 This year marks the 49th anniversary of the Fair Housing
Act, landmark legislation that became law on April 11, 1968. Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) kicked off Fair Housing Month 2017 at its national
headquarters. This year’s theme is Fair
Housing Equals Opportunity, highlighting equality in housing as a
foundation upon which aspirations can be achieved and affirming the Fair
Housing Act’s ongoing role in confronting housing discrimination. Through an
array of enforcement activities, fair housing policy initiatives, and education
and outreach efforts, HUD’s Office of
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity continues to take action against
individuals and housing providers that discriminate. Last year, HUD and its
Fair Housing Assistance Program partner agencies received more than 8,000
complaints alleging discrimination based on one or more of the Fair Housing
Act’s seven protected classes: race, color, national origin, religion, sex,
familial status, and disability.
Throughout the month, HUD and its state and local fair
housing partners will organize local fair housing month celebrations, seminars,
and public education events that promote the ideals of fair housing. Locally,
the King County Office of Civil Rights
offers Fair Housing Workshops for Housing Providers. The
2017 training schedule can be found here.
The King County Housing Authority (KCHA) is issuing a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) to award up to 36 Project Based Veterans Administration Supportive Housing (PBV-VASH) vouchers in a new construction and/or existing housing site. Please visit the King County Housing Authority website at http://www.kcha.org/business/professional/open/ or send an email to kerriep@kcha.org to obtain a RFP package. There will be no cost for requesting a package.
Any questions or requests for further information must be directed to Kerrie Philpott in writing, through email at kerriep@kcha.org no later than Monday, April 10 at 4:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.
Sealed proposals, in accordance with conditions defined in the RFP, must be received via USPS certified mail, overnight delivery services (UPS, Fed Ex, etc.) or hand delivered to the KCHA office no later than 4:00 PM PST on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at 600 Andover Park West, Tukwila, WA 98188. All submissions will be date stamped upon receipt. No submittals will be accepted after this time. Faxed or emailed submittals will not be accepted. Any proposals received after April 18, 2017 at 4:00 PM shall remain unopened and returned to the applicant. Section 3, and/or women and minority-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to submit a proposal.
On Monday, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive
Dow Constantine announced
a new regional effort to help people experiencing homelessness receive
services and access to a permanent home. Along with city leaders, service
providers and All Home, Mayor Murray and Executive Constantine will convene a
joint task force to assess needs and resources, and propose a strategy that
will get people living unsheltered into permanent homes, keep people in their
homes and out of homelessness, and coordinate responses to root causes such as
behavioral and mental health and substance use disorders. The scope of the
effort reflects the reality that homelessness is a regional crisis, and
presents an opportunity for a robust, coordinated response.
The effort would be funded by a 0.1 percent sales tax increase
that would go to King County voters in 2018. Seattle, King County and other
jurisdictions have been working together closely to address this regional
crisis, creating a more coordinated system that focuses on the individual needs
of people living outside and that uses a data-driven approach to ensure
programs are accomplishing the goal of getting more people into permanent
housing. This region-wide, $68 million per year funding package would replace
the previously-proposed, Seattle-only property tax levy.
What Works Cities, launched by Bloomberg
Philanthropies in April 2015, is one of the largest-ever philanthropic efforts
to enhance cities’ use of data and evidence. Through the initiative, which is
providing technical assistance to 100 cities on a rolling basis through 2018,
cities around the country are receiving support, guidance and resources to
succeed. In 2016, What Works Cities was named by Forbes as “one of the ten most
promising philanthropic bets” of the year and by Engaging Local Government
Leaders as the “most important company operating in the local government
arena.”
The City of Seattle teamed up with What Works Cities'
partner, the Government Performance Lab (GPL) at the Harvard Kennedy School, to
strengthen how they approaching the work of addressing homelessness. By piloting a new
contracting model that built a partnership between city officials and providers
of homeless services, Seattle is seeing promising results of greater numbers of
people experiencing homelessness being moved into permanent housing. A video
showing the City of Seattle’s work to tackle homelessness was featured as
part of a national convening in New York City with What Works Cities.
Drawn from more than a dozen interviews and site visits with
rapid re-housing providers from across the country, a
new report from Heartland Alliance’s National Initiatives on Poverty &
Economic Opportunity shines a spotlight on why robust employment, training, and related supportive services are key
to the success of rapid re-housing participants. The report offers
program-level recommendations for enhancing the design and delivery of rapid
re-housing with employment supports and puts forward bold policy ideas for
helping to ensure that the rapid re-housing model can provide pathways to
employment and economic opportunity for all families experiencing or at-risk of
homelessness.
The All Home Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) meetings have
shifted from the third Wednesday of each month to the last Wednesday of each
month. The next meeting of the CAC will be on April 26 from 6-7:30pm at
Plymouth Congregational Church. For those unable to attend meetings in person,
we invite you to share comments through
our website under the “provide feedback” tab.
All meeting dates, times and locations
as well as other related materials are available on the All Home website. All
Home Continuum of Care meetings are open to the public and attendance is
encouraged.
Student Government of Seattle University (SGSU) is hosting a Youth
Homelessness presentation and discussion on Tuesday, April 11 from 6-8pm in
Pigott Auditorium. Speakers will include Annie Blackledge from The Mockingbird
Society; Dimitri Groce from the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance; Katie
Hong from the Raikes Foundation; George Scarola, the Director of Homelessness
for the City of Seattle; and Jodi Waits from YouthCare. During the first hour,
the speakers will discuss their perspectives on youth homelessness and what
they have been doing to help solve the issue. During the second hour, attendees
can discuss what they heard in small groups and ask the speakers questions.
Community members are encouraged to attend. Light snacks will be provided to
the first 100 attendees. For more information, contact Peter Hoang at hoangp2@seattleu.edu
or sgsufreshmanrep@seattleu.edu.
All Home is committed to support system transformation
efforts through relevant capacity building activities. The full Capacity
Building Plan can be found on our website, here
and all learning opportunities can be found on our calendar, here. If you are
offering a training and want to get the word out or have a specific training
need or recommendation for All Home, please contact Triina Van.
Partner Trainings
Equal Access and
Gender Identity Rules Training Webinar
The webinar recording is now available on the HUD Exchange
along with the presentation slides, speaker notes, and transcript. You can
access the materials under Related Materials and
Resources.
2017 Fair Housing Workshops for Housing
Providers: King County Office of Civil Rights
http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/civil-rights/fair-housing/providers-workshops.aspx
Bitfocus Clarity General Trainings
Register for specific dates and times at: http://kingcounty.hmis.cc/training/schedule-a-training/
Cross Agency Systems Training (CAST) for
Adults and Child/Youth Services: King County Behavioral Health Recovery
Division
Learn whom each system serves, goals of each program,
services available to consumers, and how to access these services.
Systems represented include: Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Crisis Services,
Child Welfare, Parent Supports, Juvenile Justice, Mental Health Courts, and
more. Register
here.
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Compass Housing Alliance
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