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AN ORDINANCE adopting a ten-year plan to end homelessness in King County, designating the Committee to End Homelessness as the local homeless and housing task force pursuant to state law and the body to coordinate and oversee implementation of the ten-year plan, accepting an initial county action plan in support of the ten-year plan and committing county health, human services and law and justice programs to work with each other and the Committee to End Homelessness to achieve the ten-year plan goals.
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BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings.
A. Homelessness is recognized as a growing problem in King County and other places in the nation. Our regional one-night count of homeless persons estimates that approximately eight thousand three hundred King County residents experience homelessness on any given night. Estimates suggest that over twenty-four thousand King County residents will experience at least one episode of homelessness during the upcoming year.
B. King County finds it unacceptable that such a high number of our citizens cannot find safe, decent, affordable and non-time-limited housing.
C. Seattle/King county has been relatively successful as a metropolitan area in developing housing and service programs but is still experiencing growth in homelessness while some other areas have shown success in reducing homelessness . A comparison of the one night count between 2001 and 2004 indicates there has been a thirteen percent overall increase in the number of homeless persons living on the streets or in shelters in King County.
D. Further analysis of the one night count information indicates that the current increase in homelessness is primarily related to increases among the subpopulations of people who have been homeless for more than two years and single males. Homelessness has decreased for people who have been homeless less than six months and has not increased among youth and families with children.
E. The Committee to End Homelessness, a community committee formed by representatives of King County, the city of Seattle and other cities, foundations, the faith community, the business community, nonprofit organizations and homeless individuals, has completed a plan that seeks to end homelessness, not simply manage homelessness, by working together to improve the use of existing housing and service resources as well as generating necessary additional resources. The plan developed by the Committee to End Homelessness, entitled A Roof Over Every Bed in King County: Our Communty's Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, a copy of which is Attachment A to this ordinance, calls for the county and other jurisdictions in the region to formally endorse the plan and agree to help implement the plan in a continued partnership under a reconstituted Committee to End Homelessness with a formalized governing structure including a policy and oversight group, which is the governing board, an implementation group, which is the interagency council and which is supported by working committees, and a consumer advisory council, the charter for which is Attachment B to this ordinance.
F. Motion 12115 directed the executive to submit the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness to the council for review and approval along with a related county action plan.
G. King County was selected by the Committee to End Homelessness as the entity to facilitate joint implementation of the plan with financial and in-kind staff contributions from the city of Seattle and United Way of King County for a two year start up period.
H. King County has established and filled two positions to support the plan governance and implementation process and has appointed the governance board and interagency committee with the advice of the original Committee to End Homelessness members as called for in the plan.
I. King County has key regional service system responsibilities for mental illness, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, HIV/AIDS and other acute and chronic health conditions, conditions that place people most at risk for homelessness, particularly repeated or long-term homelessness.
J. Federal and state governmental entities have also issued requirements that local planning areas create ten-year plans to end homelessness in their communities, including the passage of Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005 (Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 2163) the Homelessness Housing and Assistance Act.
K. Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005 provides a new source of funding for services and housing programs implemented as part of a homeless housing plan adopted for a county or other local area and developed with the advice of a local homeless housing task force with volunteer members including at a minimum representatives of county and city government and homeless or formerly homeless individuals. Sections 8, of Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005 requires that homeless housing plans be approved by the appropriate local legislative body by December 31, 2005. King County estimates that the recording fee will generate approximately three million dollars per year for the region to spend on a wide range of services and housing designed to prevent and reduce homelessness.
L. King County government plans to continue to be a key participant of the regional Committee to End Homelessness, through participation of council and executive representatives in the Committee to End Homelessness governing structure, by providing staff support to, and coordinating county managed resources with, Committee to End Homelessness initiatives and by funding the committee to end homelessness positions and project in partnership with the city of Seattle and United Way.
M. It is the desire of the Committee to End Homeless and King County to meet all requirements necessary to use the newly authorized recording fee revenue to help implement the regional plan to end homelessness
SECTION 2. A. A Roof Over Every Bed in King County: Our Community's Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, a copy of which is Attachment A to this ordinance, is adopted as the King County homeless housing plan pursuant to Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005 and endorsed as the guide by which the county and other members of the Committee to End Homelessness will work to reduce and eliminate homelessness over the next ten years.
B. The Committee to End Homelessness is designated as the local homeless housing task force pursuant to Sections 3(9) and 8 of Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005 and is recognized as the body to coordinate and oversee implementation of the ten-year plan by the county and the other members of Committee to End Homelessness.
C. As the joint body overseeing implementation of the ten-year plan, the Committee to End Homelessness is charged with responsibilities for:
1. Recommending policies, priorities and procedures for the allocation of new revenues available pursuant to Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005 and appropriated and contracted by the county;
2. Recommending realignment of existing resources, development of new resources and changes in policies and regulations necessary to achieving the goals of the ten-year plan to funders, providers and the broader community; and
3. Developing and overseeing action planning, evaluation and progress reporting processes.
D. The Committee to End Homelessness, in conjunction with the department of community and human services shall submit a report to the council by December 31, 2005, describing the policies, priorities and procedures for allocating fund available under Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005, the action planning and evaluation processes the committee will be using and the content and schedule for an annual progress report, based on review of key performance measures, to the community, member organizations represented on the Committee to End Homelessness and the state pursuant to requirements of Chapter 484, Laws of Washington 2005. The report due December 31, 2005, shall be filed with the clerk of the council, who shall distribute copies of the report to all councilmembers.
E. King County's Response to the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness in King County, a copy of which is Attachment C to this ordinance , is accepted as an initial county action plan in support of the region's ten-year plan to end homelessness.
F. As its major contribution to the effort to end homelessness in the region, King County commits to bring its substance abuse, mental health, developmental disabilities, HIV/AIDS, health care for the homeless and other health safety-net services, community services, housing, veterans services, community corrections and other law and justice services together to work with each other and the Committee to End Homelessness to create more effective housing and service partnerships with the goal of reversing the growth trends in homelessness for persons with disabling conditions along with continuing to reduce unnecessary, expensive and ineffective involvement in the law and justice and emergency medical systems.
G. To achieve the goals of reducing homelessness and criminal justice involvement among persons with disabling conditions, county programs are directed to work together with each other and their community partners to create a system that is client-centered rather than program-centered and that:
1. Recognizes the unique and often multiple needs of each individual and, therefore, coordinates and integrates individual assessment, case planning and service delivery to the maximum extent possible;
2. Strives to prevent homelessness and criminal justice involvement for all persons in care and reaches out to persons in need but not in care, including those on the streets, in shelters and in the criminal justice system or leaving state and local institutions;
3. Strives to move those who are homeless into permanent housing as quickly as possible; and
4. Promotes maximum possible recovery and self-sufficiency.
H. The department of community and human services shall provide the council with the Committee to End Homelessness's annual report.