- Now, before we begin, I want to take this opportunity
to talk about something that perhaps might not have occurred to you.
Some of you arrived earlier,
and I hope you took the opportunity to have a look around.
The Hope Factory is unlike any other manufacturing operation that we know of.
everything you see around you is run by volunteers.
From the precut materials to the homes in the construction and paint lines.
All of the tasks are done by volunteers.
Inside this factory, we focus on building high quality interim
supporting housing, tiny homes and have a good time doing it.
Sound Foundation.
Northwest volunteers are here day in, day out, week after week, month after month.
They range in age from over six from 16 to over 90.
Drawn from many different backgrounds individuals,
families, community and faith groups and corporate groups.
In fact, we had one volunteer
to two weeks shy of her 90th birthday here this past Monday.
Many have no construction or power tool experience at all.
Our team leaders teach these skills to everyone.
All are focused on helping build homes that provide
warm, safe and dry interim shelter for those in need.
We're joined in this effort by our community partners,
whose banners you see on the factory walls.
Then there are the donors who generously provide the funds
to purchase the materials that make up each home.
We'd also like to acknowledge and thank Lehigh,
who provided this space to us so we can produce these homes
to everyone that stepped through the door or donated.
Since we have to everyone that stepped through the door
or donated since we began building homes in 2018.
We'd like to extend a huge and heartfelt thank you.
And now, without further ado, Sharon Lee.
- Good afternoon.
I'm Sharon Lee, director of Lehigh Low Income Housing Institute.
Welcome to the Hope factory.
We actually should make a note that this factory.
Oh, I wish we could buy it.
This factory is actually owned by the port.
Port of Seattle, who, lets us use this,
and, that's why we have all the volunteers here.
And in addition to building tiny houses,
we actually have volunteers that help with.
If you don't want to build a tiny house, but you could paint
or you could furnish or you could put together a welcome basket.
And if you go to our villages, you will see how beautiful they are.
They're painted, they have artwork.
We have paint parties.
We have community events.
People are building, let's say, picnic benches.
Flower, you know,
places for, landscaping.
It's it's really been a true community effort
where we have a community advisory committee, and we have great volunteers
who actually help monitor and support the villages.
And some of them will be speaking today.
And we also have, in some cases, religious and church sponsors that, help us
because they want to fulfill their mission and they are part of our partnership.
But I think the important thing about tiny House villages is that Seattle,
Seattle is on the national road map
for tiny house villages.
There are 11 tiny house villages in Seattle.
And over all, last year, LIHI
LIHI alone, we, we house and sheltered,
1600, adults and children.
And so it is a phenomenal it's not just a small program.
It has a
significant impact in terms of the unsheltered homelessness.
So we are delighted to have you here.
I just want to point out, Amanda Benson, Amanda Benson is our volunteer
coordinator.
And later we will have,
pastor Reverend Doctor Jeffrey, who is a, religious
sponsor, and he's sponsoring many of the tiny house villages.
And we are so ever grateful to him.
So thank you very much for being here.
- Thank you, Sharon and Steve.
And next up, we've got the mayor of Seattle, Katie Wilson.
- Good afternoon.
Yeah.
I am,
extremely excited to be here with all of you today.
Seattle's homelessness crisis is an emergency.
And in fact, our city declared a civil state of emergency on homelessness
more than ten years ago, in November of 2015.
But for many
years and through multiple mayoral administrations,
we have not treated this crisis with the urgency that it demands.
That pattern ends here with all of us.
Let's be clear about the challenges.
Our rates of unsheltered homelessness are off
the charts, even in comparison with our peer cities.
We have a big hill to climb,
and if the solutions were easy, they would have happened already.
To address this crisis at scale, we are going to need to do hard things.
But I am also confident that we can do this because homelessness
is not only the number one priority for me and my administration.
I know that it's also the number one priority for the residents of this city,
for businesses and many other stakeholders across the city.
And together, we're going to start acting like it.
