General Membership Meeting

November 18th, 2021 Membership Meeting

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Thank you to all who attended our November Membership meeting. We look forward to seeing you and sharing space at our December 16th Membership meeting which includes our 2022 Legislative Preview! This meeting will be two hours from 9am-11am The Coalition on Homelessness is hiring! This is the CORE position of OFFICE MANAGER at the Coalition. Thanks for getting this out to your networks. A full position description, salary range, and how to apply are on our website and here: http://bit.ly/CoalitionJob2021 Help us find a person who likes to set up systems and keep them in good working order, who relishes solving problems, and who sees the beauty in being the behind-the-scenes backbone of our small & mighty team and our broad & diverse community.*Priority application deadline: December 8, 2021.* COVID Vaccine Updates COVID-19 Vaccine Booster doses: Pfizer, Moderna, and the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines offer great protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death. However, studies have shown that over time protection against mild and moderate disease can decrease. Booster doses are recommended for anyone 18 years of age and older who are at least 2 months past their single dose of Johnson & Johnson and for some groups of people who received either Moderna or Pfizer and are at least 6 months past their second dose. Learn more at Seattle King County Public Health. Check out the Seattle King County Public Health Blog: Public Health Insider for tips on COVID and the holiday season. Read past blog posts for lots of great information on COVID and how to stay safe. Advocacy Priorities Inflation Adjustment: If you live or work in Seattle: City of Seattle budget will be finalized on Monday, 11/22. We have a foundational ask which is the 2.8% inflation adjustment. Email your Councilmembers today to say …

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January 21, 2021 Membership Meeting

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Click here to view our COVID-19 vaccine information for homeless service providers. Click here to see Dr. Yang’s slide deck. Thank you Dr. Maria Yang, Medical Director at the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), and Jody Rauch, Clinical Quality Lead at Health Care for the Homeless Network, for joining us to discuss what is currently available and known about COVID-19 vaccines. State Legislative Advocacy Speak Up Pop Up Workshop Series: Want to gain and practice advocacy skills, help build a strong community of housing justice advocates, and learn enough about our state legislative process to be an effective voice? Join us at our Speak Up Pop Ups! These drop-in workshops will occur every Tuesday from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. throughout the legislative session and are open to people of all levels of interest and experience with legislative advocacy. We firmly believe that everyone can be an effective advocate for themselves and their community; advocacy really just means speaking up! You do not have to attend all the workshops, but we invite participants to attend multiple session to help you learn and practice advocacy skills, build a community of housing justice advocates, and ensure sustained momentum throughout the legislative session. Click here to register. Coalition Member Updates Salvation Army Sodo Single Adult Shelter: A shelter for single adults run by Salvation Army has opened in a new location in SoDo and is accepting referrals from select social service agencies (view referral form here). Three previous shelter locations (City Hall, Fisher Pavilion, King County Admin) have consolidated into this site at 1039 6th Ave S Seattle WA, 98134. Entry is located at the north end of the property at the personnel gate. Turn South on to 6th Avenue from Airport St or Charles St. Security will check you in and arrange for staff to meet …

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December 17, 2020 State Legislative Preview Meeting

