Title
AN ORDINANCE making a supplemental appropriation of $210,000 from the general fund to the community services operating fund, and $245,000 from the general fund to the facilities management internal services fund to provide additional funds for operating emergency homeless shelter; and amending the 2015/2016 Biennial Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 17941, Sections 42, 43, 86 and 121, as amended.
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BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. Due to the increasing and persistent nature of homelessness in King County and elsewhere in the nation, on November 2, 2015, the King County executive declared a homeless state of emergency. Every day large numbers of individuals and families in our community go unsheltered. At this time our community simply does not have the capacity to meet the need.
B. On January 28, 2016, more than four thousand five hundred five individuals were living outside and another six thousand one hundred eighty-three individuals were in shelters or transitional housing in King County, according to the One Night Count conducted by All Home.
C. All Home adopted a new strategic plan on June 30, 2015. The plan found that emergency shelters are a critical component to our regional homeless crisis response. In 2014, data shows that nine thousand four hundred eighty-two households utilized shelter and transitional housing in King County, and of these, approximately fifty percent were newly homeless. The plan calls for ensuring sufficient shelter capacity, including non-traditional shelter models that provide pathways to housing and interventions for long-term shelter stayers.
D. King County has recognized a need for emergency shelter during the winter months and has provided winter shelter for more than twenty years.
E. Due to increasing prevalence of homelessness, the declaration of a homeless emergency, and the decreased shelter capacity in the city of Seattle, King County added fifty beds of shelter se...
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