Mayor moves forward with Equitable Communities Initiative spending plan, asks Council to lift proviso on funds

Following up from last month’s announcement by Mayor Durkan’s Equitable Communities Initiative task force of its recommendations for how to invest $30 million in the city’s BIPOC communities, this morning the Mayor’s Office sent to the City Council a more detailed proposal for how the funds would be spent.

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Lewis touts new report on JustCARE program… but maybe he shouldn’t. (UPDATED)

(Updated, with Professor Beckett’s response to the City Council, and a note about one of the incidents cited) Yesterday morning, Councilmember Andrew Lewis held a press conference in downtown Seattle, the heart of his district, to highlight the first visible progress made in reducing the number of homeless encampments in the area. Lewis gave all the credit to the JustCARE program. He also highlighted the release of a report by a research team from the UW Department of Sociology that lavishes praise upon JustCARE.

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JustCare program faces fiscal cliff next month, scrambles for new funding

The JustCare program, which takes a compassionate and constructive approach to bringing off the streets 130 of downtown Seattle’s homeless individuals causing the greatest issues, is set to run out of money next month. That has left organizers and some local officials scrambling to find additional funds to keep the program running through September.

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Lewis unveils new partnership to build twelve “tiny home” villages

This afternoon, Council member Andrew Lewis announced a new partnership, called “It Takes a Village,” to create an additional 480 units of “tiny homes” in twelve 40-unit villages sited across the city. The effort is intended to help close the gap between the number of people living unsheltered in the city and the number of emergency shelter beds available.

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Effort to create regional governance for homeless response has a rocky road

Last week I wrote that the effort to create a regional governance structure to lead the response to the homelessness crisis was reaching a pivotal moment as a revised plan was brought forth to King County’s Regional Policy Committee and the Seattle City Council. The back-to-back meetings of those two groups last Thursday showed that fractures still remain and the chance of  moving forward with a plan is far from certain.

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