Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (Position 8, Citywide), Chair of the Council’s Housing, Health, Energy and Workers’ Rights Committee, and her Council colleagues unanimously passed in an 8-0 vote an ordinance that would give annual inflation adjustments to providers contracted through the Human Services Department, after over a decade of this issue being raised by non-profit providers.
As outlined in Council Bill 119542, the annual inflation adjustment would occur when the Human Services Department renews or renegotiates contracts with its non-profit partners, and is tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) each year.
“To solve our city’s biggest issues, we need a stable investment in our frontline workers – our human service providers – at least one that reflects the cost of inflation each year,” said Councilmember Mosqueda. “This cost of living increase for our service providers won’t solve all the budgetary issues faced by our non-profit partners, but it will help stabilize the foundation of those services – the people who deliver them. Thank you to all the human service providers whose advocacy, guidance, stories, and work helped make today’s legislation possible.”
The City’s Human Services Department relies on dozens of non-profit and community organizations that provide a range of services for Seattle residents, including homeless and housing services, preschool programs, senior care, youth care, food banks, veteran services, and aiding survivors of gender-based violence. Due to inadequate resources, many providers have turnover rates of 50% or higher. Today’s legislation helps provide a small amount of stability to our workforce, non-profits, residents, and City at large.