Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness

Mission

We mobilize our community to challenge systemic causes of homelessness and advocate for housing justice.
We envision a region that acts on a shared sense of responsibility to ensure everyone has a home.
Our core values are equity, justice, and collective action. 

Description

Everyone deserves a home. Our education, advocacy, and organizing are rooted in reality and inspired by knowing that homelessness is solvable. We are a true Coalition, uniting passionate and diverse individuals and more than 50 community-based organizations on the front lines of responding to the crisis of homelessness and its structural causes, including racism, inequality and the lack of affordable homes. We listen to, convene, survey, and check in with the folks on the ground, both those without homes and those in direct service jobs. 

We hope to raise friends as well as funds: Please help us reach our twin goals of 150 donors and $40,000 however you can. 
Sign up for email or take action at www.homelessinfo.org. Share our activity on facebook or twitter, or join  a meeting or event. 

The Coalition works to increase accessible and affordable homes and quality services for those who need them, and advance real and lasting solutions. We ground policy discussions with evidence of what works, and lift the voices and experiences of people who know homelessness first-hand.  

As organizers, we focus on increasing people's access to housing and shelter, and for core public benefits and good services. We bring truth about problems and progress experienced on the ground to decisionmakers. The Coalition fights to secure housing and human services investments at every level of government.  We rallied essential workers during Seattle and King County budgets and won cost of living increases for seriously underpaid staff. 

As advocates we work across a wide and varied network of agencies, programs, and community groups to build coalitions and plan campaigns. We are proudly working to shut down the King County Jail; increase behavioral health care through the Crisis Care Centers Levy; ensure robust investments through the King County Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy; and renew the Seattle Housing Levy. At the state, our focus is on strengthening supports for people who are homeless, trying to make ends meet on little or no income, and who are disabled.    

We mobilize to tackle injustices: Our advocacy makes a difference for thousands of people in Seattle and King County. 
When the Washington State Department of Social and Human Services (DSHS) closed the doors of Community Services Offices in March 2020, they shut out people who could not access vital state and federal assistance by telephone or internet. For two years, people experiencing homelessness faced additional barriers to access food, housing, and disability benefits. Our advocacy  succeeded in re-opening DSHS offices across the state. Our Public Benefits are Key! workshops provide free, high-quality information and problem-solving resources to help people access and keep the benefits for which they are eligible.    

* Each year we support more than 1200 local students and families without homes through our Project Cool for Back-to-School  
Every kid deserves to start school right, with the tools they need.  With help from generous donors, we equip over a thousand local students who are experiencing homelessness with new backpacks, quality school supplies, good books, and toothbrushes and toothpaste. We train staff who work with these young students so they know how to help students overcome barriers to enrollment, and access the help they need.   

* You don't need a home to be a voter! We help people register, vote, and know their rights. People experiencing homelessness face many obstacles to voting and participating in democracy. They may not have a reliable way to receive mail, or a traditional mailing address -- they may think their lack of a home or previous incarceration means they are not eligible to vote. As part of the Voting Rights Restoration Coalition, and thanks to volunteers and direct service staff whom we train, we have helped hundreds of voters register and  exercise their voting rights.

* We unite folks to Collaborate and take Collective Action: We equip staff at Coalition member organizations with timely, usable information at monthly meetings and trainings where they learn about new policies and best practices, discuss key issues and common problems, talk with peers, elected officials, and experts, and take action on advocacy priorities. Together we cultivate a strong and independent voice, informed by on-the-ground knowledge and practical solutions -- and we use it to speak up whenever necessary.