Press Releases

Mayor announces release of City's
draft investment plan for homeless services
6-year plan stresses moving people out of shelter and into stable housing

SEATTLE - Mayor Mike McGinn today announced the release of the Seattle Human Services Department's draft Investment Plan for homeless services, "Communities Supporting Safe & Stable Housing." The plan lays out a new way for the City to provide and invest in services over the next six years for people who are homeless or at the risk of becoming homeless.

The plan maintains the City of Seattle's commitment to shelter and services for homeless people, while proposing a gradual shift in overall funding to programs that prevent people from becoming homeless, reducing the need for emergency shelter. The Investment Plan also asks providers to commit to five Guiding Principles, which describe the City's expectations regarding service quality standards, the coordination of services, and improved data collection.

"The City of Seattle provides more than $35 million a year for services for homeless people," said McGinn. "This draft plan provides a framework for how we invest taxpayer dollars and provide homeless services in order to help prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. I look forward to continuing community feedback on our approach and thank the staff of our Human Services Department for their work on this project."

"I am impressed with the Human Services Department's inclusive and extensive community engagement process in developing its plan," said Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, "I am confident that the plan sets us in the right direction - and represents the City's commitment to ensuring our services are accessible and relevant to our diverse populations and focused on results."

The Mayor's announcement triggers the start of a three-week comment period on the draft plan, which is available at www.seattle.gov/humanservices/initiatives.htm. Written comments can be sent to David Takami, Seattle Human Services Department, at david.takami@seattle.gov or PO Box 34215, Seattle, WA 98124-4215 by 5 p.m., May 31, 2012.

The draft Investment Plan provides a framework through 2018 for investments in three priority areas:

1. Homelessness Prevention - providing assistance to prevent people from entering the shelter system (e.g., rent assistance, eviction prevention, case management);
2. Homelessness Intervention Services - connecting people who are homeless with resources to increase safety and access to housing (e.g., shelter, transitional housing, hygiene centers, day centers); and
3. Housing Placement, Stabilization and Support - moving people rapidly to housing and providing support needed to remain stable in housing (e.g., "rapid re-housing" with supportive services).

Reasons for the Investment Plan
The City of Seattle is the major funder of services for homeless people, each year providing more than $32 million on homeless services yet there has never been a strategic plan on how to manage and direct these resources. This comes at a time when the recession has had a devastating impact on the state and local governments, resulting in cuts to human services. In addition, the population of people who are homeless has changed: more immigrants and refugees, more people of color, and more families with young children. The draft Investment Plan recognizes that the city's investments must reflect the population it serves.

Community involvement
The draft Investment Plan is informed by an extensive, year-long community engagement process. HSD talked with clients of services, community leaders, shelter and housing providers, business, faith communities, charitable foundations, schools, local government, and elected officials have all contributed to the proposed strategies and priorities for Seattle's homeless service investments.

Investment priorities aligned other efforts
City investments to prevent homelessness and help people who are homeless will be aligned with community efforts such as the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, and leverage millions of dollars each year from other local, state and federal funding sources. The Seattle Human Services Department allocates funding primarily from the City's General Fund and from federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Guiding Principles
Contracted agencies will be required to commit to the following principles through a formal "Letter of Intent:"

1. Provide culturally relevant and linguistically competent services;
2. Maintain high quality standards for facilities and program operations
3. Commit to neighborhood health and safety standards and opportunities for clients to participate in their communities;
4. Coordinate and integrate services with community networks and mainstream services; and
5. Collect and submit high-quality data using the Safe Harbors Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).

HSD partnership. The Seattle Human Services Department will provide leadership, technical support and assistance to our providers, collaborate with other funders and service systems, and provide opportunities for on-going dialog and feedback to improve and increase the impact of investments and our goal of ending homelessness in our community.

Investment Plan Details
The Investment Plan requires some investments be made through competitive Request for Investment (RFI) processes. Two major funding cycles are planned for services investments, one in 2012 and one in 2014. HSD anticipates awarding approximately $19.3 million in annual contracts to nonprofit and community-based agencies through City (or combined funding) allocation processes. The funding available in the 2012 cycle reflects current HSD investment levels within the three priority areas. There are no changes to the amount of funding dedicated for shelter and transitional housing programs.

By 2015, there will be a modest shift in funds resulting in an increase to homelessness prevention, rapid re-housing and housing stabilization services. HSD also plans to increase its focus on addressing the specific needs of youth and families with children while maintaining its commitment to serve single adults, through investments in shelter, transitional housing and housing support services.

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Office of the Mayor