Our Mission to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need so we can all live, learn, work, and take part in strong, healthy communities continued to hold a greater sense of urgency in 2021. Over this past year, the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) continued to be… [ Keep reading ]
The City of Seattle announces the release of the Final Draft 2022 Annual Action Plan (AAP) to the 2018-2022 Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development. The Draft 2022 AAP includes guidance for the allocation of an estimated $17.8 million of federal grant and program revenue funds [$9,607,578 in Community… [ Keep reading ]
The City of Seattle announces the release of the Final Draft 2021 Annual Action Plan (AAP) to the 2018-2022 Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development. The Draft 2021 AAP includes guidance for the allocation of an estimated $18.6 million of federal grant and program revenue funds [$9,395,488 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, $3,371,865 million in HOME program funds, $817,674 in Emergency Shelter Grant Program (ESG) funds and $3,150,304 million in Housing Opportunity for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) funds plus approximately $1.9m of program revenue] from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The City of Seattle is proposing revisions to the 2019 and 2020 Annual Action Plans to the 2018-2022 Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development. The Consolidated Plan outlines strategies to address the housing, homeless, community and economic needs of the City’s low and moderate-income residents and neighborhoods over five years.
As 2020 comes to a close, I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and as well as one can be in what has surely been one of the more challenging years we have faced as a department. Back in January, we already knew that “change” would be a theme this year. One of the city’s top priorities for the year was to help stand-up and launch the new King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA). For HSD, this included transitioning our Homeless Strategy and Investment division staff and contracts to a co-location space with their County peers, followed by CEO on-boarding and development of a staffing plan. While that work has been underway all year, little did we know at the start of 2020 that a global pandemic like nothing seen in at least a century was already underway. Not only did that slow the progress of this work, it lead to most employees shifting to work from home, being reassigned, and changing work plans. Plus significant impacts to our economy and unimaginable changes to how each of us conduct our daily lives. With homelessness response transitioning to the KCRHA, our department planned to spend much of the year redefining how it exists within the human services space. HSD planned to work with staff, service providers, and clients to co-create a roadmap for the future. This work launched in February – during Black History Month – with an understanding that race and social justice should underpin everything that we were going to talk about. The public health crisis forced us to pause that work almost immediately. Little did we know the paradigm shift coming in the summer as the support for Black Lives Matter took on new meaning for our general society and millions more people “awoke” to the understanding that it’s time to rethink how we spend our tax dollars and how our governments respond to the needs of the community. HSD staff and our community partners have been a part of the front-line response to COVID-19, pivoting programs and rising to the many challenges to help those most in need. I am deeply proud of the work we have accomplished together during this crisis. Our mission “to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need so we can all live, learn, work, and take part in strong, healthy communities” took on a much greater sense of urgency in 2020, even as we managed our ongoing work.
The year has kept the Seattle Human Services Department busy, presenting many challenges, opportunities, and reasons to celebrate! As we enter 2020, lets take a moment and look at 19 highlights from ‘19 that demonstrate the incredible work our teams have accomplished together – and with your partnership – over the last year:
