Seattle City Council Select Committee on Homelessness & Housing Affordability 5/24/19

We have three items on today's agenda.

First, we will discuss the successes of Seattle's tiny house villages.

Tiny house villages in Seattle have been perhaps the most successful support for people facing homelessness.

They provide some of the most essential dignities of human life, like privacy, safety, a place to store your belongings, and lock the door.

Many have self-management, where residents are empowered to democratically run their own communities.

Even based on the metric of the City of Seattle Human Services Department tracking transitions to permanent housing, Seattle's tiny house villages are far more successful than even the enhanced shelters.

In reality, I do not think this is the best measure by itself because Obviously, we need a major expansion in affordable housing and that can only be done on a public basis, meaning massively expanding social housing that is publicly owned affordable housing by taxing big business or other such progressive revenues.

We cannot depend on the for-profit market.

However, we, in addition to that, we also need immediate services to help homeless people in the here and now, and we need shelter for them to go to, and tiny house villages have had a remarkable record of success.

It is my hope that out of today's discussion, we can talk about expanding and extending the tiny house program and that we can, as a movement together, push back against the right wing attacks that pick on these villages to attack and demonize.

And perhaps they do this because tiny house villages are visible.

Today we have community members here from Lehigh and Nicholsville.

And at the outset, I wanted us all to acknowledge that there is an ongoing difference of opinion between those organizations and community members at large are also engaged in this discussion alongside the city's human services department.

And that debate and discussion needs to go on.

I want to be clear, I have, as the chair of the Human Services Committee and as an elected representative of working people, I have the deepest respect for the incredible work done by both organizations, not only over the past years, but over decades.

Myself and many community members have requested that we go through a mediation process and that, as I said, that discussion will happen in the meanwhile.

In this committee, I just want to make sure that I wanted to acknowledge that but also wanted to clarify that that particular topic is not the subject of today's discussion.

Today's discussion needs to be focused on the overall value of tiny houses in Seattle in general.

And that is something we all agree on, regardless of the differences we might have on specific issues at specific tiny house villages, because we all need to be united against the attacks by the right wing.

So I hope that we will all focus on that question of why tiny house villages have been successful and what should be done to expand them and extend them in the city.

And I know many community members have showed up to speak in public comment, which I really appreciate you all doing on this Friday morning.

And you are welcome.

It is completely your right to speak about any topic you want to speak about.

But I would appeal that the most valuable testimony from you all would be on why tiny house villages have been effective in general, because that's the overarching goal of the discussion today.

The second item on today's agenda is a discussion with DESC Lehigh Mary's Place and Youth Care about their hopes and concerns as the city and county discuss regional coordination of homeless services.

They will talk about their experience and what will be necessary in their opinion to allow them to most effectively help people find housing and provide other services.

And finally, we will have a short update from the mayor's office about the legal framework for any regional structure for overseeing homeless services.

So I'm really thankful to the mayor's office for participating as well.

Before we begin the agenda items, of course, we have public comment.

And usually public comment is two minutes, which I'm always happy to do.

I have an unfortunate conflict, which I could not avoid.

I have to join immigrant community members at one of their events.

And I have a sharp deadline of 1115. So I have urged that we all have 1.5 minute public comment, a minute and a half.

And I'm really grateful to, My co-chair, Council Member Baksha, who has agreed to chair the meeting if the meeting goes beyond 11.15.

Please do it.

Thank you so much.

So Ted Verdone from my office will read the names.

And so if you see or if you hear your name read as a subsequent speaker, please be ready to come on so we don't waste time in transition.

And each of you will have a minute and a half.

Thank you.

The first three names are David Haynes, followed by Jess Moak, followed by Sue Hodes.

When is City Council going to stop using social welfare nonprofits as grassroots political re-election supporters?

and hold them accountable.

It's not a village.

It's a pillage of budget money and a smudge it with data as forsaken lives go splatter.

These are modern third world slums and the racist government oversight of untouchable politically connected self-appointed nonprofits who get rich subhuman mistreating the homeless.

We have zoning laws to protect residential first world living areas from industrial, commercial noise and air pollution.

Yet low income housing thinks it's suitable at safe harbor to force people to live under a crumbling magnolia bridge next to a cancer causing horn honking train.

Sharon Lee uses blessed volunteers and donors to build tiny houses, yet Sharon Lee and her privileged college pukes pocket all the money needed for noise abatement and first world plumbing.

It's worse than an outhouse 100 years ago with strangers who were dirty using the bathroom port-a-potty in the dark.

It's anyone's guess whether pee or poop is on the toilet seat.

Being forced to live under a highway so low income housing can save money on first world housing shelter, so she can buy off politicians and get rich is unacceptable.

If we had city council investigate the services of low-income housing, they would find corrupt, dishonest, half-assed efforts at Urban Rest Stop.

Jess?

Followed by Sue Hodes, followed by Mona Lee.

Hi, my name is Jess Moak, and I'm a public health researcher.

During my undergraduate research, I interviewed 150 people living in tiny house villages in tent cities.

And my conversations with those folks really showed me the value of the tent cities and tiny house villages.

They are lifesaving.

They provide opportunities to stabilize, a safe place to keep your stuff, a safe place to sleep.

And they also provide community, the benefits of which are impossible to quantify even for a public health researcher.

I think that the current management disputes are really putting these benefits at risk.

And I believe these disagreements can be resolved by mediation by a neutral third party member.

And there's community support for this idea.

A few community activists, myself, Pastor Ann Reiche, and Sue Hodes from NAC District 2 started a petition calling for mediation between Nicholsville, Lehigh, and HSD.

We gathered 110 signatures on this petition.

And a lot of people had a lot of comments about why these are so valuable.

We're facing a crisis that's not, there's no end in sight.

And while the conditions may not always be perfect in these encampments, they're really valuable for the, this is what we need right now.

So I have copies of this petition to deliver to all the council members who are present or not present, if you want to pass them along, and also to Nicholsville, Lehigh, and HSD.

So here's for you, Ella.

Thank you, Jess.

Mona, you're after Sue.

So Sue, then Mona, then Dick Burkhardt.

My name is Sue Hodes, member of the Neighborhood Action Coalition, NACD2, home to both the Othello and Georgetown Tiny House Villages.

With NAC, I visited homeless encampments.

I made friends with one woman when she was living in a leaky tarp on Denver Street, where a waterfall would pour on her head when it rained.

Later, she moved into Georgetown Tiny House Village, where she really has blossomed.

It was amazing to arrive there and see her in the guardhouse or the gatehouse responsible for things like checking in villages, helping visitors, helping residents reserve laundry time.

And she felt so solid compared to being a wreck in her rainy tarp.

and less lost in suffering.

Besides the security and well-being of her own safe space and access to basic health resources like showers and bathrooms and food, there was community.

The empowerment of community decision-making and responsibility to the other people in the village is an essential step to healing.

Community counters the isolation and powerlessness all of us feel.

and it needs to be nourished, that interconnection and feeling useful and worthy for all of us.

This is an important step to integrate into larger communities when tiny village members get permanent housing.

Expanding the number of tiny house villages is imperative.

We strongly support Nicholsville, Lehigh, and HSD to mediate their differences.

The people of these organizations need to work on their communication skills and on their community skills.

The Nicholsville and Lehigh are not enough.

Seattle Native American people are 1% of the population, 10% of homeless people.

The Native Organization and the Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Housing say over and over again, Native American people who are homeless respond to other Native American people.

They disappear otherwise.

They should have more money too.

Community is not la la.

The way we have community is each of us holding tension of our differences.

But if we don't hold the tension of our differences, we have a government like our federal government.

Thank you.

Good morning, my name is Mona Lee.

I have been a neighborhood activist in Othello for more than 20 years.

I believe I speak for the majority of my neighbors when I say the Othello tiny house village has been a great asset to our neighborhood.

We are proud that at least in our neighborhood, some people who are homeless are able to have a reasonably high quality of life.

Best of all, the Othello villagers have, until recently, been most gracious and generous with their time by participating in neighborhood cleanup projects and working to pick up trash around our neighborhood town center and the light rail station.

However, recently, there have been rumors of conflict that, if not resolved, may result in the closure of the village.

We do not want that to happen.

We want Othello Village to continue as this wonderful asset to Othello.

We have heard that the problem arises from a conflict involving the City, Lehigh, and Nicholsville.

I request that City Council place pressure upon Nicholsville to give up its hold upon Othello Village.

My experience with Lehigh personnel is that they are caring and responsible people who want to maintain a just environment and help villagers connect with jobs and permanent housing.

Whereas my impression of Nicholsville personnel is that they often manipulate villagers in an effort to create a political machine to fight City Hall.

I don't think we need to fight City Hall with respect to Othello Village.

The village is an example of the city trying to deal with the homelessness crisis in an economical yet compassionate manner.

Mona, could you wrap up please?

Could you wrap up please?

Okay, I'm done.

Thank you.

After Dick Burkhardt comes Donna Anderson, Luke Reynolds, Naomi See.

Hello, I am Dick Burkhardt, a founding member of the Community Advisory Committee for the Tiny House Village.

I am also a scholar and activist on issues of democracy, local to global.

heading a small nonprofit called Democracy Works.

Besides being a PhD mathematician and scientist, a former elected official, and a current national faith leader on economic inequality and the Green New Deal.

And first off, I want to say I continue to be a strong supporter of the tiny house villages, at least when they are well managed.

But I've been appalled at the highly unprofessional actions of the top leadership of Nicholsville over the last few months.

I mean their war of insults against the Low Income Housing Institute.

instead of collegial candor and respect.

I also mean their refusal to accept appropriate democratic oversight and accountability, especially the procedures for barring individuals from the villages, despite a long history of allegations.

Instead, I've witnessed a savvy political machine combined in weird ways with irrational, deceitful, and vengeful behavior that has led me to conclude that the top leadership of Nicholsville need professional help and that until they get it, they should have no role, no management role in any tiny house, village, or encampment.

That means I see no point of mediation at this time.

What is really needed is a thorough investigation by outside persons of what's going on in the villages and an outside audit.

Thank you.

Donna?

Can you read out a few names?

Followed by Luke Reynolds, Naomi See, and Kayla Martinez.

Hi, my name is Donna and I'm a resident and the community outreach organizer at Georgetown Tiny House Village.

I think from the beginning the tiny house village concept is a working solution for homelessness now and for the future.

The villages have had growing pains and we've all made mistakes.

From city officials to the organizations in charge to residents and leaders at the villages.

But our partnership with Lehigh now is addressing those growing pains head-on and to the best of our ability.

We are working on a tiny house village manual in hopes that it will be used across the country as different cities address their homelessness in their hometowns.

We've always worked under self-management model.

But now with Lehigh as a partner to ensure that city regulations are followed, we're working on an updated self-management plan that gives village leaders and Lehigh case managers more opportunity to keep our residents in those villages until they're ready for permanent housing.

We're building positive community relationships.

Just this past week, Amazon came out and built about 25 porches and ramps for our residents.

Google will be out in the next couple of weeks to help with some exterior painting and hopefully bed frames as well.

But anybody can come by and visit and volunteer.

If you want to volunteer, you don't have to be Google or Amazon.

We can find something for you to do somewhere.

We no longer can play the blame game or linger on failures from the past.

We have to think about what homelessness looks like, and that looks like me, and these faces behind me, and people that are still on the street.

So next time you want to vote in regards to homelessness, just think about us, all of these faces, and vote for these faces.

So after Luke comes Naomi, Kayla, and Brooke Gardenhire.

Hi, thank you.

As a Jesuit volunteer and AmeriCorps member for Lehigh's tiny house program, I am astonished by not just the model, but by the way it empowers individuals and transforms people.

In February, I helped run an emergency shelter for people out in the cold composed of individuals who had been unwilling to leave their tent for sometimes years, traumatized by homelessness, shelters, and a society that largely abandoned them.

After having helped several of the people in the shelter navigate into tiny houses, I have seen a transformation like nothing else.

I have been fortunate to see people on the verge of hypothermia in the cold winter snow transform not just as individuals, but as members of our community.

whether it's taking on leadership positions in self-managed villages or leading community service projects in the neighborhood.

It also looks like getting jobs and working towards housing, which they thought might never even be available.

Tiny houses provide residents with a path towards a better future.

The community structure, coupled with services at the door next to your tiny house, allow people to dissipate some of the trauma and challenges associated with homelessness towards a more stable and sustainable life.

As a full-time volunteer, I am honored and enthused to work with such a great organization, but also with residents that have transformed my life.

Thank you.

Naomi?

Is Naomi C.

here?

After Naomi comes Kayla Martinez, Brooklyn Gardenhier, and Chris Brand.

If you hear your name as the next speaker, can you please be ready to speak so we don't spend time with people walking?

Good morning.

My name is Naomi See, and I'm currently an undergraduate student at the University of Washington and a volunteer at the Low Income Housing Institute.

I feel very grateful to be able to have this opportunity to share my experiences with the tiny house community.

As a student, I have learned more in these past couple months about community, creativity, and compassion than anywhere else.

Beyond the villagers' unique success in housing and supporting individuals, the tiny house villagers have this incredible ability to facilitate the creation of community at a large scale.

In just a short time, I've had the privilege of witnessing how tiny houses have brought together businesses, religious institutions, schools, and citizens under a shared mission, to care for our fellow neighbor.

There is so much more to each village than the physical structure.

Behind every nailed piece of wood, there is a dedicated volunteer, passionate donor, and committed organizer.

Behind every running village, there is a tireless group of CAC members who represent generous and caring communities that surround the village.

Behind every positive outcome, there is a gifted human being lifted and empowered by these communities.

Thank you.

Kayla Martinez, followed by Brooklyn Gardenhier, followed by Chris Brand, followed by Dove Gunwaldenson.