Right
now, we have twice as many homeless people in Seattle as we have
shelter beds, leaving thousands of people with nowhere to go.
We also have a responsibility to make sure that everyone can access
and enjoy our parks, trails, sidewalks, and other public spaces.
But we can't just keep moving people
from place to place and calling that progress.
The single most important thing we can do to address our city's homelessness crisis
is to rapidly expand emergency housing
and shelter with supportive services.
Soon after taking office, I issued an executive order creating
an interdepartmental team to look at ways that we can accelerate this work.
And last month, I signed legislation which will waive
excessive review and speed
the development process for shelter and housing by five months to a year.
And my team has been hard at work identifying potential sites
that can be used for new shelters, scouring the budget for funds
and eliminating unnecessary red tape so that we can open up more shelters
in less time.
We are moving faster than ever before,
but I want to see the ground start breaking the hammer.
Start swinging, and fewer people left to sleep in doorways and tents.
That's why today I'm announcing that I have transmitted
three pieces of legislation to our City Council that will allow us
to quickly open new shelters with supportive services across the city,
expand existing successful shelters,
and secure the resources to make that all happen.
The first piece of legislation in this package will speed
the development of new shelter
by empowering the Director of Finance and Administrative Services to directly
sign lease agreements with property owners that can be used for shelter.
This may seem like a small and technical change,
but it significantly accelerates the process by eliminating bureaucratic
obstacles and allowing the city to prepare sites, which can
then be turned over to service providers to operate the shelter and services.
This is one of the insights that came out of the work
of the interdepartmental team created by my January executive order,
and I just want to give a big public thank you to all of the city employees
who have been part of that team, because they have been putting in, heck,
a lot of work over the last weeks and months.
The second piece of legislation
will allow successful shelters to serve more people.
Even the most successful shelters that do the best work
and have the best relationships
in their communities are currently limited to serve just 100 people.
This is a very low limit, which is out of step with national best
practices and what cities like LA, Tampa, and Austin are doing now.
And it just doesn't make sense when we have so many people
sleeping outside with nowhere to go.
My proposal would increase this limit to 150 people per site
on an interim basis,
provide support to address any potential public safety impacts, and additionally
allow one location in each city district to serve up to 250 people.
In cases where it makes sense.
My third piece of
legislation will allocate the necessary funds to open new shelter and emergency
housing this year, bring people inside and match them with the right
services.
You can
you can clap for money, clap for money.
My team has identified $4.8 million from existing underutilized
city funds sources, which can be used to fund shelter and wraparound services.
3.3 million would derived from an underutilized revolving loan program
that was difficult to deploy and not previously appropriated.
An additional $1.5 million would be appropriated
from the Downtown Health and Human Services Fund, which is a program
from the 1990s that has not been used for a decade.
I have heard from so many people who are hungry for bold, effective strategy
that finally treats our homelessness emergency like an actual emergency.
And that is what we are beginning to do today.
This package of legislation will provide us the tools we need to make good.
On my commitment to open 1000 units of shelter and emergency housing this year.
I also know that some people
may have concerns about new or expanded shelters opening near them.
And I get it.
I understand that people want to know that
when we open shelter in their neighborhood, that also means
that they can expect to see a reduction in unsheltered homelessness in their area,
and they want to be able to trust
that it will not create new problems of public safety.
And just to be real, there can be problems when we don't get things right.
Well, we are committed to getting things right.
We are learning from what has worked and what hasn't worked in the past.
I and my team understand very well that the challenge we face
is more complicated than just opening indoor space for people to go to.
It is absolutely vital that this space be appropriate to the specific needs
of the people who are sleeping unsheltered in our community,
and paired with the services that can help to ensure that they'll be successful.
There.
And also, we are never going to see a change
unless we go all in as a city to rapidly expand shelters so that we can actually
bring people inside and match them to the wraparound services they need.
That's why today I'm also making a direct appeal for everyone to pitch in.