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Agenda 9:00-9:20             Welcome and Intro to State Legislative Advocacy 9:20-10:05           Legislative Priorities from our Statewide Advocacy Partners 10:05-10:30         Lawmaker Insights with State Senator Patty Kuderer and Representative Nicole Macri 10:30-11:00         Special Musical Guest Reggie Garrett State Legislative Advocacy Basics The first step in advocating on the state level is knowing who represents your community in Olympia. Washington state is divided into 49 legislative districts, which elect one senator to the State Senate and two representatives to the State House. You can use this link to look up your legislators: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ To look up your state legislative district and state legislators: Visit app.wa.leg.gov/districtfinder Enter your home address and click “Find My District”. If you do not have a traditional home address, enter a mailing address, or a cross street, shelter address, or park address. This determines who represents you. Make sure that under “District Type”, “Legislative” is selected. This will show you your legislative district (usually a number) and your Washington state senators and representatives. Make a note of your legislative district number. If you haven’t already, rename yourself with your legislative district in front of your name! Make a note of the names of your legislators! Bonus points if you click on your legislators’ names to learn more about them, including what committees they are part of and what bills they’ve sponsored Extra, extra bonus points if you add their contact information to your rolodex! Participating in Virtual Legislative Advocacy With the legislature meeting remotely this year, advocacy will happen remotely as well. Opportunities to connect with lawmakers will happen in the communities we live, which means your program or agency can play an important part in raising the voices of those most impacted by homelessness. We want to give some thought to the questions below. Please reach out to either …

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November 19, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Meeting Agenda: 9:00 Welcome and Introduction9:05 Annual Subsidized Pass Program9:25 Coalition Member Updates9:35 COVID-19 Update for Service Providers10:00 City of Seattle and King County Budget Advocacy 10:20 Coalition Staff Updates10:25 December Legislative Preview Preview Thank you to everyone who attended our Thursday, November 19 Membership Meeting. A summary of the resources discussed is listed below and is being added to, please email Jason if you have additional materials you wish to share. We hope to see you next month at our Thursday, December 17 Legislative Preview Meeting. Click here to register. Agenda Highlights Subsidized Annual Pass Sound Transit and King County Metro are launching a program to provide ORCA cards to low income public transit riders. This program, once fully implemented, represents the largest expansion in public transit access locally since the creation of the ORCA LIFT program. The Coalition worked alongside our community partners Transportation Choices Coalition, Seattle Transit Riders Union, Puget Sound Sage, OneAmerica and others for years to make this happen, we are thrilled to see this benefit coming to our community. Click here to learn more. In response to a 2019-2020 budget request by King County Council, Metro worked to establish an income-based fare program for those who cannot afford the current reduced fare options. To create an equitable implementation plan, Metro collaborated with a stakeholder advisory group, prioritizing the mobility needs of priority populations, including people of color, low-income residents, limited or non-English speaking communities, and immigrants and refugees. The Subsidized Annual Pass functions like an ORCA LIFT card that can be offered free of charge to qualifying riders. This pass provides pays for 100 percent of the cost to use: King County Metro buses Rapidride Bus Routes Link Light Rail Sounder Commuter Train Seattle Streetcar Seattle Monorail Access Paratransit Via To Transit Sound Transit Express …

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October 15, 2020 General Membership Meeting

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Agenda 9:00 Welcome9:10 Statewide Eviction Moratorium Update9:20 Member Updates9:40 November Ballet Overview10:10 City of Seattle and other King County Advocacy Work10:25 Coalition Staff Updates Agenda Highlights Statewide Eviction Moratorium Update On Thursday October 8, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced that the temporary moratorium on evictions will be extended through the end of 2020, with no additional loopholes or exemptions. John Stovall with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance thanked us for the statewide advocacy push that made this possible and encouraged us to send a thank you message to the Governors office using this link. The Housing Alliance also wants to gather stories of people who have faced challenges keeping their housing because of COVID-19. If you or someone you know has a story to share, please consider filling out this form. Health Through Housing Campaign We have a big, exciting opportunity to create emergency homes for 2,000 people experiencing chronic homelessness in our community. On Tuesday October 13, the King County Council voted 8-1 in favor of the Health through Housing proposal. If you’re a King County resident, send a personalized thank you message to your King County Councilmember and Executive Dow Constantine urging them to focus this new one tenth of one cent sales tax revenue on housing people with the lowest incomes, who have disabilities and have been homeless for far too long. Thank you to those of you who took action, please send a follow-up note to ensure that Health through Housing is dedicated to supportive housing with behavioral health services for people at or below 30% AMI. We need to keep a strong focus on making true regional progress on chronic homelessness. Coalition Member Updates  Hopelink Financial Empowerment Training Pt. II: The Coalition in partnership with Hopelink are offering a series of monthly mini-trainings to explore …