Good morning.

My name is Kayla Martinez, and I'm an AmeriCorps VISTA member and a volunteer for the Low-Income Housing Institute.

Lehigh has provided me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to combat poverty head-on.

Tiny house villages, in my opinion, are the most innovative and dignified shelter system in the country.

Tiny house villages are a physical embodiment of community and empowerment.

The community that forms in these tiny house villages can only be credited to the incredibly resilient residents that call the villages home.

I've seen the benefit of these communities firsthand.

They uplift residents and provide internal support that can't be replicated.

Lehigh empowers residents by supporting democratic decision-making.

Our organization has worked tirelessly with residents to identify best practices for democratic decision-making and will continue to do so looking into the future.

These villages should continue to be supported by the City of Seattle.

They're a fundamental tool to solve this homelessness crisis.

Thank you.

Good morning City Council and panel.

My name is Brooklyn.

I've been at Tent City 3 with Sharewell for four months.

Currently, I'm one of the ECs who try to main order in all of the chaos.

Thanks to Tent City 3, I've had time to get things in order for me.

I am working, sober, and healthy.

My partner, Tabitha, and I are both working to get our own place.

It is just hard to afford rent in Seattle at the current time.

Tent City 3 allows us to stay together with our dog, Taz.

So a while back, I was at Safe Harbor during the transition between Sharewell and Lehigh.

It was still Tent City 5 then.

There was confusion as to who was in charge of the camp.

My girlfriend, Tabitha, was an EC there and was supposed to be in charge with the other EC members.

She never felt like her vote counted.

We had an on-site case manager who some thought was the camp manager.

I may have made some mistakes then, but I've learned from them.

Now I am at Share Will, Tent City 3, experiencing true self-management.

where my vote actually counts.

Self-management leads to self-esteem.

Please stop trying to take that away from us.

We need this city council and this panel to support share will in Nicholsville as models for self-management to continue.

We know it is not the only solution to end homelessness, but we feel it works for many of us who want better lives.

Thank you.

Chris Brand followed by Dove.

Gar Waldson, followed by Sean Smith.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Chris Brand.

I am a co-founder and executive board member of Camp Second Chance.

I just have a few words to say, not a lot.

Can you speak closer to the microphone, please?

I just have a few words to say, not a lot, and I hope they're important.

Tiny house villages save lives, and I'm a supporter of a tiny house village.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Doug Gunn-Wolson, and I'm retired, live in West Seattle, and I've been helping to build tiny house villages for the last two years.

I have no opinion on the current discussions between ShareWheel, Nicholsville, and Lehigh, but I have worked with Lehigh and find them to be a very productive and constructive organization.

Where I stand is that the housing crisis in Seattle is not going away anytime soon.

The tiny house villages provide a platform to allow people to transition from complete homelessness back into more normal lives.

The purpose of the city, the objective of the city should be to provide housing ultimately for people of all income levels, not just the people who can support the market levels that are now prevailing.

And I hope very much that the city will make its surplus properties available and provide infrastructure to enable the tiny house encampments to function as viably as they possibly can.

Thanks.

After Sean Smith comes Peggy Hodes, followed by Anitra Freeman, followed by Eric Davis.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Sean Smith.

I am the External Affairs Coordinator at Othello Village.

Over the last four years, the city, in partnership with non-profit sector and homeless people, has embarked on a grand experiment in dealing with this increasing homelessness crisis.

It has been, for the most part, a grand success, though fraught with difficulty.

While the existing encampment ordinance is a good start, it does not address all the needs of the homelessness.

Indeed, one shoe does not fit all.

If we are to renew or update the existing ordinance, we should bear in mind a few simple things.

One, we should have a variety of shelter that matches the variety of people that are experiencing homelessness.

Two, we need to hear from the experts, i.e. those who have experienced or are experiencing homelessness.

Lastly, we need to build the necessary housing quickly to address the tide of inequity that is swept across our beautiful city.

Thank you.

Good morning, Councilmembers.

My name is Peggy Hotz, and I volunteered with Nicholsville for over a decade.

In March, the large corporation which HSD has handed over all contracts to for the 10 city-sanctioned encampments tried to fire our small grassroots organization and community from the three tiny house villages for which we are the only city-certified operators.

This has dramatically increased the cost of running these villages and has emasculated their empowerment and self-management.

Occupied Othello Village is presently incurring an estimated cost of $800 per day for paid corporate security.

At that rate, well over a third of the village's total budget of $460,000 a year will be exhausted by the end of December.

When operated by Nicholsville, the villages had no security costs because the people living there did them as one of their responsibilities.

I believe everyone on this committee can tell the difference between this corporate model, which gives paid site managers and central staff the power to overturn each and every decision of the village, and the Nicholsville structure of democratically organized decision-making coupled with checks, balances, and oversight by its grassroots board of directors.

The City Council should investigate and audit HSDs and the corporation's operations of tiny house villages.

Every individual City Council member and the Council as a body should insist on mediation between HSD, the corporate contract holder, and the democratic and self-managed communities they are trying to ruin.

Thank you.

After Anitra comes Eric Davis and Zsa Zsa Floyd.

Good morning.

My name is Anitra Freeman from Share Wheel.

10 years ago, a group of homeless and formerly homeless people came together with a dream of a tiny house village for 1,000 people called Nicholsville.

Nicholsville's good work and persistence is what has brought Tiny House Villages to this point.

Nicholsville themselves drew inspiration from Cherweil's tent cities.

It was Share Wheel's good work and persistence that led to city support of organized homeless encampments.

The creation of Licton Springs Village and the first city-sanctioned encampment, Tent City Five.

Seattle's efforts to end homelessness work best when the efforts of homeless people themselves are recognized and respected.

When homeless people control the decisions that affect their lives.

In recent years, Cherweil and Nicholsville's self-managed model has not been respected and supported by the powers that be.

This has severely damaged our community and our city.

Our community and our city will be better if you insist that the pioneering democratic self-governance of Nicholsville and Cherweil be applauded and supported.

Thank you.

Is Eric here?

After Eric Davis comes JaJa Floyd, then Sylvia Munoz, then Anthony Lopez.

Good morning.

My name is Eric Davis.

I'm a co-founder of Camp Second Chance, one of the democratically ran encampments, also a site coordinator for Lehigh.

I just want to touch on the importance of the tiny house villages and the community.

The community coming together, working with the residents, building them and having confidence and having a place to stay, it's more than just an expansion.

It's more of a bond.

But all the discrepancies about how villages are ran, I challenge most individuals to go inside each and every village and you determine if they're being democratically ran.

Because I've come from Cherwell, Nickelville, ten cities, three years ago, and some things we didn't agree with.

The best thing we could agree with was it was a shelter.

But we've since changed and found Camp Second Chance in 2016. And we went toward the best practices of a village, which democratically ran means you have a voice and a communal you know, togetherness about each and every step and transparency to oversee so there's no clicks.

There's no, you know, people being afraid if they don't go out and do political things that they'll be put out.

We don't do that.

So transparency needs to be from top to bottom.

If you want a really clean and sober environment, a really Randwell encampment, keep transparency in all of that.

Thank you.

Can you read the names, Ted?

Yeah.

After Zsa Zsa comes Sylvia Munoz, followed by Anthony Lopez, and then our last speaker is Michael Galloway.

Good morning.

My name is Zsa Zsa Floyd, and I just wanted to state that I am a former resident of Camp Second Chance.

It is a democratically run organization.

I was once on the board there, and When Lehigh took over as our fiscal sponsors, we had nothing but harmony.

They listened, and they took care of us.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Sylvia?

Not seeing Sylvia.

Anthony Lopez is up.

And then our last speaker is Michael Galloway.

Good morning.

My name is Anthony Lopez.

I am a current resident at T5, Tiny Cabin Safe Harbor, Inner Bay.

I'm speaking on behalf of my camp and just my own testimony.

I've been homeless for a year now.

Three months ago when Lehigh came in to take over from Share was fabulous.

Prior to that, we were having a lot of problems.

The whole thing with the ECs and the security shifts and all this and that, there was a lot of power tripping.

And people were getting barred, which means you get thrown out and stuff.

Things like that were not What would you call it?

Sorry, I'm nervous.

It wasn't humbling to have other homeless people attacking you when you're homeless too.

And because of these rules that Cher had put, in other words, in control, had put everybody in control of themselves.

And other people were not following rules correctly, and people were leaving.

And I was one of those people that left because I have anxiety, and I could not take the pressure.

But when Lehigh came in, they said, you know what?

We're going to stop all of that.

There's no more ECs.

There's no more power tripping.

You guys can do your own securities, and we want you guys to get out there and have a success story and go get a job and, you know, get therapy if you need it.

And they, you know, put that funding into work, and now we have cabins.

We have a brand new kitchen.

We are going to have laundry facilities.

We're going to have washer and dryers.

That inspired me and made me feel really good.

And just being able to be in my cabin and be with my cat and get up in the morning and go to school and go to my part-time job and get therapy is helping me so much.

And I just want to thank Lehigh.

And I just want to thank the city of Seattle for funding T5.

And we really appreciate you guys.

Thank you.

Good morning, my name's Michael Galloway, and I'm a friend of everyone in the room.

If that takes my minute, I'm happy to do it.

I'm a friend of Chief Seattle, but also of Chief Leschi, who was hung because he was found to be guilty of things that committees and processes thought he should be hung for.

We lose too many people in this city, not just because of crane accidents where workers are under pressure to remove pins on the way to take it down, or not just because a Boeing 737 had an angle of attack that was designed top-down by engineers who know how to fly planes, but people, real people, need to be involved in every process that every person in this room talked about today.

And it will be wrong if we think this is Nicholsville versus the other group.

Totally wrong.

And that's what politics does to people.

So let's not be divided.

Let's be united.

And whatever the process is today, stand with each other.

Go to the homeless or to the Nicholsville or to these various camps and just hang out.

Meet your neighbor.

That's what we have to do.

So thank you for letting me be a friend of everyone in the room.

That's our last speaker.

Thank you to everybody who testified in public comment.

I really appreciate it.

And as I had notified you all earlier, we usually have two minutes for public comment.

I just have to, I have an unavoidable obligation to attend a community meeting, and I have to leave at 1115, so I appeal to you all to speak for a minute and a half each, and I think you all have provided valuable testimony as to why tiny house villages are important.

And it was also crucial that not only people who have experienced the tiny house villages themselves from being homeless spoke, but also volunteers, students from the University of Washington, people who have seen it in action have also testified.

And I really also hope that at a future committee, we will look at the study that Jess Moak was talking about.

And I also wanted to note again, some of you weren't here when I spoke earlier, that, and this came up a little bit in the public testimony, that we know, yes, there are ongoing discussions on some differences that have arisen on the management of some of these tiny house villages.

And that discussion will take place independently.

My office, of course, has joined community members who are recommending that we have a mutually agreed upon mediation process.

But I also again wanted to remind everybody that is not the topic of discussion today, so when we have our group at the table here, they will be focused on the most important question which you all have also reiterated in your testimonials, which is the importance of tiny house villages, the effectiveness that they have proven in their track record, and why the city should actually be making concerted efforts, concrete efforts to expand and extend them.

So I really appreciate you all reiterating that.

And I just wanted to echo somebody who said, you know, self-management equals self-esteem.

I think you all have made very, very clear that part of the reason the tiny house villages have been so effective is because they truly provide a space of dignity and community.

And that is absolutely an essential core to rebuilding your life after having faced some devastating experiences that homelessness comes with.

So, I'm sorry?

Okay.

And so we will have presenters coming to the table.

So if you can please join us here.

I also wanted to acknowledge that we've been joined by council members O'Brien, Herbold, and Pacheco.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

I just want to very quickly before we get into the presentation want to remind council members and the viewing audience and the folks in chambers who know this to be true from their own experiences that we would have neither sanction encampments, nor tiny house villages, if it was not for decades of work of Lehigh, Nicholsville, and Share Wheel working together towards that shared objective.

Thank you.

Yes, I totally agree, Council Member Hurd.

We have decades of united work behind us, and I have no doubt that we will be able to go forward on that basis.

So, will all the presenters who are here first just give very quick introductions for the record, like go around the table, starting with Eliana.

Just very brief one-sentence introductions, and then you are free to start the presentation.

My name's Eliana Skatonis.

I'm the chair of the Othello Village Community Advisory Committee.

Eric Davis, site coordinator for Camp Second Chance, and Lehigh employee.

Zsa Zsa Floyd, former resident of Camp Second Chance.

I'm Josh Castle.

I'm the Community Engagement Director with Lehigh.

I'm Cynda Stanger.

I'm in leadership with Elka UCC building tiny houses at Camp Second Chance.

I'm Jose Ruiz, Assistant Manager of Supporting Services for Lehigh.

Melinda Nichols.

I've been on the board of Lehigh for 22 years, and I have been working to build tiny houses for the last four years.

I'm a carpenter.

Sharon Lee, executive director, Low Income Housing Institute, or LEHI.

Robert Jeffrey, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church and one of the partners with the True Hope Village tiny house.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Do you all know who's starting?

Yes, we wanted to have a presentation, a PowerPoint presentation.

And who has the clicker?

Can I?

Okay, great.

So...

Oh, how do you hit?

So normally I just hit the space bar.

Space bar?

Right here?

Okay, great.

So I wanted to...

First, show you the extent of Lehigh's work in terms of our housing.

Housing, urban rest stops, and tiny house villages.

And we provide a full range of supportive services.

And we also participate in advocacy volunteer programs.

We think housing is the solution.

But as you know, it's very important to do advocacy, including advocacy at the state level for additional resources for homeless and low income housing.

I want to show you two buildings that the City of Seattle funded, and we are grateful for your support for the housing levy.

