelessness and human services. She has a seat on the Seattle Housing and Human Services Committee this year.
“I’ve always stood by the fact that we should be investing a lot more into health and human services,” CM Rinck shared. “We intend to have a strong connection with the Coalition and hope you can view us as a resource.”
CM Rinck invited people to come by her office and say hello. She wants her office to be an office for the people.
“Please reach out with questions, concerns. Our team is working on making sure we are very responsive to anything that comes through.”
She also acknowledged that 2025 will be a tremendously challenging year:
“I don’t want to make light of the fact that we’re going to have a change in presidential administrations that represents some very serious losses in federal funding to programs people know, love, and in many cases depend on. It’s going to be our connection and sharing of information and problem solving together that will help us weather that time. And you all can count on my office to be arriving in those conversations ready to problem solve and fight, so we are truly in this together.”
Tune in at 00:34:36 to hear CM Rinck’s full message to us.
The Financial Empowerment Network
The Financial Empowerment Network (FEN) works with communities traditionally underserved by banks and financial institutions. FEN helps to create safe, affordable bank accounts with no overdraft fees, no minimum balances, and no predatory practices.
FEN offers regular, free workshops on financial topics. Previous topics include building credit, financial wellness, and accessible homeownership. FEN also hosts a networking event called the Washington Financial Coaching Network on the fourth Wednesday of each month. These events are for anyone in Washington state providing financial coaching, counseling, mentoring, or financial education.
FEN runs an asset building coalition, called the King County Financial Empowerment Network, that provides a common space of collaboration between community-based organizations, financial institutions, and local government agencies. This Coalition helps people build tangible assets like sufficient income, growing savings, and stable housing.
The major initiative of FEN’s asset building coalition is BankOn Washington, which is part of a national initiative to meet the needs of people who are underbanked and get them connected to safe and affordable accounts. Part of FEN’s work ensures people know BankOn accounts exist in almost every single banking institution in the country. Even though low-cost accounts are available, banks do not broadcast this. These accounts have low or no monthly fees and no overdraft charges. They can help serve people experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
To find a list of BankOn accounts in Washington state, visit https://bankonwashington.org/accounts/. They are not called “BankOn accounts” but have a different name individual to each banking institution.
To hear the entire presentation by FEN, skip to 00:44:39 and download the slides from the presentation here.
Coalition Announcements
With hearts full of gratitude, we are saying goodbye to our Senior Program Manager, Jody Rauch. In her own words:
“For deeply personal reasons related to the health of my family, I have made the decision to take a year off from work. It is with a conflicted heart that I will be leaving my position at the Coalition. I am heartened knowing that this incredible and mighty team, in coalition with all of you, will carry on the good and important work we do to advocate for the health and safety of all our neighbors. It is with grief that I need to step away, but I expect to find my place back amongst you in the future.”
With this departure, the Coalition offers a rare and exciting opportunity to join our team in a leadership role. We are currently hiring a Senior Program Manager with a priority deadline of 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday, February 14, 2025. To ensure overlap with Jody, we have a preferred start date of Monday, April 7, 2025.
Read more about this position and how to apply here: https://homelessinfo.org/about-us/employment/. And please help us share this opportunity far and wide!
Tune in at 1:06:44 to hear from Jody directly about this transition.
Community Announcements
Orion Center and YouthCare’s South Seattle Youth Center are merging.
Starting January 20th, the Orion Center will add state-of-the-art shelter services, operating seven days a week with both day and overnight options.
On January 19, SSYC clients will transition to the Orion Center. Full shelter services at the Orion Center will begin on January 20, 2025. Until January 20, SSYC will continue to operate as it always has, providing safe shelter and services seven days a week, both during the day and overnight. No client will lose access to shelter during this period.
At the Orion Center, new mattresses, bed frames, bedding, pillows, blankets, and operational items have been purchased to ensure every young person has a comfortable and safe space. All South Seattle Youth Center staff will be successfully relocated to the Orion Center as planned. Importantly, no staff members were laid off as part of this consolidation.
That’s all for our January 2025 meeting!
Register for our next General Membership Meeting on Thursday, February 20 from 9-10:30 a.m. over Zoom. We will feature a guest speaker from the Disability Empowerment Center, a local organization that helps people with disabilities access peer coaching and resources. Together we’ll learn how this organization can help uplift people accessing shelters, day centers, or supportive housing.