#seahomeless

[krillas]

#HomelessEntrepreneur #SEAhomeless #projecthomelessconnect (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn7tBvXBbYs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=dqtjx9nb05j9

[krillas]

Off to #Ai for #homelessentrepreneur #ProjectHomeless #SEAhomeless (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnvwEehBdce/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ihzo8drr4icc

[krillas]

View this post on Instagram

#ProjectHomeless #homelessentrepreneur #SEAhomeless #Seattle #Seahawks #mswstudent #msw #homeless - Smoked in "Holy Shit" @andrewfunkspain

[facing-homelessness]

UPDATE:

Rick needed to get out of his tent and inside so that his leg infection could heal, he decided to ask this community for help, per doctor's orders!

After reading about Rick on the June 6th FH post, all of you raised enough money for Rick & Greg to stay inside for (8) days at the Everspring Inn on Aurora Avenue, wowWOW!

Rick came to the window a few days ago to give a heartfeltLOVE to everyone for getting him inside when it was touch&go for him, he's so veryVERY grateful.

A communitySIZE LOVE to you Rick, glad to see you smiling!

University neighborhood | Rex

[seattlish]

~Midweek Reading~

As #SeaHomeless draws to a close, here’s some of our favorite writing, both recent and recent-ish, on people without shelter—consider it your reading material for the coming days.

“You’d Have to Be Crazy” by Peter Wieben for The Awl focuses on stories told by unsheltered people in Seattle.

What will happen to Seattle’s homeless population if the Big One hits? Ashley Archibald reports in Real Change.

In South Seattle Emerald today, Kelsey Hamlin profiles single mom and Othello Village resident Ronda Althaus.

Scott Carrier’s Mother Jones feature about Utah’s Housing First programs, published last year, is still required reading.

[facing-homelessness]

backHOME:

Back in January all of you helped purchase a bus ticket for Mo to go visit family in Columbus, Ohio; he was having a really tough time of it here, so many of you also sent comments of support, it meant a great deal, thank you.

There's lots going on in Mo's life, he feels like he's constantly fighting an upHILLbattle, he can't understand why it's so difficult.

Mo is now back in Seattle, his trip home was not what he had hoped for; a church there called us and said they would pay for half of Mo's ticket home if we paid the other half, which we did.

It was really great seeing Mo again, getting a bigHUG from a good friend, but sad too, he's still struggling, still suffering as he says.

A bigBIG community LOVE to you Mo.

University neighborhood | Rex

[facing-homelessness]

potsPANS:

Dinkus is in need of some pots, pans and general kitchen stuff, like a spatula or cheese grater. If you have anEXTRA in your kitchen please consider donating to Dinkus.

Items can be droppedOFF at our office 1415 NE 43rd Street, Seattle 98105 or we can help put you in touch with Dinkus to dropOFF at his place. Dinkus is living in a Plymouth Housing Group building downtown Seattle. Our phone is 206-632-7299.

LOVE to you DINK from everyone in this beautiful community!

Downtown neighborhood | Rex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dpanM1yPbk

[seattlish]

Bookmark this: A list of organizations you can support that help unsheltered people

Earlier today, we wrote about how homelessness does not occur in a vacuum—and how there are ways to support a healthy community with less people living outside. But zooming back in: (a) we’re not there yet, and (b) so many great orgs are on the street-level of supporting our unsheltered neighbors.

Homelessness isn’t about one conversation, or one day—and these organizations are involved in conversations about homelessness in our region (and action to make a difference) literally every day of the year. And while some of them are officially participating today, it’s about more than just today. If you’re interested in having a conversation about homelessness, if you’ve been inspired by the wall-to-wall coverage today, we invite you to join conversation these folks are already having, have been having—instead of being a big ol’ Kool-Aid Man who thinks you’ve got all the answers. 

Here are some of the ones we think do great work:

YouthCare: What it says on the label: YouthCare provides resources to homeless youth, and they’ve really been knocking it out of the park lately with emergency shelter, employment services, referrals—even life-affirming rite-of-passage stuff, like throwing a prom at Vera earlier this month. They even just opened a new facility with permanent housing in the U District!

Right now they’re running a drive for “independence items”—stuff you’d get for anyone moving into their first place, like toiletries, kitchen items, and other household basics.

