Echohawk Emergency Housing Action Plan

22 actions in 14 months to bring everyone inside

From the moment the election results are in, I will immediately enact my plan to move thousands of Seattleites from the streets and into emergency housing. Ending homelessness is my top priority as Mayor. 

It is unacceptable that we live in a city filled with billionaires, and yet see grandmothers, aunties, brothers, cousins, and nephews living on the street. Prior to 1492, homelessness did not exist in the United States. I have dedicated my life to ending Native homelessness and at Chief Seattle Club we’ve moved 681 homeless relatives into permanent housing since 2018. I  use the word “relatives” when referring to clients because I view them as extended family. I will leverage all of my experience, resources, and partnerships to swiftly move to functional zero homelessness. I know this is possible because at Eagle Village, Chief Seattle Club’s shelter targeting chronically homeless relatives, 53 residents have exited and none of them have returned to homelessness.

Seattle declared a state of emergency on homelessnes 6 years ago, yet the most recent count of Seattle’s unhoused population indicated that were living in shelters, tents, and vehicles. Of these individuals, individuals were experiencing chronic homelessness, meaning that they have been unhoused for over a year while at the same time suffering from mental illness, substance use disorder, disability, and underlying health issues. Black, Indigenous, People of Color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ community members are disproportionately impacted by homelessness, resulting from decades of discriminatory housing, criminal justice, education, and eviction policies. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased these figures by an estimated 10-15%, as job loss, limited services, rising rental costs, and overwhelmed healthcare systems have exposed a reality that City leaders should have started addressing years ago.

Time and time again, elected officials say they will work to solve this crisis while they continue to perpetuate the very policies that put our unhoused neighbors in this position in the first place. We have to be honest and recognize that homelessness is the direct result of poor and racist policy choices: lack of affordable housing, commodification of public spaces, inequitable transportation routes, poor social services, and decline of local businesses. I want to emphasize that in order to end homelessness, we must produce more permanent affordable housing. 

Below is my plan to immediately move our homeless relatives inside by creating short-term emergency solutions. This plan is coupled with a separate plan to aggressively increase affordable housing. In order to be successful, I will utilize the leadership of folx with lived experience. Through their expertise, we can ground solutions in the truths of those most impacted, rather than through vague and unaccountable political promises. We can only end homelessness by using a regional approach, and I will work closely with the Regional Homelessness Authority. Here is my 3 part plan that will be implemented immediately:

Election Result to Inauguration

Office of Emergency Housing

Most plans only nibble around the edges of homelessnes, prolonging the traumatic experience of people living unsheltered and causing our neighbors to lose hope about what we can accomplish together. This will not happen with an Echohawk Administration. I will appoint a Mayoral designee to the Emergency Operations Center. I will also appoint a Deputy Mayor to focus exclusively on homelessness. This person will report directly to me, with a team of six co-directors to coordinate emergency response. This team will work with the City Attorney to prepare the legislation necessary to put our plan in action on day 1. These roles will include full-time employees that will carry out their responsibilities utilizing the City’s Racial Equity Toolkit in partnership with the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) team. They will coordinate each of the following:

• Financials

• Data / outcome analysis

• Hotel and property acquisition

• Logistics and purchasing

• On-site supportive services

• External relations

100 Outreach Workers with Lived Experience

People with lived experience of homelessness can establish relationships, build trust, and form authentic connections with the homeless community. At Chief Seattle Club, 40% of our staff are homeless/formerly homeless and their lived experience is invaluable towards our success in reducing homelessness. 

An Echohawk Administration will contract with the Regional Homelessness Authority to set up a coordinated team of 100 outreach workers, led by people with lived experience, to directly work with those experiencing homelessness. There will be a comprehensive training program so we can ensure that outreach workers do not just establish relationships with vulnerable populations, but that they understand their needs and can make connections to culturally appropriate resources. This program will be low barrier, covering diversion strategies and power dynamics within the system so that we meet folx where they are at and not threaten them with sweeps. Emergency response should never be gatekept to a select few organizations and methodologies. Outreach is successful when people experiencing homelessness are treated with dignity and are connected to real solutions, so contracting with organizations like REACH and hiring people with lived experience will guarantee the most appropriate response and positive results. One of the first goals for the outreach workers will be to create a real time comprehensive By Name list of individuals living unsheltered. 