We have about 65 properties, and, of course, permanent housing, permanent supportive housing is the solution.

On the left is the Marion West, which includes housing for homeless young adults on the second floor over the University District Food Bank, and then we also have housing for low-wage workers.

And the reason I'm bringing this up is because we were able to move people from tiny houses, living in tiny houses, to the Marion West.

And also, on the right is the Tony Lee, which is 70 units of workforce housing over a preschool.

And again, this is on city-owned property that you transferred to us.

And there is a preschool for 80 children with Refugee Women's Alliance.

And we were able to move people from tiny houses into the Tony Lee.

So just to let you know that even if it's homeless housing or workforce housing, we make it a priority to move people who are living in tiny houses.

And it's because of city council providing, the mayor and city council providing us funding for case managers.

We have case managers at every site, filling out housing applications and moving people into every new building that we open up.

This is June Leonard Place, which we just opened up, and we're 100% leased this week for homeless families, homeless veterans, and low-wage workers.

Just to let you know that we also take a regional approach to making sure that there's permanent supportive housing.

So these are our urban rest stops.

We have three of them in downtown Ballard and the U District.

in Seattle.

They're for people experiencing homelessness.

They provide free laundry, showers, and bathrooms.

They're funded by both private donors and by city funding.

They serve about 800 women and men every day.

The first one that opened in downtown opened in the year 2000. It's our busiest one.

One survey we conducted showed that about half the people at their rest stops are employed.

So they're showing up to get ready for work.

They line up typically at 6 a.m., and they're taking showers, and they're getting ready for work, so it's really a lifeline for a lot of folks.

They also provide housing and employment referral services, and they're powered by staff and a whole bunch of volunteers that keep them running.

The Ballard Urban Rest Stop is attached to our Cheryl Chow Court, which is an affordable housing building we have for over 50 seniors.

The urban rest stop opened in 2015. It includes bathrooms, five showers, five washers, and nine dryers.

It serves a couple hundred people a day.

And we're able to provide tours of these urban rest stops if that's ever desired.

And we want to thank the city for all of your support in keeping these funded.

And we would really like to open more and open them for longer hours.

So quickly, you've all seen this chart showing the number of unsheltered and sheltered homeless people.

And it is at least showing some progress that the number of unsheltered individuals is less, a little bit less than last year.

But what's significant is that because we have so many facilities now at the tiny house villages, people living in tiny houses have heat, electricity, locking door, and they have plum toilets and showers in many of the facilities, and they're handicap accessible.

So now, people living in tiny houses are considered sheltered.

So we have close to 300 tiny houses that serve over 1,000 people a year, which means that we can touch the lives of people who are on the street or living in their car.

So we are making a difference because tiny houses are now part of the effort as bridge housing to move people into permanent housing and they are not considered unsheltered anymore.

Sharon, could you or Josh or someone else go into a little bit of detail or maybe you are going to in a subsequent slide in terms of just the logistics of how do you provide electrical hookups and what challenges you face in terms of plumbing, how have you organized all that because I'm assuming that's of a great deal of interest to other cities as well in terms of how is this being accomplished at a very low cost basis.

Yes, absolutely.

And Melinda, who's speaking next, is the expert on how to set some of this up.

I just wanted to talk about why we need tiny houses, which is fairly obvious, I think, to everybody in the room.

I think that we have groups of individuals who seriously need someplace besides underneath the bridge.

And we have whole families, large families.

We've done some innovative things to make sure that everybody that has a large family can still see their kids.

Because our houses are so small, we put the houses next to each other with windows so that they can look back and forth.

LGBTQ individuals, straight and gay couples, gay couples with children, families with teenage sons, immigrants, undocumented households, single men with children, and people with pets.

didn't realize is that some people will not go to a shelter if they have a pet.

They'd rather stay outside.

And that's heartbreaking to realize, my gosh, if we just let them have their pet in their house, they will get shelter.

So we've done quite a bit of that.

And the pets haven't been bad.

It's been OK with us.

So we're really glad to do it.

So I just wanted to quickly answer your question, is that in the initial phase of the tent encampment ordinance, the council envisioned tents on platforms and then a couple of honey buckets.

And we have modernized the villages so that there's actually electricity running to every tiny house.

There's a smoke detector, there are fire extinguishers, and there's heat.

insulation, and we are also installing fans, and we also have solar in some of the tiny houses.

And then we actually put in plumbed toilets and showers.

So we actually have, you will see later in the photographs, complete bathrooms that are plumbed.

And because we don't want people to spend all day hunting around doing their laundry, we've also put in laundry services.

And the kitchens are not primitive.

The kitchens include sinks, freezers, refrigerators, and dining area.

And there's security, and there's also case management offices.

So it's like in the old days when you went to family camp, your family stayed in your little lean-to, and then you went to a you know, a kitchen, dining, and recreation.

So we have the whole village set up now.

So it's no longer primitive or, you know, it's actually quite improved.

And there's also a security fence and a gatehouse.

Good morning.

The list that you see about the service that we provide, housing resources, employment, education, basic food, is part of our services.

Recently, we have been educating the homeless people about a program.

It's called Earned Income Disregard.

that with the combination with the Section 8 voucher, they will be able to get a job and they're not going to pay rent for a year.

And the second year, they're going to use only half of their income to pay rent.

Everybody have been coming out with a positive feedback of this program.

We have been able to send people to Pennsylvania, Idaho, Ohio, and California.

to grab the voucher with the intention to port the voucher back to Washington.

And so far, none of them have returned.

We have a few of them that are working in warehouses.

We have, from other states, case managers that help them to navigate with the housing process once they know that they have a choice voucher.

This morning, I checked, and there are 431 choice vouchers available in all United States.

It takes a right now the budget is signed by the president whoever I placed in the session a voucher if I do it this morning, they're going to get the voucher on the next fiscal year, the start on October 1st, 2019. So far, I have presented this to the Second Chance incumbent and also to some of the folks at the Otelo, and they were very, very interested even to go outside the state, get the voucher, get a job, work, no pay rent for one year, and the second year they can't even has plan to stay or they want to order the voucher to any part of the United States.

Right now we have three residents at the Friday that they are getting educated to get the voucher in Alaska.

We have two residents at the second chance that one already has a voucher in Texas and another has a voucher in California.

I've been there only for two weeks.

I might have to work from home because right now they making a line to see me because everybody want to go there.

I start working and not pay rent for one year.

This is a program, it's a federal program was in 1990 and the last amendment that was done was in 2016. It's a hot program.

The last amendment that was done was the program start running the clock is not going to stop.

And that would be, that is part of the program of the service supported services that we are providing now with the president.

So just to give you a landscape, we have 10 tiny house villages.

And eight of them are receiving support from the city of Seattle, the Human Services Department.

One village is being supported on city-owned property in the city of Olympia.

And then one is church-sponsored by the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.

But you can see don't you like this drone picture of the Lake Union Village our first drone picture and Looks really well organized and you can see the kitchen tent and the long One building in the middle is the hygiene facility.

It has seven bathrooms full bathrooms and also laundry facility so you can see that majority of the sites are on publicly owned property and City of Seattle port property.

And then there are some church properties and Lehigh property, private property as well.

Just one second, go ahead.

Thank you.

Just a question as it relates to your hygiene facility availability.

The city of Seattle's city auditor has recently in its audit of the navigation team functions and the theory of change and it's how well it moves people from living unsheltered into other situations.

cited the lack of hygiene facilities throughout the city and noted that there are only six publicly funded 24-7 bathrooms throughout the city.

We have made some progress in opening some of the community centers that have showers.

Not all of them.

I think all of them should be opened.

But I'm wondering, Are there opportunities, I understand it would be logistically very difficult to serve more people than are residents of these individual tiny houses, but is there a way to consider how we might open some of the hygiene facilities to a larger population of folks than are currently residents at tiny villages?

Well, I think, first of all, we're very concerned about this, but we have three urban rest stops that the city has been supporting, but the church that we're renting, the U-District rest stop, we're going to have to shut down that rest stop in the U-District, which is heavily used.

So not only is the urban rest stop in the U-District, but also the Roots shelter for homeless youth, we're all going to be displaced.

So we actually need your help to find a new site to replace lost space in the U District.

But what we found out in terms of hygiene facilities is that it's very important.

They're only successful if they're well-lit, staffed, and clean, right?

Otherwise, it becomes a nightmare to have a facility that's, you know, scary or hazardous or, you know, you're not sure, you know, what people are doing.

And so that's why it's so important for the city to look at extending hours of the existing rest stops and existing other facilities and to open up more of them.

And to us, it's a public health issue.

I mean, and it's also a opportunity issue because we have so many homeless people who are working.

And they can't find a job or apply for housing if they're not presentable.

And so we think it's very important to be open early in the morning.

You can't just open a facility like 9 to 5 because that's when people are working.

So it's important to have urban rest stops, hygiene centers open very early in the morning and then after evening hours so people can do their laundry or take a shower.

So we would really want to work in partnership because we have some buildings and there are some underutilized buildings and facilities that we can expand and open so that unsheltered as well as sheltered people and people living in their cars can also use those facilities.

So Whittier Heights, we're going to focus on three new ones that opened last year.

Whittier Heights is the first village that's ever been exclusively for women.

It was a request of the city.

And when I heard that we were going to do it, I thought, let's have all women build it.

And I'm from the construction industry.

And in fact, I was on the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council for 22 years representing the city of Seattle.

So I know lots of women who are in the industry.

225 of them volunteered to do the work.

And it also became an international story.

We were interviewed by organizations all over the world.

And it was a very exciting thing.

And in fact, I think that having it for women only was a really good thing.

And now I'm going to slip in a little thing, which I think we should do a veterans only village as well.

There isn't one anywhere in the state and it would be a wonderful thing for us to do.

We have so many homeless veterans, it's unbelievable.

Thank you so much for the work that you've done.

I love the fact that the women's Whittier Heights was constructed primarily by women.

My understanding is that there is space available up at the veterans facility on Beacon Hill, that there's parking lots and I don't know whether anybody has reached out to them.

But I think a year or so ago, I talked with the leadership there and said, why don't we use this?

If not for tiny homes, I mean, even some of the mobile options that we're looking at, the modulars.

And they've got space, and I think that they ought to be our partners.

So I would love to know if any of you have reached out.

It would be great.

And anything that we can use for underutilized parking space, I would think would be a good start.

That's a wonderful idea.

We are working with JBLM.

They do want us to do a village.

Their folks have been volunteering to build for us.

So we have a good relationship.

They also want to be able to have a place where they can reach out directly to veterans because sometimes they're extremely elusive.

But to get back to Whittier Heights, I apologize.

That was just something that I had to talk about.

It was a wonderful experience.

We gained a huge number of individuals who wanted to build more of them.

We also recruited some women for the construction industry, which is a very important thing to do as well.

So we're very happy with how it turned out.

Thank you for also emphasizing that.

Yeah.

Appreciate it.

Yes, and we definitely want to thank City Council because you wrote a letter and put in funding the previous year for a new village during the budget process.

And that's why we have Whittier Heights.

So we want to thank the existing council for making this possible.

Without you, this wouldn't be happening.

We are very grateful.

My name is Robert Jeffrey, and I'm a partner with Lehigh in the True Hope Village along with Reverend Willis.

And so my observations are primarily that connecting the homelessness problem with existing community institutions is a very sound principle.

Many African-American people who are homeless become sort of lost in terms of their connection with community institutions.

And so the way, I think, to help African-Americans become stabilized in terms of their homeless situation is to connect some of these tiny homes to community-based institutions.

Our church has been very active in the Trujillo village.

The people cook dinners and take them down, clothing, all kinds of things which helps them to.

believe that they are making a difference.

And I think that these tiny homes connecting to these institutions, especially historical institutions, is extremely important.

So I have nothing but good things to say about True Hope Village and the other villages which I have familiarized myself with.

I think that this is very important.

When I was in grad school, I spent three weeks in Cleveland, Ohio, on the streets.

I lived in shelters, I walked the streets, and I lived, I know, I don't claim to know what it means to be homeless, but for that period of time I lived in shelters, I took communal showers, I had to eat soup and hear Bible stories before I could get food, hear Bible stories before I could get eat.

I know what it means to walk the street and be looked at like you are non-existent and that you are nobody.

And I just think that this is a step up.

This gives dignity.

It personalizes in a way that is very important.

And I think it gives an opportunity for people to breathe and to regain their composure and to prepare themselves to go back out into the world.

Homelessness should never be a permanent situation.

It's a temporary situation.

And I think that these projects provide people with that space and with that time, which I think is crucial for people getting themselves together and becoming whole again.

So I applaud this.

I applaud this.

So you can see from these pictures directly that the kitchen, the community kitchen, has freezers and refrigerators and a kitchen sink and appliances.

And you can see a typical bedroom, 8 by 12, and they come furnished.

And then we also have the bathroom.

The bathroom is not like taking a shower along with other people.

It's a complete self-contained bathroom as like a module that we brought on site, and then we built handicap accessible ramps.

And what's unique about True Hope Village is that we found that there was an underrepresentation of people of color living in the villages.

And so the referrals to True Hope Village include the Seattle Urban League, the Seattle Indian Center, Seattle Vocational Institute, which includes students, students of color who are training in the construction industry, as well as the True Vine and also New Hope Baptist Church, and the navigation team and REACH.

So we have a community that is, actually, you should come visit.

It's so close.

It's on 18th and Yesler.

Please come and visit.

Yes, and actually it was, we were there for the inauguration, but I know it's been really improving even since then.

And is it accurate to say that all the tiny houses have been built through volunteer effort?

We have mostly, I would say 90% have been built.

Let's say if we have, let's say we're trying to open a certain day and that we're short, then we have a contractor that builds them very quickly and cost effectively.

