It’s a full day today starting with my attendance at Councilmember Conlin’s PLUS (Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability) Committee and then in the afternoon chairing my HHSHC (Housing, Human Services, Health, and Culture Committee) meeting.
I’ll be at PLUS to talk about my proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment to “Support and guide the operation of safe and healthy transitional encampments to temporarily address homelessness in the City.” This amendment is supported by the Department of Planning and Development and has been included in their proposed Comp Plan legislation.
Encampments should never be considered a long-term solution to homelessness and the City will continue to pursue real, lasting and permanent solutions to homelessness. But, on any given night when the City’s approximately 3,500 shelter beds are full, about another 1,700 people are sleeping outside or in cars. As long as there is not a legal right to housing, providing unsheltered individuals access to a safe alternative is humane and important. To learn more about my efforts on the issue of homelessness, see here. To learn more about the Comp Plan process, check in at this page.
Later this afternoon at 2pm, my HHSHC (Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture) Committee will get a report from the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) about the work they are doing to implement Seattle’s new Paid Sick and Safe Leave (PSSL) Ordinance. This ordinance – one that I sponsored last year – will go into effect this year on September 1. I look forward to a SOCR report that the City is on track for an effective launch with their development of Administrative Rules and an educational campaign. The first of several community forums was hosted last night by SOCR to get implementation questions and suggestions on the table. To find out more, see SOCR’s PSSL webpage.