Council President M. Lorena González (Position 9, Citywide) issued the following statement after meeting with FEMA administrators on potential reimbursement of standing up essential shelter services during COVID-19 pandemic:

“I will not accept any more excuses. We must do everything in our power, and use every available tool, to address the dual emergencies of COVID-19 and homelessness in Seattle. This morning, I met with FEMA administrators to get to the bottom of the recent public debate about whether the City of Seattle is eligible to pursue federal reimbursement for physically-distant, non-congregate shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness and who are at high risk for COVID-19. The bottom line is this: even if federal dollars are not guaranteed, we can be confident that non-congregate shelter is FEMA reimbursable in eligible circumstances. At this point there is no justification for foregoing the opportunity to provide essential shelter services and temporarily assume the costs of helping those most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, because we know there is a real opportunity to seek 100% FEMA reimbursement for eligible costs.”