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August 20, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Defund the Navigation Team and City of Seattle Budget Advocacy  The Seattle City Council voted to defund the entire Navigation Team as part of their 2020 budget rebalancing work, but Mayor Durkan vetoed the Council’s budget, so our work is not over. Check out this Op-Ed from REACH Co-Director Chloe Gale and our Executive Director Alison Eisinger explaining why the Navigation Team is wasteful, ineffective, and does not help to end homelessness. Negotiations over the 2021 city budget begin in a few weeks. Click here to sign up for advocacy alerts. Defunding the Navigation Team is part of a border effort to re-balance the city budget towards more culturally appropriate community support services and affordable housing. This effort is being led by a coalition group called Decriminalize Seattle, which the Coalition on Homelessness is a member. You can learn more about their efforts at participatory budgeting  here.  COVID-19 Toolkit for homeless service providers  The King County Healthcare for the Homeless Network (HCHN) has updated its COVID-19 Outreach Provider Toolkit to aid homeless service staff in their work. Michael Young-Hall and Chante Stubbs with HCHN will be joining us Thursday to review the toolkit and discuss how best to utilize it at your program.  Coalition Community Updates  Census 2020: The 2020 Census is underway, and under attack. The Federal Government is threatening to intentionally not include all residents in the final reported count, and the deadline for data collection has been arbitrarily shortened from October 31 to September 30. When in Doubt, Count. It is more important than ever to help those you work with complete the Census by the end of September. For those without a traditional address, the census will be conducting Service Based Enumeration to survey people at locations such as overnight shelter programs and meal sites from September …

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Voter Registration & Voting during a Pandemic: August 4 Primary Election Edition

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Help people who you work with register and vote in the August 4 primary, and prepare for the November 3, 2020 General Election! This blog post is supplemental to the Coalition’s Guide to voting for people who are homeless and unstably housed. The Coalition has been helping people who are experiencing homelessness register to vote and vote for over 11 years. We want to make sure that folks know that their voices matter and are important, and that You Don’t Need a House to Vote! This year our August Primary Election on Tuesday, August 4 includes voting on Federal Congressional Representatives, State Governor, Lieutenant Governor and other leadership positions, and State Senators and Representatives. The top two from each of those races will be on the November General Election ballot, along with, of course, the Presidential Election.  The Coalition does voter registration and education work because: We want to end homelessness and to do that we need to build political power. Voting is fundamental to political power. You will help with this. We want to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, want to help people who don’t have a home know that they can vote.   We need to spread the word about Voting Rights Restoration for people with felony convictions. Due to COVID-19, this summer we are unable to send our volunteers out to help register voters (typically we sent trained volunteers to day and hygiene centers and meal programs), so we want to make sure that service providers have the tools you need to support people you work with in registering to vote, updating their voter registration, and voting.  As a reminder, it is completely okay and legal for 501c3 nonprofits to help people register to vote, and provide education about the mechanics of how voting works. It is …

