Civic engagement – Page 2 – Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness Blog

Join us in calling on the Seattle City Council and Mayor Murray to make a $10 million emergency investment in shelter & homeless services

October 28, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

The Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness is calling on the Seattle City Council to respond to the urgent unmet needs of homeless people with a new emergency investment of $10 million in shelter and services in the 2016 budget. This figure represents a realistic assessment of how our city can significantly reduce how many people are homeless outside in our city, starting this winter. These are not intended to be comprehensive recommendations – they are serious proposals that will help more people get their fundamental needs met through a strengthened and expanded network of emergency survival services. More information about how we recommend $10 million be used most effectively is below. YOUR voice is crucial: if you live, work, or spend time in Seattle, Mayor Murray and City Council Members need to hear from you today. Simple instructions for how to Take Action are at the bottom of this post! We recommend that Council use the current budget process to allocate new resources to: Bring 750-1000 people indoors beginning this winter: Increase overnight shelter capacity and expand daytime services that meet people’s needs Keep homeless people safer and healthier while they are outside: Take a public health/harm reduction approach to assisting people outside Build on and reinforce our existing network of shelters and survival services: Extend hours and enhance staffing and programming where possible; find and fill in gaps between what people need and what is available Estimated costs and specific opportunities: I. Open additional overnight shelter for 1000 people: $6.5 million* This conservative cost estimate presumes that Seattle will work to maximize capacity at existing programs (offer longer service hours or enhanced services or increased staffing support) and open additional shelters by working with local non-profit organizations, leveraging publicly-held properties, and calling on the private sector to join faith communities …

Recap: Families with Children 10/28/15 meeting: Eviction Issues & Referrals with the Housing Justice Project

February 17, 2021October 28, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

Last Wednesday, October 28, 2015, Rory O’Sullivan, Managing Attorney with the Housing Justice Project (HJP), joined the Families with Children committee to discuss eviction issues and referrals in King County. Committee members and all meeting attendees enjoyed asking questions and learning about not only the more general processes involved in eviction, but also in what work the Housing Justice Project does! Rory outlined the legal process of evictions and what the Housing Justice Project can do for people facing eviction. The Housing Justice Project is in place to help low-income residential tenants in King County by offering legal advice for tenants with eviction-related issues, helping to answer eviction paperwork, negotiating with landords for tenants facing eviction, representing tenants at eviction (show cause) hearings, and providing referral and resource information. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Housing Justice Project: Housing Justice Project website 206.267.7090 Thank you, Rory! At the meeting, we also checked in with Danielle Winslow, a Project Manager at All Home. Danielle shared with us the current status of the new coordinated entry program that All Home is working on, and some thoughts on how assessment tools will be utilized in this new program. It was important for the committee to take the time to ask questions and have some group discussion around what will make the new hub system work for families and providers alike! The conversations were certainly fruitful, and included ideas such as offering tangible resources when clients come in to complete assessments or meet with case managers, increasing outreach to people who are unable to access hubs during daytime hours or at their office locations, and much more. Be sure to check out the All Home website and contact All Home with any questions. Coalition updates from the meeting: Make sure everyone is eligible to vote knows how to do …

Coalition letter to King County Council asking for immediate creation of shelter in empty, County owned, 420 4th Ave building

October 27, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

Many Coalition Members and Friends received Alison’s Action Alert in your email last week calling on the King County Council to create more shelter, and calling on the Seattle City Council to make a new emergency investment of $10 million in shelter and services. You are taking action and it’s being heard! Please keep sending postcards and emails (see great example from Coalition Board Member Ben Miksch) to your elected officials. Read the Coalition’s letter to King County Councilmembers and Executive Dow Constantine on behalf of the Coalition here. We are calling on the County to open shelter at the vacant County-owned building at 420 4th Ave as soon as possible, and to expedite the process to ensure more people can have a safe place indoors to sleep at night. TAKE ACTION!!! When we speak up together, we can make important changes to our community! You can influence what happens for real people who are homeless in our community right now by using your voice in one (or more) quick ways using the message below: E-mail: Look up your King County Councilmember here, and cc Executive Constantine (kcexec@kingcounty.gov) Phone Call: Call the office of your King County Councilmember Postcard: Write a message, sign, and mail a postcard in an envelope with a 1st class stamp. In-person: Attend & give public comment at a King County Council Committee of the Whole meeting or a Health, Housing and Human Services Committee meeting. Stay tuned to Coalition Action Alerts for extra important meetings. Sample message: “I urge you to respond to the growing crisis of homelessness by creating more indoor shelter and services (day and night) immediately. Thousands of people are outside, struggling to survive, while public buildings stand empty. Funding for human services is not enough to meet the needs in our community. Local leaders must respond more strongly. …

