The nonprofit that shut down its network of indoor shelters amid funding concerns has approached city of Seattle officials with a proposal to reopen the spaces and expand the number of beds and services offered to clients.
Members of the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort (SHARE) say that they will partner with the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to add services such as case management in exchange for the money they need to cover the structural deficits that forced them to close shelters run out of local churches at the end of March.
In addition, SHARE will partner with Catholic Community Services to add transparency to their budgeting and spending practices. The organization came under fire this year when it came to light that their accountant had not been legally certified do the organization’s taxes and annual financial review.
Finally, the group plans to partner with the Church Council of Greater Seattle and other organizations to form a task force that will explore ways to increase the amount of shelter spaces available using the existing network within the Seattle faith community.
“All of the pieces are in place,” said Stu Tanquist, a member of the SHARE Central Committee, a governing body within the organization.
But to move forward with the proposal, they need money they hope will come from Seattle City Hall.
Cash-flow problems forced SHARE to close its doors, a move that put at least 250 people back on the street. Although the city of Seattle has a $328,751 contract with SHARE to provide 75,000 shelter beds per year, that money is available only through reimbursement. That means the organization has to be able to front the cash and then invoice City Hall for its money.
A SHARE budget handed out during its advocacy around the closures included a line for $70,000 meant to come from United Way of King County and King County’s budget.
United Way has never funded share, and King County held a competitive bidding process in 2014 that left share without a contract.
That budgetary hole, on top of structural deficits, made it difficult for the organization to continue fronting the costs of its program.
The result has been a four-and-a-half-month standoff between share and local government, with share asking for $75,000 to get the organization in the black and new funding on top of the money City Hall set aside to run the nightly shelters.
Adding case management to the church shelter model could be a way to get back into the fold.
That’s in part because share’s greatest asset is its ability to house a lot of people for a relatively small amount of money.
The organization boasts the lowest per-bed cost in the Seattle shelter system. It does that by running lean, using donated space and a small staff of paid employees, which does not include case managers that pump up the costs.
Although that kind of light-touch shelter works for some people who just need a safe place to sleep, others need guidance to help them navigate the complicated landscape of requirements and services that can get them from the streets into housing.
That’s important because governments and nonprofit funders want proof by the numbers that programs move people out of emergency shelter.
The services will not be mandatory, said Clint Crowder, a member of SHARE’s Central Committee.
Under the proposal, case management would be provided by LIHI, the nonprofit that offers the same services at the authorized Nickelsville encampments.
“I think no one has really looked at this question, that this was a missing part of the church shelter system,” said Sharon Lee, executive director at LIHI.
Case managers would be able to go in and help people fill out employment applications, work on resumes, get identification and eventually get to housing, potentially in one of lihi’s 1,800 units. Lee says there have already been successes at the tent cities.