But the volunteer ones are built at 2,500 for materials.

And people are building them in their backyard.

People are building like schools, high schools, Boy Scout, Girl Scouts, businesses.

People are building them.

And then we pick them up because they're on skids.

They're on four by four skids.

We take a flatbed truck and bring it to the village.

And did you say that the average cost is $2,500?

Yes, yes.

We do have some fancy ones, but those are paid for by donors.

But that also includes installation, it includes inside, all of it, everything.

So last week, a year ago?

Sorry, you also mentioned smoke detector and fire extinguisher.

Oh, yeah.

We actually have the housing code.

Public health comes and inspects regularly, and the code enforcement comes and inspects to make sure that we have all the life safety and equipment that we need.

And so, absolutely, we have to inspect because sometimes, you know, people disabled their smoke detector.

but we make sure that smoke detectors are working, and we do not allow smoking inside the tiny house, and we don't allow, of course, candles.

And people have a heater, and the heater, we make sure, is not the kind that flares or combustible, so that, you know, cats and dogs aren't, you know, getting singed.

That's a good thing.

And Josh wanted to say something, and Ted, and then, after that, Council Member Baxhaw also.

Yeah, I was just going to say that we had an amazing day.

May last year, about a year ago, the CenturyLink build happened, and it was hosted at the same space that hosted a Taylor Swift concert the night before.

So it was a really large space.

We built 400 volunteers from Vulcan, from Seattle Vocational Institute, and from AGC came out and built 30 tiny houses in one day.

It was kind of historic, because we've never built so many houses in so short a period of time.

and they were hoisted up on a flatbed truck by our house mover, Joe, and brought to True Hope Village, where they're serving over 50 people experiencing homelessness.

And now we are, you know, it basically improved, it helped improve our, you know, we learned more about, even more about how to build them out of this effort, and it was just a really long, amazing day.

So how do these tiny houses compare in terms of the structure, amenities, and cost to the corporate built pallet ones?

Okay, we did see the pallet shelters and we had a demonstration about a year ago.

What's good about them is that they come flat.

on a little trailer and then you can put them up in like, you know, a few hours.

But we chose to continue with our stick built tiny houses for a number of reasons.

Ours are insulated and also we found that it was very important that volunteers help with decorating, putting flooring, putting roofing, painting them.

And we have more a sense of community, whereas we felt the pallet shelters look very sort of uniform.

And also in terms of noise, because ours are insulated, we have a thick wall.

We found at that point, what we saw, the pallet shelters that we saw were not insulated.

And so we decided that since the pallet shelters cost more than ours, more than doubled our cost, that we went ahead with our conventional stick built.

Thank you.

I want to acknowledge all the volunteers that have worked on this and this whole project.

And remember that, I think it was a couple of years ago now, Sharon, that there was a group of students and they had a statewide competition in Olympia and you and yours were very instrumental in picking those up and bringing them.

I don't know whether they ended up in Othello or Georgetown.

But what I had learned many times, and having constructed some of these myself, that the buy-in from the community is so much more when people have hands-on.

And I want to really say thank you for allowing that to continue, because I do think it makes a difference.

The other point that I wanted to make on the safety about having, and I know that this is just a nit, but something I'm going to ask you if you do, do you spend any time teaching the residents how to use that fire extinguisher.

Because in a case of an emergency, if you haven't done it before, you don't know how to pull out that pin and how to squeeze the trigger.

It sounds simple, but it really is a little more difficult, and you don't want to be doing it for the first time when there is a fire.

Do you spend any time at all on those kinds of fire safety details?

Well, we actually have a checklist of all the safety and expectations around the kitchen and equipment, and we go through that.

And so we also have pest control.

I think maybe your point of actually showing someone the fire extinguisher makes sense, and I think we can incorporate that.

Do you want to say that, Eric?

We do that at Camp Second Chance.

Great.

Thank you.

It's amazing to me how oftentimes people, or whether it's Coast Guard or whomever, said you need to update these and make sure that they're within, but nobody's ever used them.

And it is more difficult than you might think to figure out, especially if there's a fire burning around you, how to get that pin pulled out and to make sure that people know just how to use it effectively.

Thank you.

So this is Lake Union Village.

We opened in October on Seattle City Light land.

And you can see, again, oh, I forgot.

Sometimes we have a paint party.

We will invite people, including neighbors, artists, schools, to come and do a paint party.

And so you can see the results.

That's fun.

So we want to talk about Camp Second Chance.

We have Cinda and Eric and Zsa Zsa.

OK.

All right, let's see.

So on the democratically ran self-managed encampment, this encampment is based on best practices of other encampments in other 10 cities that we've lived in before we formed Camp Second Chance.

So all the things that you're looking at right there are practiced on a daily basis, but the best part about it is how the community is involved with the expansion.

The expansion means not only for the new houses that are being built, but the connection with the community.

The things we do day in and day out on the weekends, building houses, having all kinds of barbecues, having fundraisers, having our doors and gates open on a regular basis helps the community see who we are and connect us to them.

Thus, the residents aren't just sitting back thinking they're no one.

They get to know that they're accepted because we're a warm and very inviting community.

Most encampments stress when they get into a new neighborhood.

Well, we leave our doors open, and we allow the community to come in and sup with us.

You can come spend the night.

My point is, it's made it so close that communities come in and want to build daily.

There are tours every day.

I don't get a break because there's so many tours.

But there are people coming from out of state, different counties, just to view that model and persistence.

So we want to invite most people to, shall I say, encourage people to start this.

Can you give us examples of other cities or counties or states from where people have come to visit?

Well, we've got San Jose, we have California, New York, Detroit, even Kitsap.

And today we have the city of Tacoma is visiting True Hope Village this morning.

Like an official visit?

Yes.

That's excellent.

I'm also curious, have anybody who is officially part of or ideologically subscribes to the views of the groups like Speak Out Seattle or Safe Seattle, have any of them come to the villages or asked to visit to find out more about how the Danny House villages are run?

As far as I know, no.

But they would be welcome if they asked to visit, right?

They'd be very welcome.

I talk with them.

Many times.

Yeah, I talk with a few of them.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'm glad to know that, you know, just in terms of, you know, just sharing with members of the public that they have been invited, and if they're curious to know why these things are working, why tiny house villages are working, and also why it is important to understand that you're not going to be able to solve this problem unless your starting point is humanity and dignity, And also just the effectiveness of having a safe space with insulation and smoke detectors and fire extinguishers and, you know, a place where you can stay with your family and with your pets.

I mean, that's obviously, that's the basis.

And having showers and plum toilets and kitchens, that is what allows people to, get back on their feet.

So I would really urge people who are curious or alienated from homeless community members and feel that they feel inclined to blame individuals.

I think it's important that they go and visit and understand this problem and the solutions much more comfortable.

Thank you.

As a person who's visited Camp Second Chance several times, it's great to see my constituents here at the table.

Eric, Zsa Zsa, Cinda, really appreciate the work that you've been doing in Highland Park.

Could you speak a little bit to Two things.

One, the CenturyLink exercise was very impressive in the number of tiny houses that were pumped out over a short period of time, but we have a little bit of an operation at Camp Second Chance as well, and there's a lot of capacity to build more there, so maybe you could talk a little bit about that.

And also as it relates specifically to the community building aspect, it'd be helpful to like, if we could maybe quantify that a little bit, because I think Camp Second Chance has really gone the extra mile.

There are, I don't know how many, maybe you could tell us, how many congregations are actually active on an ongoing basis from West Seattle in supporting Camp Second Chance?

I mean, it's a lot of people, right?

It's a lot of different individual congregations.

Yeah, I'd go as far as 25 or more.

Yeah, and it's really changed people's feelings, I think, about homelessness and really allowed people to see that we have common cause together and that when some of us say that we're neighbors, people understand that now in a really different way.

Absolutely.

I'm going to let Cinda speak mostly about the expansion on that part, but I wanted to point out the pictures there.

That community group right there where you see them preparing meals, that's usually every day.

I mean, anyone comes out.

The love you get there, the warmth you feel is very important as a community.

When you think you're in a homeless shelter, that's like better homeless than gardeners.

It's gated, it's a community where people that trust each other are securing each other.

Yet, there's no guns, there's no screaming, there's no needles.

It's peace all day long.

And this model is what we want to advocate to have everywhere.

So what we're trying to say is those tiny houses are not just tiny houses.

Those are communities that you need to have.

Until you can actually get enough affordable housing, we need to build as much of these as possible and have them ran in such a way that they have that dignity and that community.

that love from the community together.

May I ask a follow-up question on that?

I've been to many of the villages, and I've seen some of the work that has been done when there have been conflicts in a peaceful way.

And I think I many times have said, I was so impressed with what I saw at one of the villages that I wish our condo was as considerate as what I saw there.

My point being here is, what are you doing differently?

What are you and your village doing to promote that peace that you described?

I'll put it straight to you.

An example from each individual.

There's no special thing that anyone can or cannot do.

We practice it.

And when something is addressed, it's addressed in a civil manner.

It's addressed in a calm tone.

And if you were using or anything like that, we don't kick you out.

We offer you treatment.

First thing, because I have a history of alcohol and drug care services.

So I've worked in that field 13 years.

I can talk with you two in the morning, three in the morning.

But the whole idea is being able to understand that it's not just an addiction.

It's not just mental health.

These people need love as well.

And you don't need to be screamed at.

You don't need to be yelled at.

They need to be heard.

but at a tone and at a distance where they're not feeling like they've been put on the spot.

And we practice it.

And as that practices, it glows, it grows, it flows.

Now you got a community that's going outside the gates expanding.

And so we just want to see this love everywhere.

We all deserve it.

Let's stop bickering.

Just build.

I love that man.

Thank you.

And Ted had something to say.

And also I invite other speakers who are at the table who haven't spoken yet, please also join the discussion.

I'm Zsa Zsa, and I'm going to speak to my experience at Camp Second Chance.

I actually got there, and the reason why I loved it immediately was the harmony that was happening at that time.

And I say at that time, but it was continuous up until I just transitioned into permanent housing.

Where are you living now?

I live in Kent.

Yes.

Congratulations.

In a beautiful park area.

I mean, you know, just because you're homeless and you transition, you don't have to settle.

You know, you can go out there and be proactive and find what it is that you really want.

so that you keep it and maintain it.

And the thing about Camp Second Chance is when I arrived, I have certain services I needed, mental health, doctors, things of that nature.

Coming there, I was interviewed by Chris Brand, actually.

And he gave me the code of conduct rules.

And so I liked that right away.

There's rules you have to follow.

You have to take personal responsibility.

I also was able to get, because it was a stable environment, I was able to go out and receive the services that I needed, or also the services came to me, which was big and huge.

want to talk about five points that were really important to me while living there.

Like he said, we have a meeting every Wednesday.

So any position that's available, you can say, hey, I want to do that.

And there's a voting process.

And the former person may get it again, or you may get it.

So it's all democracy.

It's fair all the way around.

The points I want to make is I felt self-empowered.

I felt stability.

I had safety because it was a gated community and 24-7 security.

Living there, you have to do two securities a week at four-hour intervals, and that involves the whole entire camp.

There is, like I said, harmony and the services I could receive.

It's a wonderful place to be, and I will continue to support it as I live in Kent, and I'm really passionate about homelessness.

I serve on advisory council for the homeless and the governance council.

So it's really important to me to continue to reach back and encourage and help my former people to come forward.

I'm chair of the village community advisory committee, and I think the community advisory committees are one of the really neat features that got set up in the encampment ordinance.

The CACs bring together stakeholders from across the larger community.

We have members of faith communities, organizers, business owners, nonprofit leaders, and many more.

Each CAC is a little different, but we're all passionately committed to the well-being of the residents.

And many CACs serve as a bridge between the village and the larger community.

You've heard a little about why tiny house villages are important, especially for populations like couples and pet owners who might not be able to use traditional shelters.

But the advantages of the villages go far beyond issues of capacity or accessibility or even their very impressive cost effectiveness.

And from what I have seen, the self-managed village model is the most important harm reduction tool that the city has available for addressing the homelessness crisis.

For people to move from unhoused to housed, there often needs to be healing and skill building, as well as the overcoming of practical obstacles.

The isolation, trauma, and disempowerment of homelessness are profound and often need to be repaired, something the village model has proven remarkable at addressing.

At Othello Village, I've observed how Nicholsville's approach has supported residents developing a strong sense of community and a foundation of cooperation and mutual accountability.

There's greater physical safety in the village model than in other models, but also having one's own private space, an elected camp leadership, and communally agreed upon codes of conduct creates a sense of security that's essential for being able to move beyond crisis mode and build a stable future.

But the most important outcome that I've seen is the growth and empowerment that comes from having real agency in one's life and future and mentorship from those with shared lived experience and meaningful work in building one's community.

It's this empowerment, I believe, that underlies the successes of the self-managed village model.

Though sometimes I imagine the very success of this model might feel frustrating at times to those at HSD managing it.

When you empower marginalized people, they might raise their voices in inconvenient-seeming ways.

They might not be as easily streamlined into a tidy system.

And they might, in fact, insist on being treated as individuals with unique needs.

And when you put together committees of engaged, dedicated community folks, We also might be inconveniently vocal.

I encourage you to recognize that these are marks of success.

The high level of community ownership and engagement from those housed and unhoused is an asset and a sign of successful leadership and programming.

I'm speaking very personally.

I believe the positive outcomes I've personally observed at Othello Village can be credited to the dedicated combined efforts of Lehigh and Nicholsville and the support of the city.

And I continue to hope for a mediated resolution that enables that successful collaboration to continue and be improved on for the enrichment of us all.

Dead good.

There are some observations.

Can I sneak in real quick?

Sorry, just wanted to ask a question.