Voter Registration: Make sure ALL eligible people register to vote by Mon. 10/5 for the 11/3 General Election: You Don’t Need a House to Vote

September 23, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

This is a big election, folks! Half of the King County Council and all nine of the Seattle City Council are up for (re)election. Voting is important and helps ensure that people’s voices are being heard. Encourage our whole community to take part! Help ensure that every eligible voter is registered and votes in this November 3 General Election. Read important details about registering people to vote below, plus, volunteer with the Coalition on Homelessness’ Voter Registration Drive: Thursday September 24 – Monday October 5! Contact Hillary for more information & to sign up! Voter Registration Deadline for Nov. 3 General Election: Monday, October 5 General Election date: Tuesday, November 3, 2015 Registration information and tips – Here’s a few helpful tips and important information. Please use our Guide for Homeless and Unstably Housed Voters for more specifics about helping those who don’t have a house register. Print this half sheet condensed version of our Guide for Homeless and Unstably Housed Voters. We recommend sharing it with people you work with and are helping register to vote. Registration Deadline: Monday, October 5 for mail or online new registrations & updates In-person registration for *people not currently registered in Washington State* is available until Monday, October 26, 2015 at King County Elections Offices: Renton HQ: 919 SW Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057-2906 Seattle Office: King County Administration Building: 500 4th Avenue, Room 440, Seattle, WA 98104 Do I need an address to vote? Residential address: MUST be filled out: You need to list a residential address to be placed in your district. You can register at the shelter, park, vehicle location, intersection, or another identifiable location that you consider your current residence if you do not have a traditional residential address. Provide as complete of an address as possible (ex: 4th Ave & Cherry St, Seattle, …

You Don’t Need a House to Vote: Spread the word to help people register by July 6 for the 8/4 primary election.

June 18, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

We may not be voting on the president, but this is still an important election! Here’s why: Half of the King County Council and all nine of the Seattle City Council are up for reelection, it’s a big year! Voting is important and helps ensure that people’s voices are being heard. Encourage our whole community to take part! Help ensure that every eligible voter is registered and votes in this August’s primary election. Voter Registration Deadline for Primary Election: Monday, July 6 Primary Election date: Tuesday, August 4 Voter Registration Deadline for General Election: Monday, October 5 November General Election Date: Tuesday, November 3 Registration information and tips – Here’s a few helpful tips and important information. Please use our Guide for Homeless and Unstably Housed Voters for more specifics about helping those who don’t have a house register. Registration Deadline: Monday, July 6 for mail or online new registrations & updates In-person registration for *people not currently registered in Washington State* is available until Monday, July 27, 2015 at King County Elections Offices: Renton HQ: 919 SW Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057-2906 Seattle Office: King County Administration Building: 500 4th Avenue, Room 440, Seattle, WA 98104 Do I need an address to vote? Residential address: MUST fill this out so voter can be assigned to a precinct. The residential address does not need to be a house/apartment. Voters should put the street, intersection, or shelter where they stay most often. (i.e. 4th Ave & Cherry St.) Mailing address: voters MUST provide a mailing address because ballot will be mailed to voter. See our guide for places to receive mail in the county, such as Compass Housing Alliance (77 S. Washington St, Seattle, 98104). If you work at a place where clients can receive mail, they can use that address as a mailing address. Felony …