Volunteer Corps

Seattleites are incredibly generous, and I often speak to people who want to help but don’t know how to contribute their time or resources. I will value people’s talents and those with lived experiences in facilitating true mutual aid. Everyone will be brought together to lend support and end the homelessness crisis. This starts during my transition by making a citywide call for volunteers, recruiting and attracting a variety of needed skills. 

Capital Campaign

We must harness the collective wisdom of neighborhoods, non-profits, government, and tribes to end homelessness. The business community will also be a critical stakeholder in our work. However, we must recognize that not all voices are weighed equally and that some benefit from maintaining the status quo through this. By bringing these groups to the table with an emphasis on lived experience and equity from the very beginning, we can find innovative ways to better implement critical services and utilize available City spaces with them as direct partners. 

There are about 4,000 residents who have been living in unsheltered public spaces. I have estimated that it will cost about $50,000 per person every year for 70% of this population and $25,000 per person every year for the other 30% needing less intensive support. This amounts to an estimated $170 million. If we budget this figure, while also investing City resources in permanent solutions, then my timeline will be achieved. We can finance this through expanding JustCare, using FEMA funding, allocating General Fund dollars, and partnering with businesses for mutually beneficial results. Other funding sources to identify are funder collaboratives and local philanthropy, as they are more able to fund flexible options. We must leverage every available funding source. Depending on the success of the capital campaign, I am determined to pursue other revenue measures such as a capital gains tax. We must refuse to leave any dollars on the table. 

First 30 Days

Emergency Operations Center

Moments after I am sworn in, I will temporarily activate Seattle’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This center will help accelerate outreach worker assistance with the creation of the comprehensive by-name list. My designee will step into the role of running the Emergency Operations Center on homelessness, bringing City departments together to permanently solve this crisis. On day one, all agency heads will work on this problem. Each department will be required to analyze what they are currently doing around this issue and report this information out. They will then be asked to make a commitment to evidence-based solutions, with the understanding that they have an immense responsibility to the public and the cultural needs of the community. Rather than reinforce previously failed top down command structures, the EOC will take a collaborative approach across City departments. 

Expanding Emergency Housing Options

Another winter with our neighbors remaining out in the cold is unacceptable. This is why we need to expedite innovative housing options so that housing can be built in my first month. Please note these are my emergency housing plans, and will simultaneously expand permanent affordable housing aggressively. These developments include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Tiny homes that can be assembled in minutes, not months. There are temporary emergency housing options we can immediately deploy until we can produce more permanent affordable housing.

• Modular housing to rapidly assemble prefabricated units cost effectively. Chief Seattle Club is partnering with a private developer on a sustainably-designed prefabricated panel project for 125 units of affordable housing. The project timeline is condensed to 1.5 years from concept to completion, compared to most affordable housing projects which take 3-5 years.

• Accessory dwelling units to place independent units on existing properties.

• Retrofitting hotels () into temporary shelters, making better use of the space.

• Utilizing vacant parcels of land and parking lots for housing development.

• Safe Lots for RVs with on-site utilities (restrooms, running water, garbage pick-up). I will issue an Executive Order to stop the removal of RVs and find spaces with access to food, case management, and services.

• Spare rooms - We need to think outside the box and support homeowners that have extra bedrooms. This may work well by targeting certain populations like veterans or youth. Tax incentives don’t require construction, particularly when the space already exists.

Expanding Access to Support Services

We must provide around-the-clock access to facilities that provide basic needs and supportive services to our homeless relatives. Services should be tailored to the needs of each individual, rather than being dictated by funding or program design.

