Council News Release

Councilmember Nick Licata

Seattle City Council committee to meet at Mary's Place to hear report on families and children
Council committed funding so that no family be unsheltered

Seattle – The Seattle City Council's Housing, Human Services, Health, and Culture committee (HHSHC) will have a special meeting on Wednesday, July 25 at Mary's Place. Please find the agenda and supporting documents here.  Wednesday's meeting is to learn about the unmet needs of families with children and to hear from the Human Services Department (HSD) on their progress ensuring that no families with children are sleeping outside by the end of the year.

In May of last year, Seattle City Council adopted Resolution 31292 which stated the intent to better meet the immediate survival needs of those sleeping outside. Then last year in the Council's 2012 budget proposal, Council shifted its focus to families with children sleeping outside and increased funds for shelter and housing services by $435,000 and required HSD to report in this summer on how those funds were spent and whether it met the "objective of the additional funding that no family be unsheltered by the end of 2012."

"The long term goal of the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness is to find permanent housing for families staying in shelter and transitional housing with their children, but that takes time.  We must also today deal with the fact that there are not enough long term options available and there are children sleeping outside tonight," stated Councilmember Nick Licata, committee chair of HHSHC Committee. "Addressing their immediate safety is something we can do. Ensuring shelter and housing services for families with children by the end of 2012 is a goal that the City Council embraced last year and included among its 2012 action goals"

WHO:
Councilmember Nick Licata and HHSHC committee members

WHAT:
Housing, Human Services, Health, and Culture Committee
Human Services Department presentation

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 2 p.m.

WHERE:
Mary's Place in the Hope Center, Gethsemane Lutheran Church
1830 9th Ave (9th & Stewart) Seattle, WA 98101

Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on the City Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and on Facebook.