Youth and Young Adults Committee Recap from March 12, 2015 Meeting: YYA Job Opportunities

March 12, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

Back in the Fall at the Youth Advocacy Summit, youth advocates organized around creating access full time paid employment instead of just unpaid or short term internships (while they are great experience, they don’t provide as much stability). This week we discussed some opportunities including working with Real Change, education and training through Career Pathways, and the Living Wage Green Internships campaign! (read more below!) We also elected new co-chairs: Michael (HEYO) and Emily (PSKS) we’re excited to have you in the fun leadership role! And Hatlo, we’re fortunate that you were a co-chair with great leadership and glad to still see you at meetings and events. (Drum roll…)We are excited about bills that made it past a very important cutoff in Olympia!!! The Homeless Youth Act (Senate & House), Extended Foster Care (Senate & House), Homeless Student Stability Act (House), and Youth Equality and Reintegration (YEAR) Act (Senate) made it out of their perspective chambers and will now be heard in the other chamber. Thanks for making calls, and we encourage you to call your legislators to thank them for their work. See more on our legislative tracker blog post. Here are the opportunities we talked about: Job Opportunity: Sell papers on a flexible schedule with Real Change, presenter: Jerred Clouse, Vendor Program Supervisor, jerredc@realchangenews.org Real Change is a three part program. (1) newspaper that has won many national awards and collaborates with local organizations such as Mockingbird for articles. (2) Vendor program and circulation of paper. (3) Awesome advocacy work organizing at a local and state level (you’ve probably heard of their OutsideIn campaign). Related to youth and young adults, their Vendor Program is open to people 18+ years old, and is very flexible, accessible, and independent. They’re doing a lot of outreach to involve and engage with YYA who are interested …

Guest Post by Tyler Roush: One Night Count reveals a heartbreaking 3,772 living without shelter in King County

March 1, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

This reflection on the 2015 One Night Count was originally published on the Compass Housing Alliance website. Tyler Roush is the communications manager for Compass Housing Alliance and was also an action team member on the One Night Count in the Southwest King County Headquarters. They were counted huddled in a doorway or in a tent beneath a freeway overpass. Sleeping in a car parked in the lot of a sprawling retail store or riding a bicycle, their possessions slung to one side. In the early morning hours of Friday, Jan. 23, volunteers with the One Night Count filtered through areas of Seattle and King County where homeless people are known to sleep. What they found would break hearts. In just three hours, volunteers organized by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness counted 3,772 people living without shelter in King County, a shocking 21 percent increase from last year’s total. (Due to the nature of the count, results are always assumed to be underreported.) The number is stark evidence of the need for more services for those who are homeless. The survey area did expand this year to both previously included and new areas in the Southwest King County region. The Coalition organized the expansion in partnership with the King County Housing Authority (KCHA), which hosted volunteers at its headquarters in Tukwila. About 35 volunteers, many of them KCHA employees, began to gather shortly before 2 a.m. to meet up with their team leads, collect maps of their survey area and discuss ground rules. In the three short hours ahead, they would be tasked with counting the people living without shelter in their area. Mark Abernathy and Chris Clevenger, both KCHA employees, were participating for the first time. Their survey area took them along a heavily trafficked stretch of highway, where people are known to sleep in their …

