No issue looms larger in Seattle than the horribly inadequate supply of housing for our neighbors experiencing homeless. It is a disgraceful scar of shame that in one of the world’s wealthiest cities thousands of residents are forced to seek shelter in tents and RVs, doorways of businesses, and under bridges. It does not have to be that way. There is nothing inevitable about chronic homelessness and nothing inherently unsolvable about providing all our neighbors a place to live.

Throughout 2020 I worked closely with a coalition of small business owners and service providers called the Third Door Coalition to scale the best practice response to chronic homelessness, permanent supportive housing (PSH). PSH is the merging of housing units with onsite services, including treatment for substance addiction and mental health. 97% of residents placed in PSH maintain housing and do not return to a state of chronic homelessness. Scaling PSH is how Bergen County New Jersey, Salt Lake City Utah, and Helsinki Finland have significantly reduced chronic homelessness.

While PSH is one-third the cost of jail, and a whole year of PSH costs the same as three days in a hospital, it is still expensive. It costs $331,953 per-unit to build PSH, and while a lot of that cost is attributable to the materials and labor necessary for the build, a lot of it is due to regulations and red tape firmly within the City’s ability to waive. Homelessness is an emergency. We need to do everything in our power to expedite and expand PSH.

In December of 2020 I introduced CB 119975 to waive several significant cost drivers for PSH, including design review, unnecessary on-site bike storage, and broad administrative powers for the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) to grant waivers and modifications, among other reforms. Together, Third Door Coalition estimates these changes could lower per-unit costs of PSH from $331,953 to $284,200, a savings of $47,753. Since PSH is almost entirely financed with taxpayer money this bill will allow us to stretch public resources to greater social benefit.

CB 119975 was heard in the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments in December of 2020, and it is my hope the bill will reach final passage in the first quarter of 2021. I look forward to following-up on this critical legislation to significantly scale PSH throughout 2021 to meet the homelessness emergency.

November 2, 2020 marked five years since a state of emergency on homelessness was declared by then Mayor Ed Murray. While only housing, transitional shelter, and services can truly provide people a safe place to stay and end homelessness, outreach is the first critical step. For the last several years that outreach came from the controversial Navigation Team, an integrated unit of outreach workers and police officers housed within the Human Services Department (HSD). In 2020 the City Council and the Mayor collaboratively created a successor entity called the Homelessness Outreach and Provider Ecosystem, or the HOPE Team.

The Navigation Team was not a law enforcement unit. Their mission was to provide outreach to unsanctioned encampments and conduct removals of encampments under certain circumstances. Given their outreach role the presence of police in the unit was controversial from the beginning. A 2017 report from the Seattle City Auditor cited studies indicating high prevalence of distrust between homeless individuals and outreach workers in jurisdictions using officers for outreach, and local outreach providers frequently criticized the practice as hampering their efforts.

To incorporate recommendations from outreach providers and the Auditor, the Council and Mayor agreed to consolidate non-profit provider outreach and City resources in one combined team. Under this arrangement, City employees themselves would no longer conduct outreach. Rather, contracted outreach providers, already the majority of all outreach, will be the primary on-the-ground point of contact, while City employees in HSD will coordinate the delivery of essential City services, like garbage pickup, mental health and addiction treatment, and access to shelter.

Originally called the Unsheltered Outreach and Response Team, this new approach to outreach was created by my bill CB 119942 which passed with only Councilmember Kshama Sawant dissenting. Several weeks later this team was renewed for 2021 with additional resources and renamed the HOPE Team in budget legislation put forward by my colleague Councilmember Morales. The HOPE Team will lead with engagement and sync together the expertise of outreach workers and City resources. This new outreach strategy will be critical as we go into another challenging year to grapple with the state of emergency on homelessness.

The very first piece of legislation I prime sponsored, Resolution 31941, created the Committee on Performance Auditing to provide a set of recommendations to beef up our performance auditing practices. The Working Group is composed of former auditors, academics, and community leaders with a deadline to submit recommendations in time for the Council’s 2021 budget deliberations. You can learn more about the committee here.

Legislating is not just about creating important new policies and programs. It also entails follow-up and oversight to make sure relief gets to the people who need it on time and on budget. My hope is that in next year’s annual report we will be able to report the creation of a municipal auditing system that is second to none.

From the Crocodile to the Showbox District 7 has some of Seattle’s most iconic nightlife venues. A city does not become a music capital overnight, but that status can ebb away if live performance venues and nightlife businesses are not supported. In 2012, Amsterdam created a city official colloquially referred to as the nachtburgemeester, Dutch for “night mayor,” to serve as a resource and point-of-contact for nightlife businesses. In 2015 Seattle followed Amsterdam’s lead, creating our own night mayor, the “nightlife business advocate.”

The nightlife business advocate, commonly referred to as the night mayor, helps Seattle’s nightlife institutions comply with municipal codes, secure permits, and troubleshoot with state regulators to maintain compliance. The position was cut in the initial budget putting the recovery of an industry that was the first to close, and will be the last to reopen, at risk.

The Seattle Fire Department (SFD) responded to 91,716 calls for service in 2019, 62% for basic life support. SFD medic units respond to an average of 7.4 aid calls a day, sometimes for very minor injuries or complaints not requiring an emergency response. When 911 is called the brave firefighters of SFD have to respond and render aid. For efficient deployment of resources, and firefighter wellness, we owe our firefighters the commitment to not dispatch them unless absolutely necessary.

During my mom’s career as a nurse she served for a time as a telephonic consulting nurse, allowing patients to call in with complaints for over the phone diagnosis and care recommendations. This critical service can help resolve calls for assistance without the dispatch of firefighters to the scene.