Seattle s Mayoral Candidates Weigh in on Proposed Charter Amendment on Homelessness thestranger.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestranger.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
by Nathalie Graham • Apr 6, 2021 at 5:16 pm
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A new coalition called Compassion Seattle, led by former short-term Mayor Tim Burgess, unveiled a charter amendment last week that carves into the city s constitution several policies designed to end the homelessness crisis.
The amendment lays out broad goals for Seattle s response to homelessness, such as creating at least 2,000 units of emergency shelter or permanent supportive housing no later than one year after the measure s passage, funding behavioral health services, and creating a behavioral health rapid-response team.
Homelessness providers have called on the city to implement some of these polices for years. With a swift path toward more shelter and more services, the Chief Seattle Club, the Public Defender Association, Evergreen Treatment Services, United Way King County, and the Housing Development
Seattle group pushes ballot measure to build housing for homeless, ban encampments in parks king5.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from king5.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Initiative seeks to force Seattle to fund homeless housing and then clear camps
April 1, 2021 at 11:13 am
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Tents line a downtown Seattle street. (GeekWire Photo / John Cook)
In an effort to overhaul Seattle’s approach to its homeless crisis, a coalition of downtown business leaders and non-profit representatives on Thursday introduced a citywide ballot measure to force the city to fund a battery of services and shelters for thousands of the town’s unsheltered residents.
Called the “Compassion Seattle” charter amendment, the initiative also would require the city to keep “parks, playgrounds, sports fields, public spaces and sidewalks and streets clear of encampments” once the mandated housing, drug, and mental health services are in place.