Back when we were talking about Camp Second Chance, I just wanted to comment on the creation of Camp Second Chance is such a clear example of how creating tiny house villages was really a grassroots movement that had to fight for it and win it.

I mean, Camp Second Chance exists because people with nowhere to go went and clipped the lock on a chain on a fence and set up an unsanctioned encampment in an empty parking lot.

And they were 24 hours away from being swept and kicked out of Camp Second Chance.

And community members rallied and stopped that sweep from happening.

And eventually they got authorized as an authorized encampment.

The last time I went and visited, It was tense, it wasn't those tiny houses, so it looks a lot better now.

But even then, I mean, there was that community that fought for and won that space.

And it's just like how Sherwill and Nichols fought to create authorized encampments in the beginning.

But it's not just in the past that people had to, as a grassroots movement, had to fight and win those spaces.

It's happening now.

Perhaps somebody from Camp Second Chance can talk about your permit to continue at that location.

If my memory serves me, it was getting up in March and you hadn't heard from HSD and hadn't heard from HSD whether it was going to be renewed.

And I think it was renewed, yes, but...

But I mean, just imagine in terms of creating, I don't know, in terms of a program like this that's so good and not knowing whether that village is going to continue there up until less than a month before the deadline or maybe even after the deadline.

It's not acceptable that the city does that.

Sorry, can she go ahead?

I have a meeting that I have to run to, and I just wanted to say thank you, all of you, for being here today, but more importantly, for the amazing work you're doing out there in the community.

It's inspiring, and it gives me so much hope.

You're amazing.

Thank you.

Thank you for joining us.

Let's talk about Camp Second Chance and how we have gone from zero tiny houses, all a tent city, to having 45 on site.

And how Alki United Church of Christ and Sound Foundations Northwest has raised over $70,000.

to build 24 houses of those 45. So I would love to share some observations about that community, that level of community engagement that is unique to Camp Second Chance because there is the space at that site for us to build.

I've watched a contractor who spends his life in a Lexus going from job site to job site build a tiny house with a resident experiencing homelessness.

Not only did he build that, but at lunchtime he sat down and he had a conversation with that resident to learn of his life and to start a friendship.

I watched a man deliver donations to the camp, come back and tour it, loved what he saw, went home, got his tool belt, came back to camp.

He has been with us every single Saturday and has given thousands of dollars to the building of tiny houses.

I watched the owner of Alki Bike and Board strike up a conversation with a resident who was tinkering with his bikes.

That conversation led to a job, and the community bought that resident a pair of work boots so he could take that job.

I've watched an owner of an Eastside startup who regularly treks to White Center, because he loves what we're doing, bring his HR manager, sit down with residents, work on their resumes with the goal of getting the residents jobs within two months.

I've watched myself be transformed on the top of a ladder, painting soffits side by side with a resident who shared his life with me.

He fled the killing fields of Cambodia on the back of his grandfather as a two-year-old.

I consider him my friend.

We like to say that many are transformed on both sides of the chop saw, both volunteers and residents.

We have been told that our showing up every week to build tiny houses has inspired the campers, lifting them up in very powerful ways.

A community of volunteers from all walks of life, we experience the positive life of a clean and sober camp.

And this means there is an expansive base of wide support for this model of sanctioned encampments.

So Camp Second Chance is that holy trinity that we all seek.

The union of city, local government, local nonprofit, and the faith community working together toward a common goal.

I'm also a member of the Community Advisory Committee for Camp Second Chance, active in listening to local neighborhoods' concerns at monthly meetings, troubleshooting and advising on issues at the camp, advocating with the city and Lehigh for improvements, often doggedly, and supporting the progress of campers moving up and out to permanent housing.

Thank you very much.

Great.

So let's keep moving on.

I know you're running out of time.

I just want to show you the Inner Bay expansion.

And this went from 23 tiny houses to now we have 46. And this is on Port of Seattle property.

And you can see the kitchen.

And you can see the beautiful, I would say, Japanese style interior of one of the newest tiny houses and the volunteers.

So again, every weekend, there's been volunteers at Inner Bay.

And the port extended the lease to the city so that we can continue having a village there.

And again, here are pictures of volunteers.

Again, the bottom right is Camp Second Chance, where they've set up a whole...

little factory, tiny house factory on site so that they can build tiny houses in the summer and the winter at all weather.

And then on the upper left, you can even see one of our volunteers, Howard Schultz, providing food.

Okay, and Licton Springs.

I want to quickly show even the Licton Springs, which was open for two years.

The city made a commitment that it would stay open for two years.

And this was a village that the navigation team, 100% of the people were referred from the street by the REACH and the navigation team.

And look at the outcomes.

The outcomes are phenomenal.

The village served 100 people, men and women, over two years.

It shut down April 1st.

April 2nd, we analyzed the data.

49% of the people were in permanent housing.

39 in transitional or shelters, and only 14% either returned to the streets or did not give information or were unaccounted for.

So this is a very high rate of housing that even we had people who had severe mental illness, chronic homelessness, drug addiction, we were able to get so many people into permanent housing and transitional housing.

And you can see the racial breakout.

We served a large population of people of color.

The average age was 47. And there were more women than men served in the village.

And we plan to develop 115 units of affordable housing on that site.

So we even had a very successful outcome on Licton Springs.

Can you explain how people move from the tiny villages to permanent housing?

Are they going through coordinated entry?

Or is there another path for them?

Because I think I mentioned, you mentioned earlier that many people are going directly into your housing.

So can you explain a little bit how that's working?

Because we knew that the village had to close on early April, we put four case managers and supportive service staff that worked very, very intensely with people.

And so we moved them into bridge housing, permanent housing, transitional housing, and we pleaded, Lisa, we pleaded with Coordinated Entry.

An exception, basically.

We asked Coordinated Entry if they would please take the five highest ranking people who had the most vulnerability and who were chronically homeless, like for 10 years or more, and Coordinated Entry ignored us.

We did not get any help from Coordinated Entry at all.

And as you know, Coordinated Entry is run by King County.

We asked the manager, we asked the director, we asked the staff to please prioritize because we did not want to have people, you know, return to the streets.

And we did not get any phone calls returned.

We did not get emails returned.

And then when we went to the meeting, we actually had our staff go to the meetings and advocate for the five people, and we were ignored.

So I'm, that's one of the reasons we're concerned about the regional, you know, the consolidation of King County and Seattle.

Because- And you're going to expand on that in the next item as well.

Yeah, so I'm just saying that we had to move people into Lehigh housing, into other non-profit owned housing and private market rate housing.

So just to be clear, you're going around Coordinated Entry, and is there a concept?

We're not required to go through Coordinated Entry.

What happened is that we tried very hard to go through Coordinated Entry.

But you're not required to.

That's the thing I'm trying to get a handle on.

I thought everybody was required to.

We are not required to, but we took the highest ranking people to try and get them through Coordinated Entry into housing, and we finally had to give up because they weren't helping us.

And what are the conditions that allow it so that you don't have to go through coordinated entry?

Because I was under the impression that everybody had to.

No, because as I said, that for instance, we have affordable workforce housing.

We have housing, homeless housing that's not supported by HUD.

So we have a lot of housing that's not controlled and we're not required to go through coordinate entry.

So you're not required to, but you attempted to and it didn't work.

That's right.

And you said that your staff also personally went to the meetings?

Yes.

What happened at those meetings?

I mean, did they talk to you there?

They said that they have a new method, which is not going by the highest score.

It's called dynamic prioritization.

And what does that mean?

It actually means it's it actually I think it means that there's no transparency.

So they could decide a small group of people will sit in a room and decide that this person here can move here or move here for dynamic prioritization reasons.

So it's a secret.

And we tried very hard because if the mayor and city council says we're closing a village in two years and we you know, and we try to honor that, we got no help from Coordinate Entry.

Right.

Thank you, Sharon.

I just, as I said before, I have to join the Eritrean community in their events today, and unfortunately we were unable to manage that and so I am having to leave in a couple of minutes.

So I just wanted to say a few things.

First of all, thank you all, you know, who came here to testify and also who are, I mean, thank you for waiting here because I know it's Friday morning and it's precious time.

And especially thank you to all our presenters.

It was really, really important testimony.

It's very important to share, especially in this environment where Homeless community members are being demonized and vilified and basically being treated like criminals.

It is very, very important to take the message back to the essential humanity of all our neighbors.

And furthermore, to also show that there are concrete solutions and dining house villages are a big component of concrete solutions that have a proven track record of success.

I hope that, as I said before, I hope that in the near future, very near future, we are able to concretely discuss how we can expand and extend the ability for tiny house villages to exist.

And also, it also brings up the question of how do we fund these tiny house villages?

So clearly the city of Seattle has moral and political responsibility given the extreme escalation of the crisis.

And as you said, obviously affordable housing has to be a very, very important part of the discussion, but that has to go along with a temporary reprieve like tiny house villages.

And I thought Aliana also made a very important point that Self-management and giving confidence and agency and self-esteem to our people who are experiencing the devastating consequences of homelessness is extremely important.

I mean, just from, I mean, it shouldn't be questioned.

Just from a humanity standpoint, I think we should not question anybody's right to their humanity.

But furthermore, concretely, it plays a role in how quickly they're able to get back on their feet.

But that also means that to the powers that be, to the political establishment, to the Downtown Seattle Association, you will become inconveniently vocal.

But I wanted to say, as somebody who represents homeless community members and working people and not the Downtown Seattle Association or the Chamber of Commerce or Jeff Bezos, I applaud you for being inconveniently vocal, and I hope that you will continue to be inconveniently vocal.

And in fact, it is not an accident that many people who are in this room, homeless community members who've been in the tiny house villages, or even transition, but are connected to people like Jaya because you feel a commitment to people who are currently homeless because you were formerly homeless.

It's no accident that you all were also an integral part of the Amazon tax movement.

And that was all of us being inconveniently vocal and it's our moral duty to continue to do that because otherwise we are not going to solve this problem.

We cannot put our faith in an establishment that has completely failed to address these problems even though we know these solutions exist.

We know housing can be funded.

We know tiny house villages work.

So let's put our faith in ourselves, you know, in that sense, let's be a self-managed, not only self-managed tiny house village, but self-managed movement where we decide our own destiny.

So I look forward to working with you all on that.

And I'm really grateful that Council Member Baksha, who's my co-chair in the select committee, has graciously agreed to continue chairing the rest of the meeting, which is two more items.

And in fact, they are very important items.

The second item is where the people who are working on the front lines will share their concerns and hopes as to when this regional governance, what it can actually provide.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member.

Thank you, Shama.

Before we continue, I want to acknowledge and thank everybody who's at the table.

Many of you know that I have been very fully supportive of the tiny house villages for the decade that I have been on city council.

And I want to thank you, Sharon, for your leadership as well.

and Josh, all of you who have been working on this.

It's amazing to me that when we first brought this up about a decade ago, how many people said, it'll never work, and that it just is not going to be part of the solution.

Well, we know it's not the end point.

But as we've just been discussing, it's a transitional point that is dignified, that provides that wonderful space for people to be respected, to have the love that you identified.

And I just want to personally acknowledge and say thank you.

for that and for all your good work, because it really makes a difference.

I'd love to see a whole lot more of these, but to have the management that you've identified.

I've got a couple of follow-up questions.

When you talked about this alternative dynamic approach in choosing who's going to get to be inside or not, And we had the V.I.

Spadat, that it's an amazing acronym that nobody can really say or point to as to what it means.

But how do you move forward with this?

As an example, there is a man named Michael on the sidewalk in Uptown.

And that gentleman has been there for much of the decade that I know.

Just within the last month or so, we sent somebody out to talk with him because his stuff was getting more and more and spilling into the street and into the sidewalk.

And he said simply, I'm afraid to go inside.

And what do we do in this mixture of VI-SPDAT, which was a very documented, number-specific, higher numbers get to go first, versus what you are saying, which is you've got some places for people to go, with somebody like Michael, how do we get him inside?

I know it's a major question.

What we found out is that when the police are sweeping homeless people from dangerous locations or from sidewalks or under bridges, they offer them shelter or they offer them a tiny house.

But they essentially say, you can't stay at this location.

People who are living in a tent, or in their car.

They are doing that also for privacy.

Otherwise, they would already be in a shelter.

More often than not, they will move to a tiny house if offered a tiny house.

They will reluctantly or will refuse to move to a shelter.

So we're finding out that the people who are sleeping out now, sort of the hardcore you know, if they've been homeless five, 10 years, out in the woods, fending for themselves, they will move to a tiny house, especially if they have a pet or a partner or belongings.

Because often, sometimes when you move to a shelter, you might lose your, you have to, you know, you have to almost like stay there and watch over your belongings, right?

And you don't have to do that when you're in a tiny house.

So what we're finding out is that you could have a very high score and the VI-SPDAT at this point is not very reliable because people are getting coached.

And sorry to say this, but if you are told, You have to answer like a bunch of questions.

And if you answer yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, then you get a high VI-SPDAC score, right?

So people are now, sorry to say, they know how to game the system.

So this is not working very well.

In order to get into a tiny house, we don't do a VI-SPDAT.

But once they are in a tiny house, our case manager will then go through the process and then refer them to Coordinate Entry.

But Coordinate Entry, we get very, very few people who are successfully moving from a tiny house village, even if they have very high scores, into housing that Coordinate Entry is providing.

We find it much more effective to move people quickly to housing that is not part of coordinate entry.

And so that's why we've been very effective.

So we moved over 500 people into long-term housing with very few, like maybe a handful going through coordinate entry.

And so we...

For a period of what years, Sharon?

The basically the last two two and a half years.

Yes, and so they're no longer on the street and because they're in a tiny house They go to school or go to work.

