Graffiti on the emptied 15th Ave E QFC (Image: CHS)
Federal recovery funds will power a proposed $128.4 million Seattle Rescue Plan.
Mayor Jenny Durkan and Council budget chair Teresa Mosqueda are announcing the proposed spending plan for federal COVID-19 recovery funds Thursday afternoon.
Responding to “the most pressing needs facing Seattle,” the proposed Seattle Rescue Plan outlines spending millions across Seattle’s recovery needs including homelessness, small business and nonprofit recovery, and community support for neighborhoods. Durkan and Mosqueda’s proposal also includes spending on community and mental health needs, education equity, employment training, and reopening city services.
Housing and Homelessness — $49 million proposed: As we come out of this pandemic, we will continue to prioritize our commitment to growing affordable housing while also increasing investments that provide immediate aid to those living unhoused. Seattle’s Rescue Plan will help more than 750 households by moving more than 450 households into safer spaces in 2021, create 300 new permanent homes in 2021 and 2022, and invest in tiny home villages.
- Expand Rapid Rehousing Services to transition 185 households to permanent housing through 2022
- Funds to build and acquire an additional 300 permanent affordable housing units in 2021 and 2022
- Expand Safe Lots to support 25 RVs in 2021
- Diversion support for an estimated 250 households in 2021
- Funds for additional shelter and outreach (King County match) to create and maintain at least 130 units
- Operating support for tiny home villages
- Support for homeless service and housing providers to expand capacity and stabilize staffing
- Partnership with SHA on 494 vouchers
Community Well-Being — $41 million: We know our community has been hit hard, both economically and directly by COVID-19. To help Seattle recover, we are providing direct cash and support services to help our most impacted residents.
• Direct cash assistance
• Digital equity grants and community supports • Education equity programs
• Support for childcare
• Gender-based violence response services
• Mental and behavioral health supports
• Diaper distribution
Community Recovery — $23 million: Our communities and our neighborhoods know best how they can recover, and we must let neighborhoods lead in building back their businesses, events, and community supports with a focus on neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
• Youth Employment
• Apprenticeship and Training Programs
• Downtown and Neighborhood Recovery Grants
• Supports to Non-Profits and Small Businesses
Reopening City Programs and Services — $14.6 million: Seattle is the most vaccinated City in America of the largest cities. In order to support the reopening and reactivation of the City, it is critical to ensure appropriate resources support our robust opening of parks, streets, community centers and pools in addition to arts and community led activation.
Community Assistance & Programming – $7 million
• Arts and Parks Summer and Fall activation
• Stay Healthy Streets
• Community led activation projects
Supporting City Services and Workers – $7.6 million
- Supporting flexible work and on-site work and other IT needs
- Preparing City buildings and facilities for safely reopening
Seattle is set to receive nearly $300 million from the federal American Rescue Plan including $232 million in funding city leaders can direct from the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery funds as well as tens of millions in “other targeted resources.”
Groups and advocates have called for the funding to go to address important issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic including racial equity and homelessness. The city says the proposal was also evaluated through a “racial equity review template for all spending categories to examine how the pandemic exacerbated already deep inequities in our city and design programs to address those impacts.” A public hearing also helped shape the local rescue plan.
Some of the proposed line items will create new expenditures for the city while others will help Durkan and the council live up to promises and plans made before and during the pandemic.
The Seattle City Council will next work to finalize the proposals and incorporate the planned spending in the city’s budget plans through committee meetings over the coming weeks with hopes for a final vote on legislation behind the plan on June 21st.
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With the exception of Medgar Evers (and more recently, Rainier Beach), which is open for a paltry few hours each day, all Seattle swimming pools remain shuttered, with no relief in sight. In the meantime, pools in most of the surrounding suburbs — e.g., White Center, Tukwila, Mercer Island, Mountlake Terrace — have been open for months. Does the city ever intend to open our facilities? Where is the money going?
Why does City government keep referring to homeless people as “households? Yes, there is a small number of families that are homeless, but most are single men, many with addictions. It’s political correctness.
It’s a desire to frame the problem as something that they can throw money at. Solving the addiction and mental health crises will require more than money.