AN ORDINANCE relating to appropriations for the Human Services Department; amending Ordinance 126237, which adopted the 2021 Budget; modifying a proviso imposed by Ordinance 126298; and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.
Agenda Item one Council Bill 12009 6,000,002 Appropriations for the Human Services Department amending ordinance 126 237, which adopts the 2021 budget, modifying a proviso imposed by ordinance 126 298 and ratifying confirming certain prior acts. Thank you, Madam Park. I moved past Council Bill 120096. Is there a second? Second? Thank you so much, Governor Lewis. You are the prime sponsor of this bill, so I'm going to hand it over to you to address this item. Thank you so much, Madam President. And I want to thank the folks that called in in support of this bill. I particularly Jerry Dearborn, who just called in, who really has been out in the field doing incredible work in moving our neighbors, experiencing homelessness into well-resourced and supported hotel based shelters that have been making a difference for the folks who are receiving that kind of shelter and care, as well as the house residents and business owners of those neighborhoods who have had problematic experiences with some of the unsanctioned encampments. This legislation gets us one step closer to continuing to hold up those folks who are doing this work by giving them the resources they need to get it done and to to accomplish a lot of resolutions in these complicated areas to the benefit of all parties and really making sure that we're centering that fundamentally. We all have the same interests. And that's really the core, I think, of the justice care model and why it has been so successful is really leveling that , you know, someone experiencing homelessness and unsanctioned encampments, business owners and residents that concerns about the encampment ultimately all have the same interests at heart, which is actually being able to move folks inside to get the care and assistance they need. And this is the model that we are essentially committing to front loading more resource toward in the run up here to the reopening of Seattle's economy and the reality that during COVID, as we've seen in countless news stories. The resources to provide health care, to provide shelter, to provide care to our most homeless. Our homeless neighbors have been the most impacted to a large extent by the reality of the COVID emergency and that rebuilding and building back after COVID is going to require filling a lot of these service gaps, which means leaning into models like the justice care model. I want to thank the downtown Seattle Association for the very strong support of this measure and Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, in addition to the service providers who are that who have been doing this work, particularly the Defender Association. Obviously reach Seattle Club, Asian Counseling Referral Service, among others. And you know, I hope that we can get the support out the door to continue to build on the progress that we've been making together and have that impact be felt in more parts of the city instead of just in the Chinatown ID and Pioneer Square neighborhoods. So with that, I will turn it over because I think there's some amendments that need to be considered as well. And I appreciate the opportunity to do to this. Thank you so much, Councilmember Lewis, for addressing the bass bill. There are. There is at least one amendment that I'm aware of. So we will go ahead and address that amendment. And then once we've addressed the amendment, we can open up the debate in discussion to the bill as amended. So I'm going to recognize Councilmember Herbold, who has Amendment one, in order to have her make her motion. Thank you so much. I knew two men come bill 12 0096 as presented as Amendment one on the agenda. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the bill be amended as presented on Amendment one. Caspar. I'm going to hand it back to you as the prime sponsor so that you can walk us through the amendment. Thank you so much. As I mentioned at this morning's briefing, this amendment provides 3 million of the 12 million to expand the city's contract with league. This expanded contract will allow lead to respond to the increase in community referrals as a result of COVID and the increased costs of operating during the pandemic. The expanded contract is consistent with Council's vote last year to require lead to accept community referrals without prior law enforcement approval and Council's adoption of Resolution 31916 in 2019, which declares the city's commitment to ensuring that law enforcement pre-arrest diversion programs receive public funding sufficient to accept all priority qualifying referrals citywide. Why is the removal of the barrier to referrals requiring prior law enforcement approval relevant to this amendment? It's so important because our community stakeholders want to use lead. We've gotten rid of the barrier that limited non law enforcement referrals. Now we need to address the capacity limitations. Otherwise, lead will not be able to take direct referrals from as many neighborhood groups. Neighborhood watches, precinct advisory councils and business improvement areas that are interested in using lead. So I want to thank Councilmember Lewis and Councilmember Morales for their co-sponsorship of this amendment and urge it support. Thank you. And it's so much because of our world, because we're morals. You have your hand raised. Should we vote on this first, or can I just address the amendment? What's that? So do you want to vote on the amendment first, or is this the time for me to address it? No. Now. Now would be the time to address and make any comments related to the amendment. Thank you. Well, first, I do want to thank Councilmember Herbold for allowing me to co-sponsor this suit to the punch on actually drafting this amendment. There's so much interest in this, you know, sponsoring this, because we know that lead works. It is providing the organization that the effort is providing consistent, valuable diversion services. You know, the lead program, partners with organizations who know our communities and understand the different points of view that our neighbors feel about how to best address the challenges of our homeless neighbors. But they are also trauma informed and they are trusted by my community members, by our unhoused neighbors, by business owners. So it's really important, as Councilmember Herbold said, that we increase the capacity of this group to respond and provide the kind of service that we need. Constituents in my community are regularly asking how we can expand lead in places like Mount Baker and Beacon Hill. So I'm really excited to be able to co-sponsor this amendment and look forward to our ability as a city to make the kind of investments we need to really begin addressing the challenges that are homeless neighbors are facing . Thank you so much, Councilmember Morales, for those comments. Any additional? I see that Councilman Peterson also has his hand raised. I'm assuming he wants to make a comment on Amendment one. So, Councilman Peterson, please. Thank you. Council President I strongly support the lead diversion program and will continue to fund lead. I would rather see 100% of these housing funds go toward housing people experiencing homelessness. I'll be voting no on this amendment, which would redirect, essentially redirect 25% of the of the $12 million. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Peterson. Any other comments or questions on Amendment One? I don't see any other hands raised. So with that being said, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment One? Lewis, I. Where else? Yes. PETERSON No. So. Yes. Strauss. Yes. HERBOLD. Yes. Whereas I. Council President Gonzalez I seven in favor one of those. Thank you so much the motion carries the amendment is adopted and the amended bill is now before the council. Are there any additional comments on the amended bill? Councilmember Morales, please. Thank you. I am really excited to see this bill. So I do want to thank Councilmember Lewis. My office consistently hears resounding support for just care. In fact, just care is the model that my office looked to last year when we fought to eliminate the navigation team and replace it with the Hope program. I will admit there's still some work to do to make sure that the Hope program is implemented as intended. But just CARE has proven to be successful at sheltering people in safe non congregate settings at providing intensive 24 seven case management and in finding people long term stable housing. They are not perpetuating trauma to unhoused people and we know that to truly meet each individual's needs, we need this kind of service, this kind of option for folks. That's why my constituents are regularly asking for programs like this to be extended. That support comes because people are seeing rapid results and they're seeing real results. Whether we're talking about small business owners having fewer encounters with folks who are experiencing a crisis or service providers who are seeing a real collaboration payoff. We know that house neighbors are seeing folks committing crimes of poverty or crimes related to a state of distress, getting the kind of help that they need. And we see unhoused folks able to get into a safe space, receive intensive services that meet their needs and find housing. So small business owners, business associations, service providers, house neighbors, the King County Council, the majority of the city council, and most importantly, our unhoused neighbors themselves have all applauded the work of just care. I was recently in a public safety meeting in the city where a representative from SPD said that they too welcome the work that just does. So I don't know who who isn't on board at this point, but I think this is really important work that goes beyond traditional outreach. This is public safety work that doesn't involve the police. It's substance abuse treatment work. It's crisis intervention work. And it's housing connection and support work. There's a real appetite for us to do something on all of these fronts. That is a big part of the conversation we've been having in the last year in Seattle. I've heard it over and over again that folks want this work done without police intervention and without punitive consequences that move people from one place to the other but don't actually accomplish anything. People understand that that doesn't work, and showing up with a truck, a bulldozer or a dump truck is inhumane. So this is an option that really provides a model of care that has acute impacts for our community with minimal funds and support from the city. With the able, they've been able to create a system that really has huge support across the city. So I'm excited by the funds that we've appropriated and excited to see this work continue. And I'll just close by thanking both lead and just care for the work they've done in my district and thanking Councilmember Lewis once again for highlighting the needs of these programs and council colleagues who have co-sponsored this. I think it's our strong advocacy that is contributing to this work, and I look forward to having a strong partner in the executive's office so that we can distribute funds allocated for just care in the future. And as we all know, we can appropriate these funds, but we need to get the money to the providers. And my hope is that we'll be able to do that once we get this signed. Thank you. Thank you so much, customer and one of us really appreciate those comments. Councilmember Strauss. Thank you. Council President and thank you colleagues and the sponsors of this bill for bringing it forward. I'm excited to vote yesterday and had hoped to see this bill sooner and I'm glad to see it here today because we know that just care works. It is a proven solution to address homelessness with lasting results rather than time limited results. This is a program that we need throughout the city, and I'm excited to see how we and how quickly we can expand these services because we need these services. We need the Just Care program in Green Lake and Fremont and Ballard and throughout the city. Thank you to everyone who's made it a success so far, and I look forward to continuing to work with everyone on bringing just care throughout the city. Thank you. Council President. A so much casmir strauss. Just remember, Louis, I see that you have your hand raised. You're the prime sponsor, so you'll get last word. So let me. Let me see if any one else has any comments. Kazmir Peterson, please. Thank you. Council president had a question about the. Based on some comments I just heard, that's a question for the sponsor about the bill. And then I quit comments just a few sentences. The question we talk about just care. I just want to make sure what we're talking about is the model and not a particular vendor or provider. Is that is that correct? Well, that that could be one way, that it could be interpreted because that I mean, we can't be too too prescriptive. I mean, the bill is not does not pick a particular vendor. Right. So I think not necessarily, but the people that have been bidding on this work have been the same consortium of providers. So I would anticipate that it would probably end up being the consortium that the Defenders Association has convened. But it would it doesn't necessarily have to be. It's. Thank you. Council president. Just a quick comments to close out. Thank you. I'll be voting yes on this ordinance. Recognize the urgent need to house people experiencing homelessness. Placing them in hotels and other non congregate shelter during the COVID pandemic. This is a promising, albeit temporary, solution during the current crisis. And so I'm supporting this investment of public dollars to make sure the investment in these public dollars is ultimately effective, regardless of which service providers receive the funds. Manage the program since this is not a sole source award. I would ask our Human Services Department to track the key metrics such as the cost to house each person and the key outcomes, such as the number of people exiting to permanent housing. I'll be voting yes on this. Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Peterson. Any additional comments before we close out debate? I'm not seeing any other hands raised. I also wanted to echo thanks to Councilmember Lewis for leading the charge as the chair of our homelessness committee. Really appreciate the leadership in this space and the opportunity to collaborate with you. Councilmember Lewis, as one of the sponsors of this really important piece of legislation. We know that the model related to meeting the needs of people experiencing homelessness that allows us to be nimble and not pursue strategies that are law enforcement focused first are really critical to our ability to successfully end homelessness. And while this is a temporary solution, it's still a very important one to begin to connect people to the services and the housing that they need. So I'm really excited about the opportunity to continue to invest in a model that that really seems to have broad community support among constituencies that don't ordinarily agree with each other. And and I think that that the results that we are seeing from housing placements and service connection are very promising results. And, and I'm excited to be able to continue to support investments, strategic investments in this area, to continue to make a meaningful difference in the area of homelessness. And with that being said, I am going to hand it over to Councilmember Lewis, who is going to close that debate, and then we're going to vote on this on this bill. Thank you, Madam President. I'll I'll be brief here in closing it out, given everyone else's comments. I mean, you know, I've said a couple of times that, you know, I predecessor, Sally, she used to refer to things as passing the C test or that the C test is an important component of what we do. Like people that can see the tangible difference that something that we fund is having and then draw conclusions about, you know, whether that is is making a difference in their lives or not. And you know, unequivocally that's just care consortium during the pandemic has passed the C test. I received more positive communication from from provider advocates, from small business owners, from neighborhood residents who are involved in this and who have really changed some of their core convictions and perceptions about how to solve the homelessness crisis through their experience of working with and interacting with just care and seeing how this approach and this model can work. I just wanted to add a couple of more sort of logistical things at the top. There are many ways that this investment can be squared with our ultimate budget. I know that this has been a little bit of a bit of a hiccup in funding this effort over the past over the course of the past few months, based on interpretations of the FEMA guidance and based on schedules of potential reimbursement for some of these dollars. We have new information now that we didn't have when we initially passed this legislation. We know that the general fund is recovering at a faster rate than we had initially anticipated when we did our last budget. We have the benefit of a $10 million FEMA reimbursement insurance program. The State Representative Macri passed in the last legislative session. We have the benefit of knowing that there's going to be another big tranche of federal money coming down the pipeline in 2022. That gives us some extra flexibility even since crafting this bill. We also have a little bit more assurance that Jumpstart is going to survive its legal challenges and be part of the fabric of our city budget. There are ways we can square this obligation of $12 million that can be spent upfront at the beginning of this summer to make a noticeable difference in impact, both for people experiencing homelessness and people who have concerns about the unsanctioned encampments. There are multiple ways we can remit this money. The legislation allows, if there's capacity issues for this money to be remitted through the contracts that King County has, you know, that would still be subject to the same reporting requirements. But to take advantage of our relationship in partnership with King County, to remit those dollars faster, to get them out into the community. From my conversations with our counterparts at King County, that arrangement would be possible if it's something the city needs to pursue to avoid administrative hurdles with our, you know, greatly appreciated and considerably overworked Human Services Department contractors, King County stands ready to be a strong partner, and I look forward to helping to establish that relationship, if necessary, to get this resource out into the community. I do want to just finally thank the coalition that Councilmember Gonzales alluded to earlier. This effort has led to a letter that is now out in the world, in the public record, where the Chamber of Commerce and the downtown Seattle Association are praising Councilmember silent for her leadership. So it is clear we can do great things when great ideas come forward that can transcend some of the divides we have in the city. And I want to thank the coalition that includes the downtown Seattle Association and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. In addition to organizations representing arts organizations, representing tourism and service providers who have been clamoring for this kind of investment for a long time. So with that, you know, I think there will still be some additional work on the other side of passing this bill to hammer out some of the details and implementation. I look forward to those conversations and I am looking forward to voting on this. So thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Lewis, thanks again for stewarding this bill through the legislative process. All right, colleagues, but that debate is now closed. Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the amended bill? LEWIS Yes. Morales Yes. Peterson Yes. So what? Yes. Strauss. Yes. Per bold. Yes. Whereas I. Council President Gonzales was high eight in favor nine oppose the bill. Passes as amended and the chair will sign it. Will clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf? Will the clerk please read items two through six into the record?