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 …
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