The King County Citizens’ Advisory Commission on Homeless Encampments will make recommendations on an evaluation of homelessness; policy and procedural guidelines for determining the location of any potential future encampments; and options for locating such encampments on public or private land in King County.

“We are taking a big step today toward sensible public involvement in how to provide temporary housing,” said Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds, prime sponsor of the legislation. “With this citizen commission we now have in place a process by which citizens throughout the region can be heard and policies can be developed in a deliberative, thoughtful manner. We’re asking them to develop over the next eight weeks guidelines to ensure that everyone has a voice and a role in the policies that will place any potential temporary facilities. I look forward to the recommendations they’ll present to this Council.”

“So far this year 10 homeless people without shelter died in King County,” said Larry Phillips, Chair of the King County Council. “Tent cities are not a permanent or ideal answer to homelessness, but for those who seek a safe, secure, and structured place to stay that is run by the residents, they can be a temporary solution for those working to better their situation. The Commission will widen the discussion on how to solve homelessness in King County, and how all of our communities can participate positively in one way or another to address this regional problem.”

”It’s important that citizen representatives will have a strong voice in the final recommendations,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, a sponsor of the legislation creating the Commission. “They help ensure that this will be an open process and that proposals that come from it represent the depth and breadth of King County. Homelessness is a county-wide challenge, it makes sense that every district in the county be represented as we look for ideas on how to solve it.”

The commission will consist of 18 voting members — with one citizen nominated by each Councilmember — and four advisory members, who represent human service agencies that work on homeless and housing issues, law enforcement and public health. The members appointed by the Council are:

• Judy Schnebele—District 1. Schnebele is a private business owner and the past president of the board of LATCH, the Lutheran Alliance to Create Housing. She has been active in the issues of homelessness and affordable housing.

• Sandra Kortum—District 2. Kortum is an Elder at the Lake City Christian Church, which has hosted a tent city three times. She works for the Washington State Department of Transportation.

• Holly Plackett—District 3. Plackett is a former member of the Redmond City Council, where she chaired the council’s Park and Human Services Committee and was a member of the Public Administration and Finance Committee. She is currently a credit analyst with U.S. Bank.

• Bob Santos—District 4. Santos is the former Northwest representative for the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose work focused on developing partnerships to create affordable housing. A longtime citizen activist, Santos established a homeless shelter in Seattle’s Federal Building. He is currently executive director of the Inter*Im Community Development Association in Seattle’s International District.

• Chaplain Al Patterson—District 5. Patterson is the Chaplain for the Tukwila Police Department. He is the former Executive Director of Love in the Name of Christ, a non-profit agency that assists the needy in Southwest King County.

• Susan G. Rynas—District 6. A Licensed Mental Health Counselor and an Eastside resident for the past four years, Rynas’ interest in homeless issues stems from her life experience with a family member.

• Dini Duclos—District 7. Duclos is the Chief Executive Officer of the Multi-Service Center, a private, non-profit organization that serves low-income residents in South King County. Duclos is a member of the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce and a board member of the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle/King County.

• Paul Fischburg—District 8. A founder of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA), Fischburg has served as the agency’s executive director since its inception. The Association has completed more than $12 million in community development projects in the Delridge community since 1999.

• Ron Swicord—District 9. Swicord has been the fundraising chairman for non-profit organizations in his community, raising more than $1 million over the past several years. He is a program manager for a Fortune 100 company supporting a field sales organization of more than 1,200 people throughout the U.S.

• Rev. Harriet Walden—District 10. Walden is an Associate Pastor at Seattle’s Joy Cathedral, where she is leading a social justice ministry that advocates for the homeless. Walden is a founding member of Mothers for Police Accountability and has worked with the Seattle Police Department to develop Crisis Intervention Training for police officers.

• Steven Pyeatt—District 11. Pyeatt is one of the founders of Communities for Fair Process and is a strong advocate for due process in regards to homeless encampments. Pyeatt is a lifelong resident of the region who is involved in web hosting and site development.

• Shane Davies—District 12. Davies is a realtor for Windermere Real Estate, managing their Maple Valley office. Davies has worked with the Windermere Foundation, which assists the homeless and low income families, and is a volunteer with Vine Maple Place, a local housing charity.

• Dr. Robert Thompson—District 13. Dr. Thompson is a physician whose primary area of practice is family medicine. He is affiliated with Valley Medical Center in Renton.

• Rhonda Berry—Representing suburban cities. Berry is the City Administrator for the city of Tukwila, where she supervised creation of the city’s Human Services Division. Berry has served on the Board of Directors of the Southeast Seattle Senior Foundation and Emerald Outreach Ministries.

• Bill Kirlin-Hackett—Representing faith-based community organizations. Kirlin-Hackett is an ordained Lutheran Minister whose home congregation is St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Bellevue. He is the Program Coordinator for the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness and is one of the coordinating leaders of the Religious Leaders Task Force of the King County Alliance for Human Services.

• Tony Lee—Representing community based organizations. Lee is the Advocacy Director of the Fremont Public Association and the Policy Director of the Statewide Poverty Action Network, focusing on low-income issues which include low-income housing.

• Doug Stevenson—Representing King County. Stevenson is the lead staff for the King County Council’s Law, Justice and Human Services Committee and has served as Manager of the county’s Human Services Division. In those roles he worked on development of housing and treatment programs for persons disabled by mental illness, substance abuse or developmental disabilities.

• Alan Painter—Representing the city of Seattle. Painter is Director of the Community Services Division of Seattle’s Human Services Department. He is responsible for coordinating and implementing city policy initiatives to support housing and services on behalf of homeless persons. Painter chaired the Governor’s Advisory Council on Homelessness and co-chaired the Washington State Policy Academy on Homeless Families.

• Bill Hobson—Advisory member representing human service organizations that work on homeless issues. Hobson is executive director of the Downtown Emergency Services Center, a nationally-recognized agency that assists homeless men and women with major mental disorders, addictions and other issues through outreach, clinical services and chemical dependency treatment. He has served on several homeless committees including the Washington State Policy Academy on Chronic Homelessness and the Seattle/King County Coalition for the Homeless.

• Linda Weedman—Advisory member representing human service organizations that work on housing issues. Weedman is the Senior Director for Housing and Related Services for the YWCA of Seattle, King County and Snohomish County. She oversees all YWCA housing, transitional housing, homeless and domestic violence services, located in ten suburban cities and unincorporated King County. Weedman is the former Director of Resident Services for the King County Housing Authority.

• Janna Wilson—Advisory member representing Public Health – Seattle & King County. Wilson is Program Manager of the Health Care for Homeless Network, which organizes health outreach services for the homeless in Seattle and King County. The network provides on-site services and technical assistance at more than 60 homeless agencies which serve 8,000 homeless people a year.

• Capt. Carl Cole—Advisory member representing law enforcement agencies. Cole is a Captain in the King County Sheriff’s Office in Shoreline and is the Operations Commander for the City of Shoreline Police Department.

The commission is scheduled to meet six times – the first on June 21 – and hold at least two public hearings in different parts of the county. The panel is expected to submit a written report back to the King County Council by August 15, 2004. The ordinance forbids the county from identifying county-owned property for locating homeless encampments, or from locating such encampments on county-owned property, prior to September 15, 2004.

Read more about this legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system and searching for
“2004-0278" through "2004-0299”