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May 5, 2005
County Council Town Hall to Examine Ten-Year
Plan to End Homelessness
Lake Forest Park to Host Meeting on Regional Effort to House
the Homeless
The regional consortium of human service agencies, the faith community,
public and private organizations and government working together
to end homelessness in King County within the next ten years will
come together for the next Metropolitan King County Council
Town Hall on Monday, May 16.
The Lake City Elks, 14540 Bothell Way NE, will
host the Town Hall, starting at 9:30 a.m.
“Everyone admits that encampments like tent city are at best
a temporary solution to this crisis of human need,” said Council
Chair Larry Phillips.
“The individuals and agencies that make up the Committee to
End Homelessness are determined to find permanent answers to the
challenge of homelessness. So much of the work that has been done
so far has been behind the scenes. This Town Hall will allow the
public and the councilmembers to meet with the people whose single
goal is to ensure that everyone in King County has a place they
can call ‘home’.”
The Council on May 2 adopted a plan
sponsored by Councilmember Carolyn
Edmonds to set standards for homeless encampments on private
land.
“The Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness seeks to fundamentally
change our approach to homelessness. Working together, we will ensure
a roof over every bed in King County," said Edmonds, whose
district will host the Town Hall. “Every church, agency, organization
and government participating in the Committee to End Homelessness
is committed to getting people out of the alleys, off of sidewalks
and from under freeway overpasses and under roofs.”
The eight founding members of the Committee
to End Homelessness in King County are King County, the city
of Seattle, United Way of King County,
the Church Council
of Greater Seattle, the Eastside Human Services Alliance, the
North Urban Human Services Alliance, the South King County Council
of Human Services and the Seattle-King
County Coalition for the Homeless. The plan to end homelessness
focuses on prevention, the creation of permanent housing, and providing
the resources needed to keep people from becoming homeless and to
assist those living on the street find homes.
The panel that will brief the public and Councilmembers on the
ten-year plan includes:
• The Very Reverend Robert V. Taylor,
Dean, St. Mark’s Cathedral and Chair, Committee to End Homelessness
in King County
• Jackie MacLean, Director, King County
Department of Community and Human Services and member, Committee
to End Homelessness in King County
• Tom Rasmussen, Chair of the Seattle City
Council’s Housing, Human Services and Health Committee and
member, Committee to End Homelessness in King County
• David Okimoto, Vice President Community
Services, United Way of King County, member, Committee to End
Homelessness in King County
• Michael Ramos, Director of Social Justice
Ministries, Church Council of Greater Seattle
The public is invited to meet face-to-face with councilmembers
at an informal reception at 9:30 a.m. The Town Hall starts at 10:00
a.m.
The Town Hall meeting is part of the Council’s Committee-of-the-Whole,
the only standing committee on which all 13 members serve. It considers
complex legislation and policy issues of interest to the entire
council. The Council seeks to enhance local representation on regional
issues by periodically scheduling Town Hall meetings in various
parts of the county. This year’s Town Halls have been held
at Seattle’s New Holly Housing Complex, in the city of Des
Moines and on the campus of the University of Washington.
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