Wednesday afternoon, the Seattle City Council Finance and Neighborhoods Committee unanimously voted to pass Mayor Jenny Durkan’s recent housing and shelter proposal on to a full council vote next week. If passed by the full council, the legislation that Mayor Durkan announced on May 30th would serve nearly 525 additional people per night with a mix of basic shelter beds, bridge housing, and additional tiny homes.

Durkan praised the Council for moving the legislation forward.

“We have too many people living in unimaginable conditions in our city. We must act to move people off the streets and into safer, more stable places, and I’m grateful City Council is urgently moving forward with this legislation. Once we give people shelter, they’re more likely to access services such as mental health care, hygiene services, and employment support, and then move to permanent housing.”

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The proposal is the first step in a more comprehensive plan to boost affordable housing and rental assistance to more permanently shelter the city’s growing homeless population. In December 2017, Mayor Durkan, together with King County Executive Dow Constantine and Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, announced One Table, a coalition to assess and recommend a regional strategy to address the crisis. The group composed of business, service providers, health care, faith community, philanthropy, labor, academia, community members, and people who have experienced homelessness. The group released draft recommendations in April 2018, which included increasing affordable housing units by 5000 in 3 years, creation of a housing stabilization fund, job training, and services for foster youth.

With over 12,000 homeless counted in King County in the latest one-night count, the plan has been criticized by some, including King County Councilwoman Jeanne Kohl-Welles, as not enough.

“I don’t believe that it is large enough of a scale,” she said, “yet to realistically to reach that goal over a three-year period is very aggressive.”

However, with the recent repeal of the Seattle head tax that was projected to generate $47 million dollars annually and the city’s otherwise limited revenue options, questions remain as to how the city can generate addition funds to more appropriately address the crisis. In a statement in response to the repeal Councilwoman Teresa Mosqueda called for civil and business collaboration to identify new revenue sources to address the homelessness crisis.

“I do want to acknowledge the many business owners, including small and large businesses, that as civic leaders attempted to balance their business interests with those of the city’s. A critical next step for me will be to hear from those business leaders about how we can address our upside-down tax code while they continue to thrive in our city—we must ensure a future with both of those interests and I want to hear from the business leaders who share that vision. While I won’t join my colleagues and the mayor today, I will work with them, along with business and labor, to find a funding replacement. We cannot wait months or until next year for another proposal or process while people are sleeping in our parks and on our streets.”

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