 On Wednesday I joined Gov. Inslee, as well as Eastside and County leaders to announce a new multi-service crisis response center that will serve people with behavioral health needs across north and northeast King County. Photo: Chris Neir
I was proud to join Governor Inslee and other local leaders for two events on Wednesday celebrating the progress the Eastside is making in meeting two of the biggest crises of our time: behavioral health and homelessness.
In Kirkland, I stood beside Mayor Penny Sweet as she announced a new multi-service crisis response center that will serve people with behavioral health needs across north and northeast King County. Located near Evergreen Hospital in Totem Lake, the crisis response center will provide a spectrum of services, from walk-in mental health urgent care to continued stabilization of mental health and substance use disorders. This multi-service crisis response center will be the first of its kind in King County and fills the desperate need for a safe and therapeutic place for people in crisis to go.
 A rendering of the new Eastgate Men's Shelter. Image: Congregations for the Homeless
Later that afternoon, we toured the Eastgate Housing Campus, which is the culmination of a vision I first advocated for as Mayor of Bellevue in 2014. The original goal was to build the first permanent men’s shelter in East King County and, thanks to the dedicated work from our nonprofit, city, and community partners, the project evolved into an incredible initiative that also provides permanent supportive housing, as well as workforce housing.
The campus contains the 100 bed permanent emergency men’s shelter originally envisioned in 2014, which will be run by Congregations for the Homeless, and will offer the services and stability that men experiencing homelessness need to move into stable housing. Additionally, this campus includes 92 units of permanent supportive housing for people exiting homelessness, with referrals being made by Eastside shelters, along with onsite services, administered by Plymouth Housing. The third building on the property features 353 units of workforce housing, ranging from studios to three bedroom apartments, through partnerships with Inland Group and Horizon Housing.
The men’s shelter is tentatively scheduled to open in April and other campus elements will follow later. When fully opened, the Eastgate Housing Campus will offer homes to hundreds of people in our community and will show that when we come together—government, faith communities, nonprofit and for-profit developers, and the business community—we can achieve more than we thought possible and make East King County a leader in ensuring everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.
Celebrating women who tell our stories
 On Tuesday, I joined my Council colleagues in proclaiming March as Women’s History Month. This year’s theme is celebrating women who tell our stories—the women in media and storytelling who share both their unique, individual experiences and our shared experiences of being a woman in this world. Storytelling creates connections, across age, race, culture, and ability, and those connections have the power to create change, on the individual and cultural level.
One opportunity to connect and hear women’s stories is the annual King County Women’s History Month panel, which will be on Wednesday, March 29 from 11:45 am to 1:15 pm. This virtual event, entitled “Passing the Torch: An Intergenerational Conversation,” can be watched on King County TV.
 As King County continues to grow and the threat of climate change increases, it is imperative that we provide residents more mobility options to connect people to opportunity with great transit. The all-volunteer King County Transit Advisory Commission plays an important role in advising King County Council, County Executive and Metro on transit policy and right now it’s recruiting new members from across the County.
Applications for the King County Transit Advisory Commission are due April 8. Applications from youth, communities of color, people with physical or cognitive disabilities; those with low to no income; people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity; immigrants or refugees and linguistically diverse residents are especially encouraged to apply.
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Sincerely,
 Claudia Balducci
King County Council
District 6
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