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Dear Yarrow Point Residents and Points Neighbors,

Many of you attended the King County/City of Kirkland Permanent Supportive Housing Q&A session earlier this week. Thank you for bringing your concerns and questions to the City of Kirkland for them to both answer and consider as they move forward with this complex project near our Town.

It was clear that

  1. There is still work to be done to establish confidence in the project as the County moves it forward. The communication from the City of Kirkland is transparent and they are available to both answer questions and consider new ideas/issues as the community expresses them. The City of Kirkland will work very closely with the County. Town Hall will provide periodic updates as milestones are met by the project.
  2. There are still many misconceptions about the PSH program and we as a community need to educate ourselves and reach out to the City of Kirkland with our concerns.

Here are some important links and information mentioned at the Town Hall meeting which should provide answers to many of the questions asked last night. Please continue to call/write to Kirkland when you need an answer or have an idea/suggestion. For questions, please contact: ajudd@kirklandwa.gov

I attached Deputy City Manager Jim Lopez’ PowerPoint Presentation.

See this link to Q&A/FAQs Kirkland assembled — The information at this link is mostly relevant (updated end of Feb) and will be updated on an ongoing basis. Please check for the most recent update at the end of April

https://www.kirklandwa.gov/Government/City-Managers-Office/King-Countys-Health-Through-Housing-Initiative-in-Kirkland/Responses-to-Questions-by-Central-Houghton-and-Lakeview-Neighborhoods

The City of Kirkland’s webpage has a link to the adopted Permanent Supportive Housing Agreement and Services Agreement here (PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF KIRKLAND AND KING COUNTY)

https://www.kirklandwa.gov/files/sharedassets/public/city-managers-office/pdfs/hth/2023_resolution-5583-psha.pdf

King County’s Health Through Housing Initiative in Kirkland

https://www.kirklandwa.gov/Government/City-Managers-Office/King-Countys-Health-Through-Housing-Initiative-in-Kirkland#Continuum.6

Scroll to 6 – King County’s Permanent Supportive Housing

King County’s website lists their additional PSH sites here: https://kingcounty.gov/depts/community-human-services/initiatives/health-through-housing.aspx    These are sites the County has added to the portfolio.

Regarding the status of the sites: Those highlighted in green below are currently open and housing folks, although one is in a soft-launch phase.  Two that aren’t open yet are currently being used as temporary housing/shelter while waiting to transition to a Heath through Housing model.

  • Auburn: Don’s Place – Operator is Compass Housing Alliance. There are people living there, but they’re launching slowly and will be full later in the year.
  • Federal Way: Operator is Urban League. Not yet ready to welcome residents.
  • Redmond: Was providing temporary housing for refugees, now undergoing building improvements and operator selection process.
  • Renton: Catholic Community Services is operating the Sidney Wilson House – Home to 90 people.
  • Seattle/Queen Anne: Catholic Community Services is operating the site, called Bob G.  This is still functioning as a COVID deintensification shelter and will eventually transition to Health through Housing after extensive work is done to the building.
  • N Seattle: DESC operates Mary Pilgrim Inn – Home to 81 people
  • N Seattle: DESC operates The Gateway in Honor of Tenaya Wright –Home to 119 people.
  • Seattle/Pioneer Sq: Salmonberry Lofts – operator is Chief Seattle Club. Home to 25 people with more moving in later this year.
  • Seattle/Capitol Hill: operator not selected.

The County provided the City of Kirkland with the following case studies and further research regarding the efficacy of permanent supportive housing:

Here is the Houston Housing article Jim Lopez mentioned

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/howardcenter/caring-for-covid-homeless/stories/homeless-funding-housing-first.html

Best,

Katy