And so we have a lot of people who are Getting employment, especially camp second chance and some of the other villages they are getting jobs and going to school and becoming stable, and therefore, we've also increased their income support.

As you can tell, we have 42% had earned income, 58% had public assistance, right?

And so...

And because people are stable in a tiny house, we don't lose them in the shelter system or we don't lose them on the street.

We're able to get back to them and say, OK, here are some, let's follow up.

Let's follow up on getting you ID.

Let's follow up on.

you know, Social Security or employment or, you know, they're petitioning to get, you know, disability.

So it makes a whole lot of sense in terms of long-term stability to have a tiny house.

So you see some of the people who are now sleeping out, you know, all over Seattle, right?

We feel that we could get them into a tiny house village and get them on a path out of homelessness.

We really do.

And we're constrained by the lack of vacancies.

Sharon, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

What are the numbers that you've that you use.

For example, what I had heard for downtown recently was that the numbers were actually smaller of people who are on the sidewalks than what we hear.

So DSA, as an example, said to me, if we could make a space for 100 people right now, that we could go 10th to 10th and say, we've got a place for you.

So 100 more.

I know we like to keep the actual spaces down below 50, I think we're saying is a more manageable number.

What would you say at this point?

What is your solution?

What do you think the costs are associated with this?

Well, I'll give you an example.

We could take 100 of the homeless people who are camping out downtown or near downtown and put them immediately in maybe two villages.

And we also have some sites that are possible, including private, church-owned, or public sites.

And our costs would be much more effective.

So I actually have the cost breakout depending on the villages.

But as an example, King County, opened up the jail, right?

They spent $2 million opening up the jail for 100 people, and they're spending $2 million per year on operations, right?

For how many people?

For 100. So our villages, as an example, Georgetown Village is serving 60 people, and the cost per year is $325,000.

As an example, Othello Village is serving 60 people, and the total operating cost is $440,000 a year.

And then we are able to, instead of, you know, we are able to set up a village in three, four months, as you saw, right?

Like, you know, True Hope Village was set up very quickly.

because we have volunteers building the tiny houses.

And then the longest cost was making sure that the plumbing, the water sewer hookup was done, but the city facilitated that.

So in a short period of time, we can set up a village and we can get 100 people off the streets of downtown Seattle.

Council Member, could I chime in?

Yeah, of course you can.

I want to clarify a couple points on the dynamic assessment in our coordinated entry.

First, thank you for raising that it has been changed recently.

Initially, you would have had coordinated assessment, would have only focused on the VI-SPDAT, and recently recognizing that there are flaws with that tool, not only some that have been brought up, but also what is known nationally is that people of color are not prioritized at the same rate, and so you'd have an inherently racist response to some degree in those.

So they are adjusting then to deprioritize some of the amount that that tool is used and increasing the amount that we factor in the length of time a person has been experiencing homelessness.

That helps to mitigate some of those unequal effects.

And then there's also regular meetings then of the case managers whose clients have risen to the top of the list and would be eligible to receive housing.

to actually have discussions and kind of to address some of the points that you've raised.

Looking at like if a person requires having an ID in order to be able to move into a certain setting, making sure, yes, this person does have their ID, we've already had that happen.

So you wouldn't have the same delays that would, in getting that person, you don't want to have a vacant unit sitting as we wait for someone to get their ID.

I wouldn't say that necessarily we've solved all problems with coordinated assessment, but some of those factors are being considered right now and changes already being implemented.

We would like the council to consider Instead of shutting down three of the village the mayor Gave three villages a six-month extension to continue those villages through the end of the year and that we would like to see the villages Expand it so that we have 500 tiny houses And so if we could have 500 tiny houses, then we can house a lot more people who are now on the streets

You have a question?

So I'd like, and this is kind of the blue sky question.

But one of the things that I don't understand is why is there a conflict between many of the providers that do brick and mortar and permanent supportive housing and the group at the table?

Because I see it's both are needed.

That these tiny homes are providing the space and the dignity we've talked about for the person's possession, partner's possessions and pets.

Sure, I don't think that people want to live here forever, but it is a stepping stone.

And as you said, it's a half the cost to set up and operate than what King County did just at the jail.

Although I'm thankful that anything where we've got 24-7, as far as I'm concerned, is a step in the right direction.

But can you, from your standpoint, explain to me why is this conflict an either-or rather than an and?

Well, we agree with you.

We think we need to do both.

And as I showed you in the beginning, we're, as a nonprofit housing group, we're building as many apartment buildings or permanent supportive housing as we can.

It's just that it takes four to five years to produce permanent supportive housing, and there's not enough capital.

So right now, a permanent supportive housing unit costs $300,000 per unit.

300,000 per unit.

And it's supposed to last for 50 years, to be fair.

Right.

But just so you know, a tiny house is costing a fraction.

With 300,000, we can pretty much almost have a village.

And the village could, the housing, the stick-built housing can last 15 years.

Our tiny houses are built to last.

They're very durable.

We may have to refresh them some, right?

But I think because they're new and innovative, people think it's a distraction.

They're thinking, oh, we should be focusing on permanent housing.

And we totally agree with that.

We think you have to do both.

Because we had 191 people who died living on the streets last year and the numbers have gone up.

We used to have 190, 160 people died living on the streets in the previous year.

Last year it's 191. And we should be preventing, you know, no person should die from homelessness.

And that means they need immediate shelter.

So I think it's a humane response, a humanitarian, you know, we have a humanitarian crisis.

We need to get people safely sheltered in a warm place.

We used to have tiny houses that didn't have heat.

And then we realized, look, let's just bring heat to the tiny houses.

And it was so simple.

And now they're a high standard The tiny houses are preferred than living in a congregate shelter.

Some places have a giant tent where you put 200 people under a giant tent.

And that's not very humane or dignified.

You don't have the privacy that we're talking about.

Well, we're going to have to move on as much as we could spend the rest of the day talking to you.

I just want to say, in the meeting that we had when we were building True Hope tiny houses, that question came up.

And I agree with Sharon.

What we contended was that it's an immediate crisis and people need Women and children need to come out of their cars right now.

I mean that's that's deplorable to have women and children and people sleeping in their cars and Under bridges that we need to provide spaces for those people right now, and I don't think it's either or it's a both and yeah and This has to happen because, you know, because of the exposure and because of the absence of dignity and just the absence of civilized society.

I could not agree with you more.

Thank you for that.

And how do you respond to the individuals who say, well, if you build them, they will come?

That the more we build, the more people will come into the city of Seattle?

Well, the data shows that from the point in time count, the majority of people, like 70% to 80% are local.

And I think you just heard from Jose Ruiz, who is getting people into housing all across the country.

So we are not saying that you have to return or live in Seattle, but if you're from someplace else, California, Michigan, Massachusetts, we will find housing for you.

And so that's exactly what he's been doing.

So we are taking a bigger approach that it's not just local or regional, but it's national in terms of people's housing solutions.

Great.

We're going to move on, not because we wouldn't listen to you for the rest of the afternoon, but I think since we've got two other items, just a moment, please, that I would like to also extend our thanks to our King County partners that we see that we need these tiny home villages across the county as well, that the city space is limited, the county has a lot more, and I've been saying for years that if we could look by a percentage of population basis across the county.

So if we're a third of the population, it's fair that we figure out a way to house a third of the people in the county who are identified as unsheltered.

However, we know that there's a lot more space, whether it's Black Diamond or Bothell, that there's spaces for people, the county can step up, other cities can step up, and we're asking for that help.

And I would also like to extend a personal invitation to Gretchen Taylor and Cindy Pierce of Magnolia, who many times have blessed our chambers with their comments, to say, I'd like to be with them and with Sharon, and we will go to one of your tiny home villages so that they can see and meet the people and know what you do.

So I'm excited about that.

Yes, Council Member Pacheco.

I just thank you for the presentation very briefly.

I have a quick question.

What partnerships, I mean, there are, as I was looking at some of the specific services that are provided, there are sometimes there are challenges for people to find permanent housing with regards to vacation of records.

But I didn't see in the direct services that are provided an opportunity for folks who may have experienced misdemeanor crime or so forth.

Is there a connection or service provided like that, and it's just not referenced?

Yes, yes.

I have a degree in accounting and also I practice legal research.

I know how to help with warrants, especially if there are warrants for the arrest outside the state.

I have presented to the judge motions to modify the judgment from punishment to community hours.

Once we give this participant a hope, It's when the window opens for employment and housing.

You have a participant that has a warrant for his arrest.

They're going to lie at the V.I.

Spedat.

I have a good example.

At the Littleton Spring, I found, I placed three residents in Pierce County Section 8 voucher because it's open indefinitely.

When I told them, the three of them told me that the email that they provide at the Viespeda, the phone number and the day of birth was not true.

Now, we are relying on information in a score that I can say 60% is inaccurate because they are lying.

And that makes our placing those people in housing harder.

The CAC, I went last week to the meeting, Lehi wasn't there, and we have participant that the score is over 16 points.

How they're doing it, I don't know.

But we are not getting a good information from the VSPEDA.

The HMIS, even though it was enacted by Congress through HUD, who demand social security, the HMIS is allowing these people to not disclose their social security, to come up with a funny name or day of birth.

And then the city is asking us to place these people in housing in 30 days, 60 days, when I cannot send an application to a landlord with no name at the social security number 000. Affordable housing, we cannot talk to them about affordable housing because they don't have a job.

The rapid rehousing program is not going to work.

The only avenue that is available for us will be project-based or Session 8. But if the VSPEDA information is not accurate, it's making our work harder to do.

We've been able to place close to 500 people in permanent housing.

You have no idea how hard it has been.

We have people with no IDs.

No social security card.

I have asked people, where are you from?

From the east.

They have no idea I need to get a birth certificate.

I ask again, where are you from?

From the east.

What does that mean?

What are you going to do with that?

And then they're using in a space.

And then you say, how long have you been here?

Two years.

But they're not cooperating.

And when I compare the information that they provide at the V.S.

Pedat, It's not accurate.

We have females saying that they're coming from domestic violence.

It's not true.

But they heard you said that you are using this, this, this, or you are this, this.

They're going to place you first in housing.

It's like we are swimming against the stream.

So in summary, we do work with people who have warrants.

Absolutely.

Yes.

Yes.

OK.

We have 14 in Linton Springs with warrants when I went there to her crossing the encampment.

Well, thank you for that, because somebody has to.

You know, we can't leave people with warrants out there without getting the support.

It just continues that vicious cycle of jail.

back on the streets, jail back on the streets.

So thank you for that.

Please, thank you so much for coming.

Know how appreciative we are for all your work.

And we've got another two panels.

The next one includes Melinda Giavengo, but I don't see her.

Maybe she's outside.

And Sharon, if you'll stay at the table, Daniel Malone.

I don't see him either, so Melinda and Daniel, if you are here, please come up to the table.

And if not, Sharon, you may be here by yourself, which might make it a very short presentation.

What's that?

One of them, yeah.

Great.

So once again, I'm calling for Melinda and Daniel.

Sharon, do you have a presentation?

Yes, I have a very short presentation, if that's fine.

Did you want anybody else?

Okay.

If there's anybody else from youth care or from downtown emergency services, we'd love to have you.

Yeah, okay.

Hold on just a second.

Ted, have you heard from Melinda or Dan?

Yes, what happened is Daniel is ill and Melinda had an emergency and Marty Hartman said she had to leave at 11.30.

Oh, I didn't see Marty here at all.

I'm sorry.

Marty Hartman was going to be here.

I can be very short in terms of my presentation.

Hold on, Sharon.

Do you have anybody else that you'd like to add?

The one person that we were adding who wasn't on the agenda was Marty Hartman, who had to leave at 1130. Sharon mentioned.

We could honestly postpone, given that many of the presenters needed to leave.

Fine.

Sharon, if you'll kick off, we'll just go that way.

Oh, okay.

All right.

And if you have anything else you'd like to add.

Yes, thank you.

Thanks so much for your willingness to listen about tiny houses and everyone is able to come and visit.

So absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I just want to underscore again, I know how difficult this has been, but you have provided a real service to our community and I'm grateful to you.

Thank you so much.

And I want to follow up to see if we can do something for the downtown core.

Great.

OK.

So anyway, in terms of the big picture, I think that regional consolidation needs to address and focus on the unsheltered homeless population.

There's 5,288 unsheltered homeless people from the point in time count.

And that's throughout King County.

And we have to focus on successful housing placements outcomes.

I think that's important.

And again, just to repeat, there's no reason why 191 people living on the streets died just by homelessness.

We have more people dying from homelessness than the homicide rate.

So I think sometimes, and I've seen this with, sorry to say, government bureaucracy, that data sometimes gets in the way of common sense.

There are some very common sense solutions around solving homelessness.

And I think sometimes we think that data and process is more important than results.

And I can give you some examples.

We just opened up June Leonard Place in downtown Renton because we believe in making sure that there's housing in King County outside of Seattle.

And we have 48 units.

Majority of units are for homeless veterans and homeless families with children.

There are very few in the system, there are very few units for homeless families with children.

And all of our units, we're going through coordinate entry.

So coordinate entry right now is managed by King County.

My case managers and my staff said that they had the most awful time, the most awful time getting homeless families.

You would think it would be easy to get homeless families into housing.

They said they would never, ever do it again.

This week, we leased up 100% of the building.

We had to lease up because of our tax credit deadline.

I asked them, of the 24 units set aside for homeless families, Did you have a smooth process getting the referrals through Coordinated Entry so that we could house the families?

They told me that 18 to 20 of the families were problematic in terms of It was not smooth sailing moving them from, you know, a referral from Coordinate Entry and moving them into our housing.

And I said, why?

Why did that happen?

And they said, it's because you have people on the Coordinate Entry waiting list and they refer to us and they're not housing ready.