We need your help to get sites ready to help build new shelter,
to support our frontline service providers, and to be good neighbors
with the sites that we need to open around the city.
We need to choose to come together as a city
because we can't keep looking away from this problem.
We can't keep pushing people from place to place
without bringing more people inside.
And we can't keep forcing our buses or parks
or libraries to function as social service providers.
Neighbor by neighbor.
We can do this together with this legislation and your support.
We're going to make sure we're matching the right services to the right people,
including for people struggling with behavioral health and substance
use issues.
We're going to work with philanthropic partners
to identify additional funds to further accelerate our efforts.
And we're going to make sure
that neighbors have a way to offer their feedback and support.
I encourage you to visit wilson.seattle.gov
and sign up to volunteer to help support the 1000 units of shelter
that we are committed to bringing online this year.
This is your city and that applies to you.
If you're a homeowner who just wants to be able to take your kid to the park,
and that applies to you.
If you're a person
who is sleeping in a tent in that park because there's nowhere for you to go,
and it is up to all of us to make good on that vision.
Thank you.
- Thank you, Mayor Wilson
and now Council Member Rob Sacca.
- All right.
Good afternoon.
There it is.
Good afternoon.
Thank you. And thank you, Mayor Wilson.
And thank you, Sound Foundations,
for bringing us here today.
I am Rob Saka, the Seattle City Council member, the represents district one.
And welcome to district one.
I had the opportunity
to tour this very site and facility about a year and a half ago.
And I know this space is really important
for a lot of the constituents
in Seattle that I happen to represent, especially those in West Seattle.
Many have
donated
their time,
their treasure and talents
to build tiny homes like the ones around us today.
We need more shelter capacity in Seattle,
and we need it urgently.
The scale and scope of our homelessness problem.
Homelessness crisis demands action.
Yes, we must expand shelter
and low income housing options quickly,
responsibly and with compassion.
That's why I want to thank Mayor Wilson
for bringing forward legislation
that treats this crisis with the urgency it deserves.
Tiny home villages work.
They do.
And people, many people prefer them.
When I toured
Sound Foundations, the Hope Factory here
a year or two ago, I saw
firsthand how these homes are built, how they're built efficiently
and at scale.
Again, right here in my own
council district.
Tiny homes offer privacy,
autonomy, safety and stability
for many of our most vulnerable neighbors
who so desperately need those things.
These are all critical steps towards
permanent housing.
We know some of you know,
my constituents certainly know
in district one in West Seattle,
that district one is disproportionately impacted
by our homelessness crisis,
especially in terms of the number
and scale of encampments.
My district also has the highest concentrations
of our unhoused neighbors
living in RVs.
That's why expanding tiny home
villages and adding more RV safe lots
is a practical, effective,
proven strategy
that helps people move off the streets
and into stable environments with services.
We need more flexible tools to stand up,
shelter faster, and more efficiently.
This moment calls for ambitious goals,
ambitious plans and ambitious legislation.
So we need to meet the moment
and address this crisis like the urgency,
like the crisis that it is
in partnerships like this,
or how we make more rapid progress.
Sound Foundations Northwest represents innovation,
local manufacturing and community partnerships.
And just across the Duwamish,
we'll soon see the Glassy Yard Commons
come online.
This site combines RV safe parking and tiny homes
as part of a comprehensive approach
that I hope can be replicated and scaled
citywide.
This district one
bears the brunt in many cases, again, of our homelessness crisis.
That's why the Glassy Yard site, for example.
Where we're looking for a minimum set aside
for the most
impacted council district
because the mayor was right.
We're going to build these facilities and structures,
and we're going to do it quick.
But people rightfully expect to see
a corresponding decrease invisible
homelessness in their neighborhoods and their communities.
People rightfully expect us
to better approach the situation
with compassion by bringing people indoors.
And connecting them with vital services.
And this is a critical first step towards exactly that.
This is what progress looks like expanding options,
restoring dignity and moving people indoors
to connect them again with vital treatment and services.
