City Hall
Council Proposes Amping Funding for Homeless Families
The city council's budget committee has proposed adding a total of about $335,000 this year---and $950,000 in 2013---to enhance city funding for programs serving homeless Seattle residents, particularly homeless families. The council decided to focus on families, rather than individuals, because the city is seeing an increase in homeless families who need assistance.
Citing Boston and New York as examples of places where "you cannot find families, especially women with children, on the street at night," Tim Burgess called that "a great goal for our city to have."
However, Sally Bagshaw noted that one reason Boston and New York don't have homeless families on the street is because they have a policy of giving homeless people from out of town one-way tickets back to where they came from, which she suggested might not be the most "compassionate" policy.
The money, which would be in addition to the Human Services Department's proposed $52 million general-fund budget, would include:
• $20,000 for case management for people who live in their cars. The city's safe parking pilot program allows people who live in their cars to camp in the parking lots of participating churches (currently, one church in Ballard has offered space in its lot, and the use of its restrooms, to up to five families). That money would be supplemented by $10,000 from the state.
Council member Tom Rasmussen said that while he supports making it safer for people to live in their cars, "I'm most concerned that we start out with the best possible way of ensuring that people who are living in their cars or campers are moving into permanent housing," Rasmussen said.
• $40,000 to double the size of the city's Emergency Services Program for homeless families to provide emergency vouchers and case management services to an estimated 17 families. The city expects to use up all the available funding for the program this year.
• $100,000 to expand the city's Rapid Re-Housing program, which helps currently homeless individuals and families find housing, through case management and direct rental assistance, to help an estimated 14 additional families.
• $100,000 to expand the city's Shelter and Transitional Housing fund, which places homeless people and families into temporary shelter or transitional housing. The money will enable the city to serve at least ten additional families. Although council member Nick Licata wanted to expand funding for the fund further, other council members, including council president Richard Conlin, shot that idea down.
• $75,000 for religious institutions to upgrade their facilities to house homeless encampments.
Additionally, the council is calling on the mayor to come up with a plan to use Fire Station 39 in Lake City, which served as the temporary location for the Nickelsville encampment earlier this year, and to include $950,000 in the 2013 budget to pay for services in the ground floor of a new low-income housing building on the site of the current fire station, which would be torn down. "]
And they plan to add $39,000 to Seattle Public Utilities' budget to hook up the current Nickelsville on West Marginal Way to water and sewer services.
Citing Boston and New York as examples of places where "you cannot find families, especially women with children, on the street at night," Tim Burgess called that "a great goal for our city to have."
However, Sally Bagshaw noted that one reason Boston and New York don't have homeless families on the street is because they have a policy of giving homeless people from out of town one-way tickets back to where they came from, which she suggested might not be the most "compassionate" policy.
The money, which would be in addition to the Human Services Department's proposed $52 million general-fund budget, would include:
• $20,000 for case management for people who live in their cars. The city's safe parking pilot program allows people who live in their cars to camp in the parking lots of participating churches (currently, one church in Ballard has offered space in its lot, and the use of its restrooms, to up to five families). That money would be supplemented by $10,000 from the state.
Council member Tom Rasmussen said that while he supports making it safer for people to live in their cars, "I'm most concerned that we start out with the best possible way of ensuring that people who are living in their cars or campers are moving into permanent housing," Rasmussen said.
• $40,000 to double the size of the city's Emergency Services Program for homeless families to provide emergency vouchers and case management services to an estimated 17 families. The city expects to use up all the available funding for the program this year.
• $100,000 to expand the city's Rapid Re-Housing program, which helps currently homeless individuals and families find housing, through case management and direct rental assistance, to help an estimated 14 additional families.
• $100,000 to expand the city's Shelter and Transitional Housing fund, which places homeless people and families into temporary shelter or transitional housing. The money will enable the city to serve at least ten additional families. Although council member Nick Licata wanted to expand funding for the fund further, other council members, including council president Richard Conlin, shot that idea down.
• $75,000 for religious institutions to upgrade their facilities to house homeless encampments.
Additionally, the council is calling on the mayor to come up with a plan to use Fire Station 39 in Lake City, which served as the temporary location for the Nickelsville encampment earlier this year, and to include $950,000 in the 2013 budget to pay for services in the ground floor of a new low-income housing building on the site of the current fire station, which would be torn down. "]
And they plan to add $39,000 to Seattle Public Utilities' budget to hook up the current Nickelsville on West Marginal Way to water and sewer services.
