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May 2006:· SHARE/WHEEL’s Shelters to Stay Open· Court for Homeless Being Planned in Seattle· Critical Resource
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SHARE/WHEEL’s Shelters and Tent Cities to Stay OpenErika Straus-Bowers, Resource SpecialistAfter a nine-month standoff, the city of Seattle and the local homeless cooperative SHARE/WHEEL have announced that SHARE/WHEEL will continue to receive city funding, keeping the doors to its 14 indoor shelters open to homeless adults in the Seattle area. On April 11, the two groups at last reached a tentative compromise concerning SHARE/WHEEL’s participation in the data collection system Safe Harbors. A component of King County’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, Safe Harbors is a web-based database that tracks demographic information and service history of shelter residents. The goal of the database is, over time, to identify the successes and shortcomings of local agencies working to help homeless clients secure and retain permanent housing. Until this past month’s agreement, SHARE/WHEEL had refused to participate in Safe Harbors, asserting that the collection of confidential but non-anonymous information would be a violation of shelter residents’ privacy; the city had refused to grant SHARE/WHEEL its $260,000 in annual funding without full participation in Safe Harbors. With local priorities and funding shifting from short-term shelter programs to longer-term transitional housing services, SHARE/WHEEL’s model of self-sufficient emergency assistance does not easily fit within the Ten Year Plan. Operating at a third the expense of most area programs, SHARE/WHEEL’s residents supply the labor necessary for providing their own basic needs, which do not include long-term case management services. Without SHARE/WHEEL’s indoor shelters, however, the county would lose almost a quarter of its 1,200 nightly shelter beds. The two parties have tentatively agreed that SHARE/WHEEL staff will conduct two different optional surveys with shelter residents, submitting responses to Safe Harbors only in cases where shelter residents give their informed consent. A monthly short-form survey will record the dates that each respondent spends at a SHARE/WHEEL shelter each month. A quarterly long-form survey will also be conducted with residents of SHARE/WHEEL’s indoor shelters and tent cities. Including both yes/no and narrative components, this survey will likely include questions about each respondent’s history of homelessness. With both surveys, each consenting participant’s birth date, gender and initials will be attached to their responses. SHARE/WHEEL and the city of Seattle are still negotiating the contents of each survey and deciding whether the city or a mutually agreed-upon third party will tabulate the data.• Court for Homeless Being Planned in SeattleIshbel Dickens, Columbia Legal ServicesColumbia Legal Services’ (CLS) staff have been working with the Seattle City Attorney, the Seattle Municipal Court, and the Associated Counsel for the Accused (ACA) to establish a court process to help veterans who are homeless take care of some of the outstanding warrants and underlying misdemeanor charges they might have. Non-veterans may be eligible to participate in the court proceedings if they meet the other criteria. These small marks on their records are what keep many of those who are homeless from getting a job or moving into a permanent residence. Defendants will appear in court at the William Booth Center downtown. The keys to this program are the “no arrest” guarantee and the connection the defendant will have with the referring service provider that will help keep him or her from re-offending. Also, those who appear will likely not be required to pay any fines because they are connected to a service provider who will verify they are in fact taking steps toward stability, and the court does not plan to do any follow up. This court is modeled on a program that has been operating successfully in San Diego for the past 17 years and will be available to veterans who are homeless, though it could be expanded to help any individual who is homeless if not enough veterans are referred to the program. The court provides an opportunity for eligible homeless veterans to be referred by their social service providers to the ACA, who will then assess the situation and determine whether the veteran is eligible for a hearing at the court. In order to be eligible for Homeless Court the person must · Be homeless (as defined by HUD), couch surfing, or at risk of becoming homeless, · Have served in the military – either at home or abroad, regardless of the type of discharge they received, and · Be involved in treatment services for long enough that their service provider could, with confidence, write a letter of recommendation on their behalf and refer them to the Associated Counsel