I share the mayor's goal
and vision to build 4000 units
in the road to 4000 starts here today.
So thank you.
Thank you all for being here today.
And let's go get that 4000.
- Co-Executive director of Purpose.
Dignity. Action, Fé LopezGaetke.
- Thank you. Thank you.
Good afternoon.
My colleagues and I are so glad to be here today to support Mayor Wilson's
push to rapidly expand shelter in a way that will be a win win
win for Seattle's neighborhoods, for housing providers, and for people
who have been chronically unwelcome in our standard systems of care.
Shelter with the right kind of support services.
Oh, yeah, I'm going to say that again.
Shelter with the right kind of support services can make a world of difference.
And how we quickly
and successfully and successfully people can come off the street.
We know that.
We know this because we've seen it.
Our co-lead program partnered with reach on the Just Care and state
right of way encampment resolution projects from 2020 through 2025,
and 95% of the chronically unsheltered people
we engaged with accepted offers to come inside.
In our experience, almost no one is truly service resistant.
Not if we can offer them a program that is designed to address their needs.
Strong shelter programs with robust support services can be a game
changer in achieving stable permanent housing placements.
In fact, taking 3 to 6 months to stabilize a person
significantly improves outcomes for those who go on to permanent housing.
Housing providers benefit when tenants come in
with a lot more support, and when a lot of obstacles
to recovery and stabilization have already been tackled.
We really appreciate Chief Seattle Club's leadership in showing the way on this.
We all want to ensure no one has to stay in a shelter longer
than necessary for stabilization, which will meaningfully open up shelter
space and allow us to continue helping people transition off of the street.
Shelter and housing have to go hand in hand to make working at
to make a working system that can tackle the scale of unsheltered homelessness.
Catholic Community Services and Reach have both led on this issue.
They've stressed how moving shelter residents into permanent housing
must be prioritized, not deprioritized as it is as it is now.
In this way, shelters operate as a front door to housing,
not as a dead end alternative to housing.
Over the last several years,
local high support shelter providers have done a lot of innovation,
developing best practices that we've been sharing with one another.
We're committed to sharing what we've learned
so that it benefits the whole portfolio of new shelters.
For example, Diaz's introduction of long acting buprenorphine to treat
fentanyl addiction has been a tremendous development at co-lead.
Innovations have included overdose prevention strategies
and our great experience with We Deliver Care shelter, safety team.
incredible de-escalation skills have been a big part of how we've ensured
a safe environment for staff, shelter residents and neighbors.
One last point shelter should benefit the neighborhoods where they're located.
We've been working with a unified care team to make sure the recently opened
Olympic Hill Shelter addresses some of the most persistent challenges.
Lake city neighbors have asked for help with.
We're so pleased that the mayor's team is championing the idea
of local preference for neighborhoods hosting shelter facilities.
PDA is committed to working together with our service providers,
the Unified Care Team, the Human Services Department
and the mayor's office to make this effort a success.
And we thank Mayor Wilson, wherever she is, for her leadership
and clear vision of what is possible.
Thank you very much.
- From camp Sick, a camp Second
chance neighbor and community advisory committee member.
Grace Stiller.
- I have an advantage as a short person.
The microphone's right in front of me.
Yay! Glory!
Thank you. I'm so glad to be here.
My name is Grace Stiller.
I'm on the citizen advisory committee.
Called the CAC for Camp Second Chance.
And I've been on that committee since 2016, when the camp
first was an illegal encampment with only tents on the ground.
We were neighbors and friends
that helped deliver water and food
after the camp was sanctioned by the city of Seattle
and the Low Income Housing Institute
became the managing entity.
Many positive changes
came to the tiny village.
Tiny homes were built.
LIHI provided staffing
for security management,
caseworkers, other staff that could help the tiny home
villagers obtain what they needed to transition to more permanent residents.