So they're referring people who don't have ID, who don't have birth certificates, who don't have social security numbers.

And that means if we're madly trying to lease up a building, we have to say, well, you know, how can someone be in a shelter or someone be in a enhanced shelter?

for like a year.

A homeless family has been someplace for a year, and they're not housing ready.

So then my staff has to then spend days and days and days trying to find a family, trying to get their ID, trying to put together the stuff, and then the family may not show up.

or the family may owe the housing authority money, which means that if they don't agree to make a payment plan, then they can't move in, right?

So there are people where coordinated entry refers someone, and I've got that unit sitting there more than 30 days vacant.

Can you imagine the frustration of having vacant units when there are homeless families on the street?

So my concern is that There are problems like this with the bureaucracy with coordinate entry that should be fixed and can be fixed, but oftentimes they're not fixed in the interest of the provider or the client, right?

And can I I'm just in the sake of moving us forward I think Sharon that you are talking to Councilmember Herbold and me who have spent a lot of time in this we understand some of the problems what I'm interested in from you is what would you see the solutions being?

Okay, so I'm concerned with a governance structure that even creates another bureaucracy that is not accountable, where we can't get quick solutions like this.

We should be able to get a quick solution to problems like this.

But why is this continuing?

We've worked with Coordinated Entry for years and years, and this continues to be a problem of having vacancies.

We have low-income affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, and we have vacancies because homeless people are not in the units because of the throughput not happening.

So my concern is that if right now, if there's a city program, I can go to the head of the, you know, human service department or the mayor and I can complain, right?

And I can try and get it fixed.

I'm concerned that the governance structure that's going to get set up will remove it yet beyond the mayor, beyond the King County executive.

So you end up with a third party board, right, that is not necessarily comprised of elected officials and that will have even another layer of bureaucracy.

I think that change does need to happen, but I think the consolidation needs to make it so that customers, the homeless people themselves, and the providers are truly listened to so that we have solutions and we have transparency.

And that is my concern.

And the other piece that I'm concerned about is I think the system should maximize the dollars, the resources, going out to the community to actually solve the problems, as opposed to more data analysts, more strategic advisors, more in-house administrators.

We have a system where if you're going to consolidate, duplication of services, we should be saving money so that the money saved can go for more services.

I'm hearing you say two things.

One, maybe three.

You don't want another layer of bureaucracy that is just costing us more money and time.

Two, you want whatever the entity becomes to be nimble, to be able to be customer focused so we can get people into housing as fast as possible.

And the third is that you want to maximize efficiency so that the system is working as, well, frankly, as a system and not with these siloed approaches that we've seen.

So how do we get there in your mind?

Well, I'm concerned that if all you do is take all home, which is its own little bureaucracy.

And then you take all of the county people and all the city people and combine them or even add more money for this, you know, this new structure, then it's a problem.

It should be fine-tuned and you should get rid of some parts of it that are not needed.

So I think...

What parts aren't needed, Sharon?

Well, I think frankly that there are a lot of people doing administration, strategic advising, consultants, multiple layers of consultants, and multiple layers of administration.

So I think

And you would just ask them?

Well, I think before the council adopts a new thing, they should give you options on structure and pricing, options on the org chart, options on, how much it's going to cost, a low cost one, a middle cost one, a high cost one, to see what you're getting.

And I think we should use this opportunity to get rid of some of the inefficiencies and some of the wasteful process.

As an example, we're asked, Lehigh is asked, along with all the other agencies, to come meet once a week.

We show up once a week.

My case managers show up once a week with everybody else.

And there's, like, four units open.

Like, we're all, like, talking about who should get into these four units, right?

Like, is that particularly efficient when it's already been predetermined who is going to get into the four units?

I mean, I'm just saying that there's process improvement that could be made that would really help.

And coordinate entries should not be the...

be all and end all, because very few units are available for coordinate entry for families, or young adults, or single adults.

So I would like to ask, have you been involved or has anybody reached out to you at this point about the conversations that are ongoing around a potential regional governance restructure?

Well, we've been invited to a few meetings, and it's very general.

And what happens is that I think providers are not given adequate weight in terms of the design of it.

If you look at the charts that they've They've put out, they've not named the providers.

There's only two providers and 20 other people.

It's not focused on the people who know the real work.

So we're also concerned that if you include all these suburban cities, let's say you include all the suburban cities, some of the suburban cities have been reluctant and opposed to homeless housing and shelters.

and why would you put them on?

And then there's also private foundations.

Private foundations are not elected individuals.

You know, we have no way of, you know, impacting them.

I'm just concerned that once you remove accountability away from the city, away from the county, we have less of an impact because there are just, you know, further afield and they're not accountable to us.

So Jeff, at this point, since it's 11.48, I'm wondering if we could hear from you.

Give us an update.

Sharon, would you stay?

Because what I would like to do is have Jeff and whomever else wants to participate in this to give us an update on where we are.

Because everything Sharon has said, I have heard from Tess Colby herself, who is coming and joining us now, that we want to have this coordinated.

system approach that is accountable, that is nimble and effective.

And nobody wants us to be another layer of bureaucracy.

And I've been involved in these meetings.

Oh, good.

We have Mark.

Come on up.

Why don't you come to the table?

Oh, please.

So Mark Jones is here, and he is one of these, I know that we have heard about duplicate consultants, but I would say that he is a refreshing breath of fresh air that's come in and looked at our system.

So if I could turn this over to Jeff Tess and Mark to hear from you, and then thank you both.

for waiting for this morning.

And then we'll hear from you where we're going.

And then I'd love to have Sharon's input and response as well.

For the record, Jeff Sims.

I'm on central staff.

I'm actually going to defer time to test.

She was actually prepared to kind of give that update that you asked for.

And I'm happy to chime in if you have any additional questions, if that's OK.

It's good.

Very good by me.

Hi.

Hi.

Tess Colby, Mayor's Office.

Tess, you're going to need to slide this closer to you.

Yep.

Oh, better?

There you go.

OK.

It always feels like I'm about to eat it.

So yeah, I'm happy to give an update on regional governance.

I had quite a few pieces of information that I want to do.

I want to be respectful of everybody's time.

And so I'm just going to kind of whip through.

Actually, I would say.

This timing is now up to you.

We have so blown the time for this committee meeting that I am willing to stay here as long as you're willing to bring us information.

Well some of this, Council Member Bagshi, you're going to know because as a member of the client group you've been in this process the whole time.

So I will say that obviously the client group has been formed and I feel as though we've been working hard to meet the intent of creating the client group, which really is to make sure that there's collaborative working relationship and and timely reporting of information as the joint government recommendation is eventually is being considered and eventually implemented.

And I want to just say thank you for the client group members who are of course Council Member Bagshaw, Mosqueda and O'Brien for commitment.

We've been meeting every month and you've allowed And the us is council staff, other staff that are interested in this, the mayor's office, and of course, NIS, to bring you quite a bit of information.

So I heard Sharon talk about making sure that the work that we are doing is customer-centered.

I'm really relieved to hear that.

We couldn't agree more.

That was one of the key.

and fundamental recommendations that we received from Future Labs, which is now the National Innovation Services, NIS.

And Mark and their team has really, really worked very hard and in a concerted manner to make sure that this process, this discernment process around regional governance has in fact placed customers at the center There has been a great deal of work at putting together work groups and a steering committee.

And that really has been all about making sure that it facilitates customers and persons representing marginalized communities.

to be at the center of that, be not tokenized by just being spoken to, but making sure that their voice is center in that work.

So one of the things that NIS has done is engage folks in workshops, and Councilmember Bagshi, you may remember that NIS did a workshop with the client group around governance and the composition and purpose of governance.

Those kinds of workshops are being carried out.

And again, not just in the core working groups and the steering committees, but NIS is going to where people are and making sure that this isn't about asking folks and customers to come to a meeting that is disconnected from the work that they're doing, but really moving to their space.

So Village of Hope, for example, the Lived Experience Coalition, the Undoing Institutional Racism Coalition, those are just three examples of the deep connection that NIS is making with our customers.

And again, folks who are representing historically marginalized communities.

So Mark shared with me this morning that the workshops so far have been, there's been participation of about 160 people so far.

And again, from the perspective of making sure that the provider voice is heard, the kinds of providers that have been contributing and participating in this work include the YMCA, Nexus, Friends of Youth, Mockingbird, Youth Care, New Horizons.

One of the things that we did to make sure that the working groups were representative across stakeholders was invite providers, because part of this is not trying to determine how are stakeholders, how providers, how folks with lived experience, not predetermining how they want to participate, but opening this up and making sure that There's agency and respected agency for people to decide how they engage in this work.

So one of the things that we all did was ask providers how they wanted to include themselves, how they wanted to engage, and how they wanted their voices heard.

So there was a survey that went out or a poll, I guess, not a poll survey, a request.

I don't know what the right word is.

But a request that went out to all the providers and said, you tell us.

You tell us where you would like to be and what type of work and what groups you would want to participate in.

And I will say that.

Frankly, unfortunately, the response was relatively limited.

There was engagement of those folks that said they were interested, and that has resulted in providers actually participating.

The feedback from customers and providers, and Mark can talk a little bit more about this, their feedback has really caused NIS to sort of rethink.

how they're engaging folks through work groups, where originally it was thought that people would contribute to a product, if you will, at the end of these groups.

And now it's more cultivation of voice and more of an old school style sort of community engagement and almost sort of like community organizing.

So, do you feel that, I know one thing that came out of the group and discussions that I've had with you is that you did not want to choose the providers that were going to be at the table, but rather to allow the providers to self-select and be engaged.

So, I heard earlier from Sharon, it sounded like, Sharon, you were saying that the providers hadn't been involved.

That's not been my experience and it's not what I'm hearing from Tess and Mark.

Well, excuse me.

I mean, I went to many of these meetings where Jason Johnson and Leo Flohr held, and it was very general, and there was no detail, and there was no specifics.

And they passed out something saying, would you like to be part of this committee or that committee?

And that was it, and it was...

I think there's a whole lot more coming.

So Tess, do you want to step up there?

Yeah, and Sharon, you're absolutely right that there is a series of monthly meetings that the county and the city co-facilitate, and they've been going on for quite a while, as I understand.

I think they predate me, which lots of things predate me.

Pardon?

They predate Jason.

They predate Jason.

Thank you for saying that.

And these are the monthly provider meetings.

And this is common in a lot of communities.

My old community, we did this as well, where it's an opportunity for providers and their funders to come together and have dialogue and walk through particular subjects.

There were a couple provider meetings that were specifically designed to update folks and engage the providers that were there in discussions about regional governance, and there was a sort of solicitation at that meeting, but there was also a solicitation that went out by email, and it went out broadly to all of the contacts that NIS has, that Jason, excuse me, HSD has, that DCHS has.

No outreach is perfect.

And I think that what NIS, HSD, DCHS have attempted to do is reach people in different ways so that they have an opportunity really to self-select.

I will say that a big piece of feedback that we've gotten from providers has been to the tune of, your work groups are interesting.

And some of it we care about.

What they really care about is the regional action plan.

And so that work, because the regional action plan will be the plan that most impacts how they do their work going forward.

And so we've gotten quite a bit of interest in participating in the engagement and outreach that the corporation, they're not the Corporation for Supportive Housing anymore, CSH, ANILIVA and CSH are going to be doing in advance of developing that regional action plan.

So I think we also will see more targeted participation from providers in that area where they are, again, most specifically interested.

But this is not to say that providers are not participating in the steering committee and other work groups.

And to me, it's logical.

It makes sense that where you want your input to be is where the work will most impact you.

So I think you can add whatever you want.

Yeah.

Mark, did you have something?

Yeah.

And then also, I'd like you to address what Sharon was saying.

It's like the early meetings were general.

Yes, they were.

I was there.

And now we're starting to dive into detail.

So maybe you could address that.

Sure, so a couple things that I think are important.

One, to Tessa's point, our team has pivoted our approach and in some ways gone back to an approach that we used in the fall, which is, to Tessa's point, really just community organizing where we work with folks at all levels in terms of administrators, providers, customers, right, to understand what people's concerns are, what they'd like to see, synthesize that information, and bring it to y'all.

That shift in tactic was in part, in large part, in response to, as Tess mentioned, and I just want to make sure that this is quite clear, in response to feedback that we got from providers and customers about the structure that had been stood up, right?

So we heard repeatedly from providers and customers across the region, right?

Like, hey, this isn't working for us.

It is not a way that we can participate.

We are not able to show up in these meetings in the way that, you know, perhaps agency staff are, et cetera.

And so in hearing that feedback, we did an iteration, right?

And at the last meeting earlier this month that Jason and Leo held, a number of folks were there, I don't believe you were, but we had a conversation where I was there to say, hey, we've heard some feedback, we are shifting this approach, tell us what you would like so that we can incorporate y'all into this process moving forward in a way that makes sense.

And Marty, Melinda, Mark, were a number of the folks who were in the room and talked about the need for us to come to them, right?

And so that is really part of the genesis of why we have begun this series of provider-based workshops.

I'm headed to youth care later this afternoon to do another one.

And I think that the purpose of how we can work and the flexibility that we can bring to this is in that space, which is, I think, something that, frankly, a lot of to Tessa's points around just like time and capacity as I've often heard, right?

It allows for us to connect with people, hear input, synthesize it, and make sure that it is getting to decision makers in the right formats without frankly overburdening staff or creating dynamics where people are not able to execute on the life-saving work they're already doing.

And I will say that from the mayor's office perspective, and I think also from the client group's perspective, these workshops are yielding data, if you will, much of it qualitative, around what the community wants to see in governance, in the regional authority, in how it's structured, in how it does and how it makes decisions, in what the outcomes of that will be.

