A new coalition of local governments, the regional homelessness authority, business and philanthropy announced Feb. 17 that it would be putting $10 million behind a pilot project to address unsheltered homelessness in downtown Seattle.
The plan, called Partnership For Zero, involves a combination of elements including a “unified central command,” peer navigators and a by-name list. The command center will allow partners to communicate and coordinate information and target resources. Peer navigators are outreach workers with lived experience who will work with their caseload of clients to move through the system and into housing. The by-name list is a tool to accomplish that goal, listing people’s stated needs.
The Seattle City Council chose not to fund peer navigators in its 2021 budget discussions.
Partnership For Zero builds on the model used to create the KCRHA in which the city of Seattle and King County ceded most aspects of homelessness policy to the authority while funding it to the tune of hundreds of millions of public dollars.
“It required people to do something they don’t do naturally, which is to give up power, to give up control, to give up authority,” Constantine said in the Feb. 17 press conference.
The partnership involves the city of Seattle, King County and We Are In, a public-private partnership that includes business and philanthropic entities. Part of the goal is to get more of the private resources being spent on addressing homelessness moving in the same direction, We Are In Executive Director Felicia Salcedo told Real Change (Disclosure: Salcedo is a new Real Change board member).
“They’ve been doing a lot of direct grant-making to organizations, and because of the fragmentation in the system, we didn’t have a good sense of if they are making impact,” Salcedo said. “Them coming together has been really important as well to show support for the regional homelessness authority, while also so they can see progress.”
A key element to the proposal is the peer navigation system, championed by the Washington Lived Experience Coalition, a group of people who are currently unhoused or have been in the past. Peer outreach has a positive impact on people experiencing homelessness, said Dr. LaMont Green, executive director of the LEC.
“We recognize now more than ever that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, but often furthest from power and resources,” Green said at the Feb. 17 press conference (see Green’s op-ed elsewhere in this issue).
The coalition announced that it had $10 million for its first year to fund a pilot project meant to address unsheltered homelessness in downtown Seattle. Doing so will require more shelter beds and a variety of other interventions including diversion, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, tiny house villages and sanctioned encampments, Salcedo said.
An estimated 20 percent of people living unsheltered downtown will require “high acuity” shelter with infrastructure to support people who are chronically homeless, have comorbidities or are otherwise “high need,” she said.
Partnership For Zero was met with cautious optimism by the Third Door Coalition, an alliance of business leaders, service providers, researchers and others who seek to end chronic homelessness. It focuses on permanent supportive housing and the “housing first” strategy to do so.
In a statement, the Third Door Coalition applauded the peer navigation model, but questioned a key element undergirding the proposal: housing supply.
“Increased navigation resources without attendant investments in housing ... will quickly run into a basic problem: Navigation to where?” the Third Door Coalition wrote in a statement.
The announcement remains preliminary, in part because KCRHA is still staffing its peer navigation system. However, the organization hopes the pilot project will be successful and applicable in other parts of King County.
KCRHA CEO Marc Dones cautioned that “there is no such thing as a good homelessness announcement” except the one where officials can credibly claim that the crisis is over. This announcement was a commitment to get there.
“We can, and will, do better. That’s what today is,” Dones said.
This article has been updated to reflect Felicia Salcedo's new title.
Ashley Archibald was the editor of Real Change through July 14, 2023, after working as a staff reporter for the newspaper for several years. She left to become a communication specialist for Purpose. Dignity. Action., previously known as Seattle’s Public Defender Association. Real Change is proud to know this talented person.
Read more of the Feb. 23-Mar. 1, 2022 issue.