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. We know that homelessness is solvable. We advocate, educate, and organize to shine light on what people without homes go through, illuminate what works to house, shelter, and care for people, and move our community forward to support those real, lasting solutions. Some 50,000 of our neighbors will experience homelessness during this year: working folks, parents and children, youth and adults, veterans, elders, cousins, uncles, and aunties. The roots of the homelessness crises are structural, and include decades of disinvestment in housing, increasing income inequality, inadequate systems of health care and social support, and centuries of discrimination, racism, and sexism.
As a true Coalition, we unite passionate and diverse individuals and over 50 community-based organizations on the front lines of response to the crisis of homelessness and the lack of affordable homes. Our staff listen to folks on the ground. Every month we convene people who work in this sector to listen and share information together, and hear what's working and what's not. This informs our advocacy as we work together to increase access to homes, shelter, and services for those who need them. We ground policy discussions with evidence of what works, and lift the voices and experiences of people who know homelessness first-hand.
Highlights of our work:
* We support 1600 local public school students who are homeless or unstably housed every year with quality backpacks, school supplies, toothbrushes and new books at the beginning of each school year. Teachers, parents, and other adults are included in our "Helping Homeless Students" workshops, designed to help ensure students and their families get the supports they need to succeed.
* We train hundreds of staff, case managers, peer support workers, and social workers at dozens of community-based organizations and local schools and allied government agencies. Everyone is welcome to attend our free trainings and meetings to learn how to navigate public benefits, advocate with and for their clients, and secure access to health care, disability benefits, housing, and other essential supports. We make Community Advocacy Briefingall trainings available on YouTube!
* We help people use their voices, personal experiences, and professional expertise to speak up, communicate with their elected representatives at every level of government, and advocate for housing, shelter, and supportive services. We draw on this information to work for robust budgets and sound policies that advance lasting solutions to homelessness and inequality.
Our advocacy takes many forms:
* Voting Rights & Civic Action: We train volunteers to help people who know homelessness first hand know their voting rights, and how to register, vote, and meet with lawmakers or speak at public meetings.
* Community Alliances: We support community members who want housing and resources for their neighbors to be a priority to be effective advocates.
* Legal Action: When the Burien City Council passed a law that effectively barred its residents without homes from their home town, we joined three unhoused residents to sue to overturn this cruel and unjust law. Our recent Community Advocacy Briefing highlights the importance of this and related cases.
This is a BIG year for the Coalition! As we mark 45 years of advocacy for housing justice, please help us raise $25,000 to power our work.
Sign up for email at www.homelessinfo.org. Share our activity on Facebook or Instagram. Join a meeting, training, or event.
Volunteer with us to help people register and vote, and help hundreds of homeless students be ready for school.
Thank you!