Mary’s Place: Mary’s Place connects women, children, and families in crisis with the immediate services they need to keep themselves afloat—and together. They’ve grown from a day shelter into providing referral services to eventually operating emergency shelters, most recently a temporary shelter in the old Travelodge just off Denny (now owned by Amazon), which will operate for the next year or so.

Here’s their donation wishlist.

Plymouth Housing: Plymouth is doing some of the region’s best work in support of Housing First, with multiple targeted programs focused on getting people into permanent shelter—and then helping them access the support they may need (wraparound services). In addition to the facilities they already operate, they’ll be adding 77 more units of permanent, supportive housing to our community starting next year.

Real Change: Real Change does an amazing job of seeing an immediate need—employment, which means income for people who need it—while still addressing broader contexts of economic, social, and racial justice. It’s right in their tagline. And to boot, the paper is great. Y’ALL KNOW HOW MUCH WE LOVE REAL CHANGE.

Downtown Emergency Service Center: DESC definitely provides what it says on the label: Providing services to people who need something, right now, tonight, with services to address many root causes of homelessness, including chemical dependency and mental health. But, like Plymouth, they also operate permanent, supportive housing with wraparound services.

DESC has also been instrumental in making sure that naloxone (brand name Narcan), the drug that essentially reverses opioid overdose, reaches folks on the street who need it the most—all staff are trained to administer the spray. Erica C. Barnett covered their naloxone program earlier this month.

Teen Feed: Teen Feed provides nutritious meals to hungry kids, provides one-on-one support for homeless youth (including providing a mailing address so they can access services), and provides basic support in the U District, Auburn, and Rainier Beach, making an extra effort to reach youth who avoid most social service agencies. They also operate a small number of emergency shelter beds for young adults—and operate 24-hour safe places for kids in crisis to go.

Northwest Harvest: Northwest Harvest is great because folks can get their very basic needs met without jumping through hoops—mostly food, yes, as they are a food bank but also things like toiletries.

Consider cleaning out your pantry this week if you have extra food! Their list of public donation sites is here.

Urban Rest Stop: Remember when the Low Income Housing Institute was opening their Ballard Urban Rest Stop location and NIMBYs got all up in arms about how they don’t want unshowered people to loiter and use the bathroom and leave their trash everywhere in their neighborhood? That was really boneheaded, because URS gives unsheltered folks a place to hang out, shower, do laundry, use the bathroom, and meet other basic needs during the day. LIHI operates URS drop-in centers in downtown, Ballard, and the U-District.

Catholic Community Services: Catholic Community Services operates more than 20 shelters to address specific needs of unsheltered folks in King County—including clinics, housing, employment assistance, vocational training, addiction recovery support, and counseling—and a ton more statewide. Their King County intake program, ARISE, connects folks in need to any number of these services—their donation wishlist and intake information both live here.

BUT IT IS NOT JUST THAT. CCS’s community support programs, helping low-income people and families, the elderly, people with mental health or addiction issues, holistically work toward keeping our communities safe, healthy, and taken care of—helping folks out before they become unsheltered.

AllHome: AllHome takes a big-picture look at reducing homelessness in King County, under the vision that “homelessness is rare in King County, racial disparities are eliminated, and if one becomes homeless, it is brief and only a one-time occurrence.” They have a four-year, data-driven (in the good way!), strategic plan to make that happen that includes rapid rehousing programs, coordinating supportive services and prevention services, looking at entry points into homelessness, and building individualized approaches to getting people housed. They coordinate with local organizations (including many on this list!) to make sure we’re providing the best support possible.

Learn more about how to get involved in their mission—or if you’re a landlord, learn how you can help connect people to housing—here.

Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness: The Coalition on Homelessness’s work allows us to have the level of conversation that we’re currently having: They run the One Night Count, they coordinate budget and policy decisions, and run educational campaigns, including community workshops. They are basically a year-round #SeaHomeless.

Food Lifeline: Food Lifeline works with our bonkers food industry, gathering up food that would otherwise go to waste, to find creative ways to get people fed. Their approach is simple: They see where extra food exists, and they redirect it to people that need to eat.

They’re currently building a massive new HQ—the Hunger Solution Center—featuring two warehouses with the capacity to distribute 100 million pounds of food a year, double their current capacity. You can donate to their capital campaign to make it possible.

If you want to help—if you want to keep this going—take a look at what supplies they need, or maybe give a sustaining donation. Attend a benefit, volunteer your time, or even just tell your friends.