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July 16, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Statewide Eviction Moratorium The temporary statewide moratorium on evictions is set to expire August 1, which if not extended will put thousands in our community at risk of homelessness.Thank you Edmund Witter for explaining the eviction moratorium and sharing tips for service providers with clients involved in the eviction process, you can find a copy of his presentation here. And thank you Michele Thomas for sharing advocacy efforts underway to protect renters. WA’s eviction ban faces uncertain future, leaving renters in limbo, David Kroman, Crosscut Take Action: Tell Govenor Inslee to Extend the Eviction Moratorium through March 2021 JumpStart Seattle Advocacy Update Coalition Executive Director Alison Eisinger helped us celebrate the passage of JumpStart Seattle tax legislation and discussed the active conversation around the JumpStart Spending plan (which will be voted on very soon.. This legislation will “raise over $214 million per year in progressive revenue to respond to the immediate COVID crisis and focus on Seattle’s long-term economic revitalization and resiliency by investing in affordable housing and essential city services.” Take Action: Send a thank you message to the Seattle City Council for passing JumpStart Seattle, and encourage the Mayor to sign the legislation into law. Seattle Budget Advocacy Alison also talked about the City Council’s current work on the 2020 balancing budget and previewed the fall budget process (click here for a schedule of upcoming meetings). The Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness has signed on to the Decriminalize Seattle priorities to defund the SPD by at least 50%, reallocate those funds to community led health and safety systems, and release protesters arrested during this uprising without charges. Defund SPD teach-in recording: Learn more about efforts to defund SPD and reinvest in community-based and led responses to build health and safety. Voter registration and voting during COVID-19 Click here for …

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June 18, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Thank you to everyone who attended our June Membership Meeting! Sign up for Coalition emails to make sure you receive updates and notice of upcoming meetings. Highlights and resources shared on the call are below. Acknowledgement and Reflection Juneteenth Week 2020 is a week long celebration hosted by the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Black Lives Matter – Seattle/King County, Tabor 100 and the FW Black Collective. Our purpose is to honor and remember a special milestone in black history: June 19, 1865. On this day, African Americans forced into slavery in the United States were officially and legally free (ish). Urban League’s Juneteenth Week of Activities Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County Juneteenth Week of Activities Pandemic EBT Benefits Thank you to Claire Lane, Director, Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition for your informative presentation of this crucially important benefit. You can View Claire’s PowerPoint presentation here. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has a toolkit with language translations to help you get the word out the community, click here to learn more. The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer Program (P-EBT) is a one-time award available to families with children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals through the school they attend. Families with children eligible for free and reduced price meals may be able to receive as much as $399 per child in this benefit. This benefit does not consider immigration status and is not subject to the Public Charge Rule. This means that P-EBT is one of the few benefits available to undocumented communities excluded from much of the COVID relief funds so far. Click here to review the program in more detail Households already enrolled in free or reduced price meals can apply for P-EBT through the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) starting June 28. Eligible household can apply …

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May 21, 2020 Coalition Annual Membership Meeting

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Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Membership Meeting! Sign up for Coalition emails to make sure you receive updates and notice of upcoming meetings. Highlights and resources shared on the call are below. Click here to view the Coalition’s PowerPoint Presentation. 9:00 – Welcome and Introduction Opening Ceremony by Chief Seattle Club Drummers – thank you Randy Tippins-Firstrider, Youth Outreach Case Manager with Chief Seattle Club ——– New Coalition Mission, Vision, and Values – Thank you to Coalition Board members for sharing our new guiding principles. And thank you to all our members who contributed to this process Kate Baber, President, Coalition on Homelessness Board Anna Strahan, Coalition on Homelessness Board Member Derrick Belgarde, Treasurer, Coalition on Homelessness Board ——– Board of Directors Election: Each dues-paying member organization has one vote to elect the slate of candidates for the Board. We are pleased that four Board members have agreed to renew their terms of service: Derrick Belgarde, Katie Escudero, Benjamin Miksch, Jenn Romo. Primary membership contacts will hear from us directly about this. If you think you are the person who should vote, or have a question, please email us Highlights from the past year with the Coalition – see photos in our PowerPoint Presentation linked above! ——– City, County and Statewide Advocacy Opportunities Regarding sweeps currently happening in the City of Seattle, Alison shared: “We don’t find it to be acceptable under any circumstances that people are left to fend for themselves. We have proudly and successfully wrangled with multiple mayoral administrations over these kinds of dehumanizing and morally wrong actions. And now this. In the context of a global health emergency, in context of interim guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that clearly states in the absence of individual housing options people living unsheltered should …

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