2015 Legislative Session Updates: On to Special Session

February 23, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

And it’s a wrap (but not really). The 2015 Regular Legislative Session ended on Friday 4/24, but the House and Senate have yet to agree upon a budget, so a special session will start on Wednesday, 4/29. We are happy that Extended Foster Care, the YEAR Act, the Homeless Youth Act, and the King County Bonding for Affordable Housing all passed! Unfortunately a number of our bills did not pass, as happens each session since only a limited number of bills can even be brought to vote. These bills will be re-worked in the break until the 2016 legislative session and be reborn and hopefully pass in 2016. Your phone calls, postcard signing, and advocacy have been significant and continue to be vital moving forward in the Budget process. Budgets from the House and Senate were both released in mid-April. See below for more details. The House and Senate will have to work together to agree upon a balanced budget. We are glad the House and the Governor both provided for revenue in their budgets, however the Senate did not. We encourage you to ask your legislators to “Please ensure the final budget raises new revenue and invests at least $110 million in affordable housing.” Please check out our tracker below and note the status of bills you have been tracking. Keep on making calls, fill out and send in a new postcard, and staying tuned for action alerts – Sign up for Coalition Action Alerts here! Take 5: call the Legislative Hotline to leave a message for your representatives and let them know what bills you support and also urge them to invest $100 Million in the Housing Trust Fund. These bills and budget asks are crucial to helping people experiencing homelessness in our community. Hotline Number: 1-800-562-6000 – real (and kind) people answer the phone! Hotline …

2014 Coalition Recap: What a great year!

February 16, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

As the Coalition on Homelessness is poised for another big year we invite you to reflect on the work you have helped the Coalition complete in 2014. If you would like to become a member (as an organization or individual), please find our membership information here. Join us to advance our shared mission: ensuring safety and survival for people who are homeless, and working collaboratively to end the crisis of homelessness in our region. Project Cool for Back-to School 2014 helped 1,373 homeless students start the school year right with new backpacks, school supplies, and dental kits. We’re preparing for Project Cool 2015, and continuing to move beyond the backpacks, connecting advocacy with service! We organized and mobilized over 1,100 people and dozens of organizational partners to carry out the 2015 One Night Count of people who are homeless outside. We documented 3,772 people outside overnight ~ a shocking but not surprising increase of 21% over last year. Within a week we brought the results to Olympia with our Ring out for Revenue and Roofs action. We ensure that these results inform and inspire action year-round. Our two years of advocacy for a low income Metro fare paid off: the OrcaLIFT program launched March 1, 2015! OrcaLIFT is the broadest, deepest public transit access program in the U.S., allowing people earning up to 200% of FPL to ride for half-price. Six Coalition member agencies are helping sign up riders! Visit www.orcalift.com for eligibility and location information. Four times a month, our General Membership and Population Committee meetings serve as lively and collegial forums for Coalition members to talk through timely issues and common problems and collaborate to find practical solutions. Our workshops on Helping Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento 101 and Beyond the One Night Count provided over 200 people with tools to …

2015 Legislative Priorities

January 27, 2015 by Alison Eisinger

The 2015 One Night Count identified 3,772 too many people outside from 2-5am early morning Friday, January 23. This cannot be considered normal and we need YOU to take ACTION. We are now in the third week of the 2015 Washington State Legislative Session and your elected state legislators need to hear from you today! Call the Legislative Hotline to leave a message for your representatives and let them know that you support legislation that is crucial to helping people experiencing homelessness in our community. Hotline Number: 1-800-562-6000 – real (and kind) people answer the phone! Hotline Hours: Monday-Friday 8am-8pm Please find below short messages to use when you call your representatives and senators as well as links to PDF versions of one-pagers with information about the important acts and programs that are on our legislative agenda. Click here to view the Coalition’s Legislative & Budget Priorities in a printable version. Here are our legislative priorities in no particular order. Thanks to the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, Columbia Legal Services, The Mockingbird Society, and the Statewide Poverty Action Network for these one-pagers. State Housing Trust Fund: Invest $100 million to create good homes and local jobs through our State Housing Trust Fund Housing & Essential Needs (HEN), Aged, Blind, & Disabled (ABD) and SSI Facilitation PROTECT Crucial Programs & Prevent Homelessness for disabled and elderly Washingtonians: Maintain Housing & Essential Needs (HEN), Aged, Blind, & Disabled (ABD) and SSI Facilitation at current funding levels. Seniors and people with disabilities must be able to meet their basic needs and access recovery resources. Fair Tenant Screening Act (SB 5123 / HB 1257): ELIMINATE Barriers to Housing: Pass the Fair Tenant Screening Act (SB 5123 / HB 1257), and laws to prevent discrimination based on how people pay rent and ensure fair reporting …