We need to significantly expand on-demand mental health and substance abuse treatment. If someone is ready for treatment and wants suboxone to wean off opioids, they should be able to immediately access treatment. If someone is in crisis and needs to speak to a clinician, they should be able to connect to mental health services. Currently, people need to wait days to weeks to access behavioral health and addiction services. As Mayor, I will work closely with regional partners to ensure people get services when they need them. This will not be simple, but it is achievable. Our region is in the midst of a 5-year Medicaid transformation project to improve care for the whole person, reduce barriers to care, and use resources more wisely. An Echohawk Administration will empower community organizations and provide them with much-needed resources and not dictate program design. Chief Seattle Club works closely with community-based partners like Seattle Indian Health Board and the Cowlitz Tribe for live-saving mental health and substance abuse treatment. Due to the currently fractured system, I’ve utilized philanthropic dollars to supplement government funding and know that we can do better.

It is deplorable that after 14 months of the pandemic, our homeless relatives still don’t have sufficient access to sanitation and hygiene facilities. All emergency housing options must have access to clean water and restrooms. 

Coordinated Entry Prioritization and By Name List

Seattle/King County uses a Coordinated Entry system, meaning there is a coordinated approach amongst hundreds of providers to place the most vulnerable homeless households into our limited shelter beds and housing units. The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many valuable lessons. We have seen success with vulnerability prioritization capturing the overrepresentation of Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian community members experiencing homelessness, as well as the elderly and those with disabilities. 

We must expand our By Name List. Currently, we have a limited By Name List for the most vulnerable homeless households with tailored care plans on mental health, substance use, employment, etc. In order to end homelessness, I will work with the Regional Homelessness Authority to develop a real-time By Name List for every single homeless person in Seattle.

30 Days & Beyond

Performance Audit for Results

I will positively engage the public every step of the way, allowing them to track our progress. All dashboards will include demographic data by race to ensure we are meeting racial equity benchmarks. A transparency dashboard will be updated monthly, documenting how many:

• Outreach workers we have in the field

• People have moved into temporary housing

• People have moved into permanent housing

• People were connected to housing/services

• Temporary housing units we have secured

We also ask our providers to spend too much time getting ready for audits, making sure that everything is in the right place. Instead of doing this, we need to make it easier for them to actually provide their services. I do recognize that the public wants to understand where these dollars are actually going, so one of the best ways to make providers accountable will be regularly producing publicly available reports that document what they are doing with the money being invested in homelessness. We can both streamline and provide clear measures of accountability in provider contracts so that services can be offered rather quickly to address the immediate need, but be done so in a manner where providers know what they should be producing. This will also help the general public understand what the cost of different services and interventions are, as well as their effectiveness in ending homelessness. I will also talk with providers early on so that on day one of an Echohawk Administration, they can get to work housing our neighbors. We need to work and listen to providers because they are part of the solution.

Surplus City property will also be audited, so that we can identify parking lots, Office of Housing properties, and green spaces that could be used for both emergency rehousing and permanent housing. I will also encourage King County and the Port of Seattle to conduct similar audits through cross governmental surveys, as we must work together on solutions that prioritize permanent housing for the regional crisis of homelessness.

Community Engagement & Intergovernmental Collaboration

We have to bridge the gap between the Office of Housing, King County, service providers, and the new King County Regional Homelessness Authority. A member of the Mayor’s Office will be assigned to review and obtain a gap analysis on the Interlocal Agreement between the City and County on homelessness, indicating areas that can be strengthened and improved upon. I will work with neighboring tribes to explore leveraging their resources as well. I will also work with Mayors in cities across the County to take a truly regional approach, understanding that solving this crisis will require us to build a comprehensive and collaborative network with one another. Together we can leverage resources, share information, learn best practices, and create economies of scale to ensure efficient service delivery.

Guaranteed Income

I believe that once we end homelessness, we can then begin to explore a full scale guaranteed income program. Seattle is a participating city in , which is a network of Mayors advocating for a guaranteed income. However, in the meantime, I am interested in using philanthropic dollars to fund a pilot program where our unhoused relatives receive direct payments to assist with housing, food, and other related expenses.