The needs were basic things like IDs,
bus passes, adequate clothing,
hygiene needs, medical appointments,
counseling for mental health and drug abuse as needed.
Without Lee High's comprehensive service
approach to serving the individual.
Most people would not be able to transport
transition to permanent housing or jobs.
The tiny house villages have the stats
and the records of lives helped and changed.
I've attended monthly meetings
as a CAC member over the years.
The tiny homes and the services are the key
and I want to emphasize the key
and Lehigh the key to cert to,
solving the greater homeless crisis,
not just issue grave crisis, namely named.
Thank you. Council member
Lehigh has and will continue to have success
changing lives and giving people a second chance.
I'm totally in support of Lehigh
and the tiny Home Village concept with services.
I've seen proofs of the program.
It works.
Now we have Hope factory that builds tiny homes.
Old factory had a very meager start as a construction tent
at Camp Second Chance Grounds many years ago.
Look at it now.
Amazing things happen when people are motivated by love
and caring hearts to help people in need.
Please continue making a difference
in the lives of people or unhoused neighbors.
We have a responsibility to keep our neighbors safe.
Thank you.
- True Hope Neighbor and Community
Advisory Committee member Ann Haruki-Pinedo.
- Thank you.
I'm also, in short.
My name is Ann Haruki-Pinedo,
and I'm a volunteer at Tiny Homes, which is called True Hope.
And it's on 17th.
And east Yesler there, right across Langston Hughes.
I live near
True Hope Village, and I have seen firsthand how the village
has grown and served hundreds of people, including dozens of children.
We are one of the villages that is known to house
expectant moms, children and families.
These neighbors come to us unsheltered,
and they just need respite.
They need to come off the streets out of cars
and oftentimes escaping domestic abuse.
Some people arrive with just the clothes on their backs.
The villagers also have case
management and are able to explore
different living options that would work for them.
Many of our villagers are fully employed
and come back to the village at night.
There's one hot meal served every day
and the community has donated microwaves,
refrigerators and so much more.
We also provide Move-In kits
for those who are transitioning to apartments,
and we do this by doing an Amazon wish list,
and it's usually fulfilled in a day or two.
We don't know who our donors are.
But this is what we have
heard that younger donors like to do.
They want to know exactly where their money is going and exactly what,
they're buying.
So we have dozens of people
throughout the community that have found,
this way of participating in homelessness.
Very hopeful.
I think a huge but little known fact is that True
Hope has provided shelter for over 60 expectant moms
in the last few years.
They are served by doulas staff and receive prenatal care.
We also partner with the Seattle Library,
and they have provided books for the young moms.
And if they stay longer.
We also provide toddler toys and whatever they need.
It takes a lot to equip a baby.
Strollers and this and that.
We also have a diaper angel.
He's from Russia.
We don't know his name,
and we just called him.
I mean, we do know his name.
We call him, and he will deliver
a carload of diapers anytime.
Over the years, we have had a huge network of support annually.
We, provide
each and every villager with a Christmas gift.
This usually again, comes from the, community.
The community support of shelters, with
some help has really grown over the years.
And I think this is where the success
of the tiny home villages will come from.
Almost every day someone comes and they bring fruit for their backyard,
clothes for the kids, toys for the children,
and all of it is very well received.
So we think it is a solution
for many communities and a way to
recruit volunteers
who may remain anonymous.
But together supporting people who were
very much in danger.
That's it.
Thank you.
- Next up, we've got the VP of Policy and Advocacy
at Evergreen Treatment Services, Chloe Gayle.
- Hi. Good afternoon everyone.
My name is Chloe Gayle.
And, I'm here today representing Evergreen Treatment Services.
Both are opioid treatment, clinics and the reach.
The program which provides street outreach, case management, services
for the lead program and a small housing team.
Our reach street outreach team has been one of the largest outreach
partners here with the city's human services department for many years.
We outreach communities from Rainier Beach to Aurora Avenue,
including the large community of vehicle residents here in Soto.
