Updates from the South King Housing and Homelessness Partnership
January was a great time for me to come on board with SKHHP! With the start of the new year came a renewed focus on data for many of us. Events like the One Night Count and community forums provide us with the opportunities to not only define the issues we’re looking to address, but shape the response to it in a way that makes sense for our communities. These SKHHP updates will provide a space for you to find out what’s happening with housing and homelessness in South King County, where to find new resources, and places your voice can make a difference.
—Joy Scott, SKC Housing Planner
City Spotlight
The City of Auburn has been working on engaging with its residents to shape a conversation on homelessness and what it means for our area. The Auburn Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness brings together community members, business owners, and city staff to create meaningful dialogue about the experience of and response to homelessness in our region. The Task Force recently held its fourth meeting.
Contact Erica Azcueta ([email protected]) to learn more about the task force, and how this model is shifting the conversation from individual problems to systemic solutions.
Places to Be
In 2016, All Home will hold forums with discussions and updates for all population groups on a monthly basis, replacing the Family Homelessness Initiative and Youth and Young Adult Initiative Stakeholder Forums that have been held separately in the past. These stakeholder forums provide a great opportunity for South King County providers to share information on what they’re seeing and how youth and families experiencing homelessness in the region are impacted. The first stakeholder forum of 2016 will be on Wednesday, February 17, 9:30-11:00 AM at El Centro de la Raza.
People in Action
The 36th annual One Night Count took place in the early morning hours of January 29th. Volunteers gathered in regional headquarters across King County to conduct this point-in-time count of people who are without shelter. Here in Renton, we saw 10 teams with 51 people heading out into the community. As announced by the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, this year’s count saw a 19% increase of people unsheltered in our region, with the highest increase in South King County. This stark data demonstrates the importance of partnership and collaboration, and reaffirms the work of SKHHP in addressing housing and homelessness in SKC.
At the Renton ONC HQ, everyone was pitching in! Mayor Denis Law helped prepare breakfast along with long time ONC volunteers Terry Higashiyama, Kelly Beymer, and Bonnie Rerecich.
Resources
The South King Council of Human Services held their January meeting on data sources in South King County. Speakers provided information about what data exists and how to access it. Presenters shared info on how to navigate data web resources, including Communities Count, LocalScape, and the HUD Data Matrix. Full links to recommended resources will be available on SKCHS’s website.
Now that you have the data, are you wondering how to use it to tell a compelling story? Check out the upcoming Communities Count Data to Action Workshop on February 16th from 1-3pm at SeaTac City Hall. The workshop will cover finding and selecting reliable data, integrating qualitative and quantitative data, measuring impact, and using data to support grant proposals. Get more information and register for that workshop here.