for the Accused (ACA), for legal representation. If someone meets all of the above criteria and is referred to the ACA then an attorney/client relationship is established and the service provider will not be in a position of knowing, for sure, whether or not their client has outstanding warrants and if so, for which crimes and misdemeanors. If your clients qualify for Homeless Court and you refer them to the ACA, then David Chapman, director of the ACA, will meet with them and do a background search to see exactly what their criminal record says (more than 30% of the veterans in San Diego who were referred to Homeless Court did not even have outstanding warrants) and advise your clients as to how they should best proceed. At this time warrants for only certain kinds of misdemeanors within the city of Seattle and possibly certain felonies within King County can be addressed through the Homeless Court. Mr. Chapman can advise people what to do if their issues fall outside of these areas. We had hoped to hold the first Homeless Veterans’ Court in early April but there were too few referrals to justify doing that, so we hope to hold the first court hearing in early summer. The Court will be held on a Saturday morning to make it as accessible as possible to your clients. At this time Mr. Chapman may be willing to accept referrals from service providers for clients who are not veterans, so please, if you think you have clients who could benefit from this unique court process do not hesitate to call either David Chapman at the ACA – (206) 624-8105 ext. 237, or Ishbel Dickens at Columbia Legal Services - (206) 464-5936 ext. 272 for more information.• Critical Resource UpdatesCompiled by Crisis Clinic’s Resource CenterIt is always recommended to check Community Resources Online for additional information and for the most current information updates of the following resources. The Fremont Public Association Housing Counseling and Homelessness Prevention program has a new program: Predatory Lending Hotline (206-694-6776). The line provides counseling, education and advocacy regarding predatory mortgage loan prevention, litigation and refinancing. Gay City and Verbena have both moved to a new location, a building they are calling the Center for LGBT Health. The address is 511 E. Pike St., Seattle. Habitat for Humanity – Seattle/South King County’s office has moved to a new location – a larger space complete with a training room and warehouse. The new address is 15439 53rd Ave. S., Suite 102, Tukwila. Phone and fax numbers remain the same. The Operational Emergency Center will move to a new temporary address, 11827 Renton Ave S, Seattle, on May 31, while they remodel their current building. OEC will be at the temporary address for about a year. Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets now provides case management/counseling for homeless GLBTQI youth and free HIV/AIDS testing one day a month. ROAR is able to send about 25 low-income and homeless children to week-long summer camps for free. Children (ages 9-14) – including those with disabilities – are placed in one of three area Christian-focused camps. Activities include water sports, arts & crafts and music. Teen Parent Home is changing hands, going from the Children’s Home Society in Seattle to the Development Association of Goodwill Baptist Church. The Teen Parent Home’s location, phone number and programs will all remain the same during this change. Tent City 3 moves May 1 to a new location, Cherry Hill Baptist Church - 700 22nd Ave Seattle, WA 98122. It will be at that location until late June. Tent City 4 plans to move May 13 to Northshore United Church of Christ, 18900 168th Ave NE, Woodinville, WA, and be there until Aug. 11. Tent City 4’s application is still pending. Washington Coalition of Citizens with DisAbilities and the Washington Coalition of Citizens with DisAbilities – DisAbilities Resource Network have changed their names to Alliance of People with DisAbilities and Alliance of People with DisAbilities – East King County.• May and June Selected ResourcesCompiled by Crisis Clinic’s Resource CenterThis column highlights available timely resources in the community information database that might otherwise go unnoticed by our users. It is always recommended to check Community Resources Online for additional information and for the most current information concerning the following resources. May Resource HighlightsBike
Works Cinema
Seattle Ruby
Room Washington
State Parks and Recreation Commission Women’s Funding Alliance is now accepting applications for their 2006 granting cycle. Letter of inquiry applications may be downloaded from www.wfalliance.org or requested at (206) 467-6733 or wfa@wfalliance.org. The deadline for receipt of the letter of inquiry application is 5 p.m. May 31. WFA will hold a free grant-writing workshop May 3.
June Resource Highlights
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