Drafter
Clerk 09/10/2019
Title
A MOTION requesting the executive to develop, implement and report on a pilot Homeward Bound program specifically and exclusively to provide bus tickets to the homeless for family reunification purposes.
Body
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") defines homeless as including individuals and families who: (1) are living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements; or (2) have a primary residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a vehicle, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport or camping ground, and
WHEREAS, HUD requires all Continuums of Care, which is"All Home" in Seattle and King County, to conduct a Point-in-Time Count of their unsheltered population on a biennial basis and Seattle and King County is among several communities that conducts an annual count, and
WHEREAS, according to the Point-in-Time Count, a total of 11,199 individuals were experiencing homelessness in Seattle and King County on January 25, 2019, and
WHEREAS, there are a number of jurisdictions in the United States that have extensive Homeward Bound programs, including San Francisco, New York City, West Palm Beach and Portland, and these types of programs invest a range of tens of thousands of dollars to a million dollars to help reunify homeless individuals with their families, and
WHEREAS, in 2018, King County invested approximately $37,000 in family reunification strategies, including transportation costs, and
WHEREAS, in 2016, the San Francisco Examiner reported that from 2005-2016, San Francisco provided nearly 10,000 homeless residents Greyhound bus tickets to cities across the United States under its bus ticket home program, and
WHEREAS, in that same article, one homeless individual praised the bus ticket home program in San Francisco ...

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