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Dear Neighbor,
Happy Syttende Mai! I am incredibly excited to be participating in the first post pandemic Syttende Mai celebrations. We are lucky enough to host the largest celebration in the world outside of Norway and the parade starts right at 6:00 pm. This is “National Day” in Norway because it is celebrating the writing of the National Constitution, and is why today is “Constitution Day” not Independence Day.
Over the last four months, I’ve been giving you updates on the homeless encampment draw down at Woodland Park. As many of you know, at Woodland Park we applied the same human-centered model that was successful at Ballard Commons. This resulted in the highest number of people moving into shelter or housing from any encampment removal in the city to date with 85 people moving inside since January and 49 in the last week of Phase III. Below you will find more in-depth information about Woodland Park.
In this email, you’ll also find instructions on how to apply to the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board, a D6 office hours update, enrollment information for the Seattle Maritime Academy, and an update about how you can make your voice heard by the City in the development of the One Seattle Plan.
As always, if you have questions about anything in this newsletter and are a D6 resident, you can request to meet with me during office hours. Sign up here to request a meeting during my district office hours.
-- Dan
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Our phased homelessness outreach plan at Woodland Park ended last week, and over the four months of intensive outreach we moved 85 people out of the park and into shelter, transitional or permanent supportive housing. This is the largest number of people connected with shelter and services through the process of an encampment removal in city history.
In January we created a By Name List, in February we finished the needs assessment, and began moving people inside and out of Woodland Park. This encampment removal’s timeline was dictated by shelter throughput, as we did not have shelter expansion during this time. This extended the amount of time it took as compared to if we had shelter expansion occur during the phased response. During this time, more people moved into the park who were not on our original census, also known as the By Name List.
In the last two weeks before the end of Phase III, we surged our efforts to account for everyone living in the park. In the last week we referred 49 people inside, including 27 people on the last day of Phase III. These 49 people, coupled with the 31 people we moved inside via shelter throughput, totals 85 people since January who have been connected with shelter or housing along with the services that meet their needs.
This experience reinforced lessons we knew going in – this work’s success is dependent on adequate shelter availability.
The pandemic ended our use of basic congregate shelter which is an important and positive step. Now our base shelter option is 24/7 enhanced shelter where you can have a pet, space to leave your possessions, and you can be with your partner. This is a better model than what we have relied on previously. Additionally, we know people most desire a personal space – a shelter or housing option that has four walls and a door the person can lock.
Candidly, our city does not have the shelter capacity we need – and we are doing more now than ever before. Our shelter throughput is dependent on the housing resources we fund from permanent supportive housing to very low-income housing.
Last year was the first year we met our target of $200 million per year invested in housing. That was due to the JumpStart Seattle tax, Mandatory Housing Affordability program, Seattle’s Housing Levy, and Federal Covid relief funding. We cannot lose sight of funding our housing needs - and we need to scale up our shelter capacity while permanent housing is built.
I am confident the phased approach model we used at Woodland Park and Ballard Commons, which gives professional outreach workers the time to build relationships and assess individual needs, also contributed to this large number of people accepting shelter and housing. I believe this model will stand the test of time and be used as a model for getting people inside across the city.
Mayor Harrell’s office and I worked collaboratively with agencies and with neighbors for months to reach a positive resolution. This collaboration allowed for a unified team of governmental and non-governmental agencies to focus on getting people inside and return the park to its designed use.
We would not have been able to shelter and house 85 people without the partnership with Evergreen Treatment Services – REACH, the Phinney Neighborhood Association, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, and Mayor Harrell’s Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington’s leadership.
I want to thank all the outreach workers, Clean Cities team, Human Services Department, and Seattle Parks and Rec for their efforts in the park. It is difficult, challenging, often thankless work that goes unnoticed by many so I want to give them the public recognition they deserve. Because after four months of intensive outreach, an unprecedented 85 individuals living in tents and RVs in Woodland Park were successfully referred to available as well as services. Thanks to trained, professional outreach workers from the city’s HOPE Team and REACH, these referrals helped people secure safer and more stable living conditions.
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Some of the people who moved inside from Woodland Park moved into Tiny Homes, and five of these folks moved to the recently opened Southend Tiny Home Village. In March, I joined former CM Sally Bagshaw in building Tiny Homes and it was heartening to know that the Tiny Home I helped build is now at the Southend Tiny Home Village.
If you’re interested in volunteering to build tiny homes, you can sign up at https://www.soundfoundationsnw.org. It’s easy to do and you don’t need any construction experience. They have an assembly line set up so that anyone who would like to can join. Once a home is finished, it is sent to our staging area where we store it until the rest of the houses are built and ready to be moved to a new Tiny Home village.
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Join the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board
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It was just announced that Mayor Bruce Harrell is searching for two new members to serve on the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board in the Architect and Community Historian positions. The Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board is responsible for making recommendations to the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods regarding changes in landscaping, storefront designs, signage and more.
If you’re interested, you can apply by emailing a cover letter and resume to minhchau.le@seattle.gov. (reference the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board position in the subject line). Be sure to get your applications in ASAP, they are due by May 30th, 2022!
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Hipp Hipp Hurra! The Syttende Mai Celebration and Parade are back. Today is the day to come to Ballard to enjoy a full day of events, with the parade concluding the day’s festivities. For a full schedule of events, check out the event’s official website.
This is one of my favorite community events of the year, so I hope to see you all there!
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I love working out of my District Office, located at the Ballard Service Center in the heart of Ballard! It gives me the opportunity to connect with D6ers and hear their stories every day. If you’re a D6 resident and you’d like to meet with me for Office Hours, you can sign up here: Request a Meeting in District 6 - Council | seattle.gov.
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Maritime Academy Enrollment Open
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If you’re looking for a career that pays well, provides decent benefits, and has long-term job security, then you should look into enrolling at the Seattle Maritime Academy, a division of Seattle Central College.
Located by the Ballard Bridge, the Academy offers two US Coast Guard-approved certificate programs that prepare you in less than one year for a career at sea in commercial and passenger transportation, commercial fishing, deep-sea sailing, and the workboat industry. 95% of graduates find immediate work in the maritime industry, check out their website for more information: Home | Maritime Programs (seattlecentral.edu)
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One Seattle Engagement Hub
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An important update that we discussed in Land Use Committee last week, is that the Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) is launching the One Seattle Plan Engagement Hub as part of the City’s engagement process for the major comprehensive plan update, known as the One Seattle Plan.
The engagement hub was designed to increase access to online information and to boost public engagement. The One Seattle plan will guide the future of housing, jobs, and community investments, so it is important that everyone’s voice is heard! The One Seattle plan will be voted on by City Council in 2024.
You can learn more here: Public participation platform of Seattle Office of Planning & Community Development | CitizenLab (oneseattleplan.com)
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Every week I meet with D6 residents to hear about issues affecting you daily. I love talking directly to D6ers. It is often the best part of my week. If you would like to meet with me, please use this form to set up a time. I meet with residents during the day and evening too. I look forward to speaking with you soon!
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Subscribe to My Newsletter
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If this email was forwarded to you by a friend, I encourage you to sign-up for my newsletter! I send out a regular newsletter about the happenings in our district, updates from City Hall, and progress reports on the work we are doing to make life better for all of us in Seattle.
To stay up to date, sign up for my newsletter here!
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Every Monday morning, I update the City Council on issues in District 6 and the work my office is doing that week. These updates are a helpful way to follow along with our work. I also post these videos weekly on my website and social media. You can view the latest updates and past videos on my website here.
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If you need assistance, please reach out to my office:
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