Advocacy Alert - December 2004
Committee to End Homelessness Releases Draft Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in King County
In 2002 government officials, business leaders, human service providers, funders, advocates, and people who were homeless came together to form the Committee to End Homelessness (CEH) in King County. The Seattle/King County Coalition for the Homeless was one of eight founding organizations in that effort. The purpose of the CEH was to unite people in a common cause - ending homelessness.
The Committee identified six principal actions necessary to end homelessness in our community:
Download the draft full report (48 pages).
For more information on the Committee to End Homelessness visit their website.
To provide feedback on the plan email
Advocacy Alert - October 2004
Religious leaders fast for our hungry and homeless neighbors
The City of Seattle counts among its residents thousands of children, women and men who are homeless, hungry and poor day after day, night after night. In the economic downturn of the past three years, the number of poor people in our town who need shelter, food, and healthcare has grown. At the same time, the City of Seattle, a major funder of these emergency services, has cut health and human service programs and eroded our community's response to this crisis by $4.6 million. Homeless women and children, the working poor, and new immigrants to this country are suffering more than ever in the face of these cuts. In the face of this crisis, the Seattle religious community calls upon the Mayor and the City Council to stop cutting health and human services in the City Budget. The poor can bear no more.
The price we pay for not prioritizing the most vulnerable among us is clear. The economic costs of neglect are paid with our jails full of mentally ill and chemically dependent people, and poor people using the emergency room as their doctor when all else fails. The social costs are seen in more people sleeping in greenbelts, cars, doorways, abandoned buildings and having to band together to form tent cities. The moral costs are a hardening of hearts, an acceptance of the suffering of our poorer neighbors, of leaving children to grow up homeless and rootless.
If we can build stadiums, a beautiful public library, a new opera house, and a brand-new City Hall, we can surely find the money to take care of Seattle's homeless and hungry neighbors. We call on the City to preserve funding for our most vulnerable citizens. As the City Council finalizes the budget for 2005-6, they must prioritize services that help those who need it most.
Advocacy Alert - September 2004
Washington State stands to lose $1,757,348 in federal homeless funds
Contact Washington State Senators Murray and Cantwell
In July, a congressional committee voted to cut funding for the major
federal homeless housing assistance programs. On July 22, as part of
the funding bill for HUD programs, the House Appropriations Committee
voted to provide $1.206 billion for the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Grants for Fiscal Year 2005. This represents a cut of $54
million from the Fiscal Year 2004 funding level.
The Homeless Assistance Grants fund critical homeless assistance
programs: the Supportive Housing Program, the Section 8 Single Room
Occupancy (SRO) Moderate Rehabilitation Program, and the Shelter Plus
Care Program. These programs provide vital assistance to homeless
persons in states and cities around the country. Any cuts to these
programs may have an impact on your community's ability to serve
homeless persons.
The Senate is expected to take up the HUD appropriations bill after the
November election as part of a larger omnibus piece of legislation. It
is important that Senators hear from their constituents that the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants need increases, not cuts.
Sample Letter to Senators
Senator Patty Murray - Phone: (202) 224-2621
Senator Maria Cantwell - Phone: (202) 224-3441