Lots of stuff in the news today. Plus the #SEAHomeless conversation, which I will recap tomorrow in full.
Continue readingCategory: human services
Two resolutions passed, and a bad precedent was set
Two resolutions were adopted in the City Council’s meeting this afternoon. Both are well intentioned, and will probably end up doing good things. But they way they passed — and the way one almost didn’t — speaks volumes about the current level of dysfunction in City Hall.
Continue readingNotes from Monday Council meetings
It was a pretty tepid day in Council Chamber, but here are a few interesting tidbits worth noting.
Continue readingThe Mayor’s plan to get RV’s off the streets is a total bust
Remember back at the beginning of the year when there was all the fuss about homeless people living in RV’s on the streets of Seattle? And the Mayor put forth a plan to create RV “safe lots” to get them off the streets, provide some basic support, and help them plug into the human services system? Well, two weeks ago Scott Lindsay, Special Assistant to the Mayor, admitted to the City Council that the RV safe lot plan is an expensive failure. Oh, and everything else in the Mayor’s plan related to RVs has also failed.
Continue readingCity’s response to unauthorized homeless encampments evolves
Wednesday afternoon the City Council heard from the Human Services Department and the Mayor’s Office about how the city’s approach to unauthorized homeless encampments continues to evolve. There was a bit of good news, some key insights on best practices, and some fairly blunt admissions of things that simply aren’t working — or are about to get worse.
Continue readingNews roundup: Housing preservation, youth detention, safe injection, and of course the arena
Yesterday’s committee discussion of housing preservation tops the news this morning.
Continue readingNews roundup: NCIS, Housing levy, safe injection sites, and more
Lots of City Council-related news this morning…
Continue readingBagshaw gives Human Services Department a long leash — too long
Yesterday we saw the Parks Department leadership demonstrate that they haven’t yet built a strong working relationship with the Council committee that provides oversight to their work, and how that can go wrong. Today we saw what happens when a department — in this case, the Human Services Department — builds a relationship that is close and comfortable. Too comfortable.
Continue readingThe treatment-industrial complex, and what it means for Seattle
Ike’s warning about the “military-industrial complex” was not only prescient for the sector he took aim at, but it was a foreshadowing of how an eagerness to privatize other government services has led to pathological outcomes.
Continue readingNews roundup: homelessness, minimum wage, Airbnb
Yesterday’s council committee hearing on the city’s homelessness response is in the news this morning.
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