Without that voice, without that data, we all would be making decisions basically in a vacuum.

And so it is absolutely critical that we not only support this process, but then bring it into our collective decision-making process.

What's your timing on all of this now?

What's your timing?

For the whole regional authority?

Right.

Yes.

I mean, with the best, you know, the best intentions, the best work we're doing, where do you think we're going to be?

Yeah, so that's a really good point.

Let me just, I will answer that as I, if you will allow me to sort of walk through all the work that has to be done, and then you will appreciate just how breaknecks fast this is going.

So at the client group, we've begun to talk about what that authority will look like.

We've had plenty of conversations about different kinds of legal structures.

I feel like we've all landed on the public development authority.

That's good, because the next thing that we need to do is both at the same time begin to draft documents around that.

but also engage our HR partners, HR labor and union partners.

And they can't begin to do their work around what migration of staff looks like into the authority and how that affects benefits and pensions and the things that we care the most about for our staff.

without knowing what the entity is.

Likewise, we are in the process of starting the conversation with CBO to talk about not the budget process through the council, but to specifically talk about, once the budget is passed, what it looks like to contract with this new authority and what the migration of funds looks like.

As you can imagine, migration of funds and migration of staff are intertwined.

And so that's going to be a complex conversation to have.

So we need to be moving on that now so that we can get to Council with an ordinance.

The goal is to get to Council with an ordinance in August, and we are going to work as hard as we can to get there.

The other piece of this, the other layer of all this work, as I've alluded to, is the Regional Action Plan.

And the regional action plan is connected to the work of the regional authority by really serving as a guide, if you will, not the Bible, not blueprint, but a guide for thinking about how we get to the goals that I think the entire community wants to see from the authority.

So this is also a process of, again, collectively determining what those performance objectives the large, the big level performance objectives should be, and then thinking out how the authority can get there.

So that regional action plan should also be completed around August or September.

So we recognize that that regional action plan and the acceptance and passage of an ordinance around the authority itself are intertwined.

So the goal is to keep them on a, is to try to keep us all on a parallel track.

The third factor in all of this, of course, is our partners at the county, and we've been engaging and collaborating with the county, and they are moving on a similar track to begin to structure the authority and to move forward with their process, with their HR, their budget, so that we all collectively get to this end, ideally in August, not a worst case, but as a second option, September.

But we are absolutely focused on August.

Great.

Jeff, did you have something you wanted to say?

Sure.

And this is, because you're very engaged in this already, redundant for what you've already been told, but perhaps for public awareness at this point.

The stage we're at is as we move towards that August ordinance, we would ideally be updating the Select Committee on Homelessness on various steps of that process.

Today in particular, we wanted to delve a little bit more into the actual legal mechanism that would be used.

As we've engaged with various law departments, we were looking at either using a public development authority or using joint powers or interlocal agreements to make a nonprofit.

Generally, or at a very high level, there's not a substantial difference in either of those routes.

And so to address many of the decisions that are next, that the committee will be presented on at its next meetings, the executive is going to be moving forward with the assumption of a public development authority.

being the mechanism that we would use.

That's been kind of an assumption of some parties all along.

We haven't found a substantial reason not to go with that at this stage, though none of this is officially final until the council passes an ordinance either in August or September.

And I will say, I agree, Jeff, that really there is scant difference between the entities that can be created under the Interlocal Cooperation Act or the RCW that talks about PDAs.

I will say that one of the, I think, important differences that exists is that a PDA actually can issue debt.

And one of the things that I think has concerned everybody throughout this whole process is We can build a regional authority, but if we do not have the resources to act on that regional authority, it will make it much more difficult for them to hit their goals.

I am not trying to project that the regional authority would issue debt for its own capital uses, but a PDA, much like a municipal corporation, can issue debt on behalf of other projects.

So it's a flexibility.

I'm not saying that they were certainly out to shoot.

The PDA wouldn't necessarily, the authority wouldn't necessarily use that option.

But it is an important flexibility that a PDA has.

And it is, I think, a part of the consideration.

So I really appreciate what all of you were just saying.

And I want to acknowledge a couple of things.

First is, Us policy wonks really care about what that format looks like and what the foundation will be.

What the public wants is frankly a little bit more about what Sharon was saying, which is are we seeing more people getting off the streets and into homes of some kind, whatever they are, whether they're tiny homes or whether they're modulars.

or their permanent supportive housing.

And second, they want to see for ourselves that the city feels cleaner, that people are healthier, that the streets feel safer.

And last, that nimbleness that she mentioned, that we want to be able to find, and I'm using my friend Michael, who's on the sidewalk in Uptown and has been there for years, using him as an example, He has said, I don't want to go in.

Then somebody connected with him a few weeks ago and he said, OK, I will.

And then he didn't.

So he's back out on the street with all his stuff and his tarps and his shopping bags right on First Avenue.

That's not OK with anybody, except maybe Michael, who doesn't want to go inside.

So we're trying hard to find out what does he need.

And that's what I'm hoping this regional approach will allow us, is that we don't have to call the county.

Or in the case of Michael, just using this as an example, I couldn't reach anybody in the NAV team because it was like 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

But I got a hold of Union Gospel Mission.

They had people out there in 20 minutes that were talking with him.

So I want to acknowledge that the providers need to be part of this, and they will be part of it.

But as we set up the governing structure, and again, I want to say that's important for the four of you at the table, and me, and the others who were the wonks that care about what the structure is.

But what the public wants is a real difference in what they see.

Yeah, and I think that that's a perfect example and a poignant example of why, in fact, we do need regional governance.

One of the things that has been identified by the auditor and by other consultants is that there's a disconnect in the way the city, the county, other suburban cities are responding.

There's even disconnects within the county and the city in terms of how programs are connecting with each other and collaborating.

And so the goal of regional governance and the reason that we received recommendations not just from Future Labs, but from the auditor, from Focus Strategies, from Barb Poppy, and consistently across the board, that we need to combine and coordinate and better collaborate through some sort of single entity.

The reason is exactly what you described.

there should be better coordination across the region in making sure that outreach is available and appropriate and knowledgeable about what's happening in communities and what's happening with individuals.

And that's something that we at the city want, we know that the county wants, we know that our partners at UGM, Bread of Life and other faith-based organizations they want.

And I think regional governance gives an opportunity to speak with one voice about, just as an example, about, for example, how outreach and how engagement, case management, relationship building is done in a much more coordinated fashion.

Good.

Thank you for that.

Sharon had brought up something that I think is worthy for us to be able to express and address, where she said, we're worried about transparency and accountability.

Based upon what I've been talking about with at least three of you there at the table, my sense is that this not only will be accountable, it will be more accountable because there's only one entity to go to as contrasted to, OK, figure out who in HSD or the NAV team will respond to something like this, or call my friend Leo over at the county or get Brad Feingood now in public health, but have a place and a core where people can go and where they can call.

So I know that that's one of your goals too.

So can you respond to that?

One aspect of that concern is that if that one entity is an appointed entity, if it's not an elected entity, then that's then for members of the community, then that is one degree removed from the accountability of the ballot box.

So sometimes in a democracy, we need to be able to address that.

So can you talk about that?

Will we be accountable to the voters?

Yes.

This is a conversation that I think we've all had.

We're certainly having at the city.

The county is absolutely having.

The accountability will come from the relationship and frankly the funding relationship that the city and the county have with this entity.

My background is in finance and real estate development and I will tell you there was no greater accountability in the work that I did.

than knowing that somebody held the purse strings over what I was about to do and they had requirements and I needed to meet those requirements.

It will be no different with this authority.

The authority will be subject to specific performance outcomes through a contract that the city will have and the county will have with the entity itself.

And that will give us the right and the obligation to say we're investing in you and we expect this kind of a return on our investment.

And if you do not produce and you don't give us this kind of return, and if that goes on for whatever period of time the city as a whole deems acceptable to give opportunity to correct, then we will be able to pull our dollars back and reestablish HSI in the Human Services Department and go back to the way we were doing it.

It's a way of proving the concept.

And this really is about proof of concept.

I would say that this authority will understand its position, particularly in the, well, specifically and particularly in the first few years, but throughout its existence, that it is over and over, year after year, proving its value, proving its ability to deliver, proving its effectiveness by making sure that it is driven by the funding requirements and driven by its requirement to make sure that customers are included in and at the center of the work that they are producing.

And I think that combination of work really will guarantee transparency because certainly our provider community is not shy.

Our customer community, if you will, those organizations that are composed of and represent, again, folks that have historically been marginalized from this process, they're not shrinking flowers.

So we will have any number of partners who will be helping us to hold this authority accountable in a way that I think greatly expands its ability to impact homelessness and to be more accountable to the public as a whole.

So one thing that impressed me at a meeting about two weeks ago is that we had conference calls with leadership in Los Angeles and Portland.

asking them about their similar projects that they have.

Can you talk a little bit about how accountability worked in those two cities?

I mean, either you, Tess, or Mark, however you want to take these.

Yeah, I'm going to actually hand this over to Mark, because Mark has had more direct experience working with Portland and with LA.

Yeah.

So both models use a governing board over a joint entity.

In the case of Portland, it's a nine organization board that I believe is actually 12 members that represent three jurisdictions, two cities and a county.

Electeds are directly on that board.

In addition to other key constituencies, in L.A., it's a 10-member commission.

Five members are appointed from the county.

They have a supervisor system, so any county supervisor can put forward Someone who they believe should be on the commission, that person then needs to be approved by the entire board of supervisors.

On the city of LA side, right, the mayor will put forward a person and that person needs to be approved by the city council in the same way that any appointment generally works.

So in addition to the budget controls that Tess is talking about, there is no governance model, frankly, that I would recommend or that anybody uses.

that doesn't still flow through people who are elected to represent communities.

That's just how we do stuff.

The other thing, though, that I think is important, particularly about the L.A.

model, is that there is a ability to put people on the commission who have very specific expertise.

And so in relationship, frankly, to what Tess was just saying, there's a woman on the L.A.

commission named Jacqueline Wagner who, is a VP at Enterprise Housing.

So if there's a housing conversation, pardon?

What was the acronym you just used?

VP, Vice President.

Oh, sorry.

I heard DP, and I'm confused.

Oh, no.

Sorry.

Vice President at Enterprise Housing.

And so anytime there's a housing conversation, as you allude, those of us who are wonkish, I think sometimes can be frustrated in housing conversations because they're not fact-based.

People just say, like, We need more housing.

We should put more money in housing.

And like, yes, but housing is an incredibly complex system.

The rates of development are quite slow.

You have zoning issues.

You have finance issues.

You have, like, debt issues.

Like, it's not just do more housing, right?

Jacqueline being on that commission means that when there's a housing conversation, there's someone in the room, right, who can say, like, this is what you're saying, this is what I'm hearing, and here are the actual things we can do in order to address the concern you're raising.

It also means that theoretically, right, like, she might be able to do something about it.

And so the connectivity to other systems is actually enhanced by thinking carefully through what are the skills and what are the representations that you want to have on that governing body.

And the last thing that I would say is that when we talk about accountability, that often is a diffuse term that I believe is frankly far too general.

Accountability is to whom, to which community are we accountable?

And in this instance, what I would put forward and what our design puts forward is that this is a system that needs to be accountable to people experiencing homelessness.

That's the accountability that needs to be created.

When we talk about what people experiencing homelessness currently are able to access with regard to accountability, it is frankly insufficient and inadequate, right?

People can swarm council chambers, they can try to form individual relationships, but there is no mechanism by which they can hold who is supposed to be responsible for providing them with life-saving service, right?

Accountable if that is not working.

In our design, we put forward a number of things, a theory of change, a centered customer voice.

But then structurally, we also put forward an ombuds office, right, that would have the sole responsibility of hearing from and routinely going out and listening to people who are experiencing homelessness and using that to set standards, to evaluate, right, how things are going.

And I'm frankly relieved also to report a little bit early that in all of the governance workshops that we've done thus far, one of the things that has arisen as near uniform is the insistence that that board needs to have people who have experienced homelessness on it.

In some workshops, people have said, like, we want, you know, 50% lived experience, right?

And there have also been assertions that I think make good sense to have the ombuds person on the board, right, so that they are not experiencing a power dynamic in terms of trying to assert, right, like this is what I'm hearing and we need to respond to it.

So there is real community work happening that will, I hope, right, end in a design, a final design that centers the people who we really say we're here for and puts them in charge of their own destiny in a meaningful way and not merely in rhetoric.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Somebody needs to just record what you just said.

Type it up and put it up to say, this is what we're working on.

Because I keep hearing these spats between people saying, oh, we're so worried about accountability.

We're so worried that electeds aren't going to be on it.

Frankly, I think having the experts on a board like this that are reporting to the council that we establish a budget and the policies and say, this is what we're looking for.

That nimbleness that we're talking about.

Accountable to the people who need the help.

but also accountable to the taxpayers, showing that we're having better effects.

That what's making people crazy is that we're putting more and more money into a system, and people are still seeing folks outside that aren't getting the help they need.

So that dual connection, it's what I know you're all working on, and I think this will be great.

to make sure that as we're moving forward that these multiple goals are loud and clear and front and center.

Great.

Thank you.

I know we've got a few minutes left.

Ted's told me that we've got to get out of here at 1230 because there's a transportation committee.

But do you have something you would like?

Any final remarks in the next few minutes?

Actually, no.

Timing is good.

There's a lot more work.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

I know we were delayed an hour because of the importance of the previous agenda items.

Ted, thank you for making that happen.

I know that we went long just because there's always so much to talk about at these committees.

Jeff, do you have any final words?

Okay, well, thank you all for coming.

I know I'll be seeing you in the next week or so.

And thanks to all, everybody who came to participate in this today.

The meeting's adjourned.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember.