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.
Continue readingCategory: human services
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.
Continue readingMayor’s Office lays out options for $30 million participatory budgeting program
Today Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington sent the City Council a letter laying out two potential options for moving forward with the proposed $30 million participatory budgeting program this year, while highlighting the numerous logistical, budget and legal issues that will need to be sorted out.
Continue readingJustCare 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.
Continue readingLewis 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.
Continue readingDurkan announces some new department heads
Going into 2021, there will be new faces at the helm of the Human Services Department, the Office of Arts and Culture, and the Office of Emergency Management.
Continue readingMayor proposes how to spend federal and state COVID-19 relief funding
On Friday, Mayor Jenny Durkan sent a bill to the City Council with a proposed spending plan for about $14 million in federal and state COVID-19 relief funding.
Continue readingJason Johnson resigns as HSD Interim Director
Today Jason Johnson resigned as Interim Director of the city’s Human Services Department, effective in June. This follows a disastrous hearing with the City Council on Wednesday that further undermined his credibility and leadership. Erica Barnett broke the story yesterday morning, and provided a full report Saturday morning.
Continue readingEffort 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.
Continue readingNew report shows bias in how homeless people are prioritized for services
A study released last week confirms something that many people in the homeless-services community had suspected: a key tool used to assess and prioritize homeless people in King County for access to services is biased against people of color.
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