Our opioid treatment clinics served over 1000 people daily
a few blocks from here in one of our clinics
last year, the reach team encountered over 5000 unique
people on the street, coming up to us every day asking for help.
They wanted a provider they could trust,
a stable space of their own, refuge from constant threats of harm,
and a community to build hope and inspiration.
Over 50% of the people that we connected with last year
requested support for health, mental health and substance use conditions
but could not navigate recovery systems from the street.
At evergreen, we know how to support every single person to come inside,
but each person has a different constellation of needs
and a unique pathway to recovery and stability.
We're really excited today to be here,
to be part of the mayor's efforts to expand places for people to go
and intentionally designed spaces where people can get their treatment
and service needs met right at their doorstep.
As one part of the effort, our treatment clinics have pledged to work
closely with existing and new enhanced shelter programs,
to bring our treatment in motion vans and our treatment access,
directly to their site and reduce any barriers that we can
to connect people to the lifesaving opioid treatment services that we can provide
as rapidly as possible.
Working closely, also working closely with business alliances,
community councils and small neighborhoods throughout Seattle.
We know that every community in this city wants to alleviate the suffering of those
living outside, and to support the tools to bring them to stability and care.
I'm happy to be here with many of our most skilled, enhanced shelter colleagues.
Sharon Lee I run and my from Cass fair and co-lead
who have the
clinical expertise, the fundamental operational skills,
and the deeply caring professional staff that can bring our most
vulnerable community members into recovery and belonging.
Thank you.
- President
and CEO of Catholic Community Services of Western Washington,
Jilma Meneses.
- Good afternoon.
Can you hear me? Over here.
Okay.
Thank you so much for having me here.
And our to our partners.
Thank you for doing the work that you do.
And of course, we're here
also to thank the mayor for her vision and for her call for her creativity.
Absolutely.
We're partnering with her to create more shelters and more housing.
Absolutely.
We are Catholic Community Services.
We've been doing this work for over 100 years.
We know what works.
And yes, integrated services along with the shelter and other housing is critical.
You don't provide behavioral health and you don't provide a substance
abuse treatment.
That person is lost if they need it, regardless of the shelter.
So we absolutely have to have that integrated shelter,
integrated services with that shelter in the housing.
You know, Catholic Community Services is the largest human
provider, human services provider in the state of Washington.
We serve people from the Canadian border all the way down to Oregon.
And the biggest footprint is here in Seattle.
So we absolutely are part of this solution.
We have to be alongside with you.
We are going to be part of the solution.
We are not going to stay behind.
We're going to do it with you together.
And it is a responsibility of everyone.
As a mayor, said
private, nonprofit,
for profit and yes, government,
whether it's local government or state government.
Absolutely critical.
All of us, every single neighbor has to be part of the solution.
We have over 3400 units.
Of supportive and accessible housing.
And across 76 plus properties, 5500
people in permanent supportive housing,
seven senior centers, sites
serving over 400 seniors and 18
shelter programs, including seven here in Seattle.
So yes, we know what works.
Street homelessness is marked
by instability and constant crises.
As our colleagues have said
in order to address the crises.
This must move forward with integrated services
alongside these shelters, whether they're,
modular units, tiny homes
or hotel shelters like we have, and we have all of it.
We have all of it as long as we have and we have, again, the transitional
and the permanent permanent supportive housing partnership is essential.
We appreciate the mayor's vision
and her commitment to thinking outside the box.
Yes, we appreciate it very much.
So we will partner with her just like you all will.
When we combine housing and integrated services
with behavioral health and substance abuse treatment and other services.
We can move the needle and dignity is restored.
Dignity is restored for those unhoused neighbors of ours.
They need. They need that dignity restored.
And we have a responsibility to provide that, to offer that
with them and walk that journey with them.
So this is a moment
for action.
It's a call to action.
It's a call for partnership.
It's a call for hope.
Is it not?
Is it not? Yes.
Let's expand
access.
Let's restore dignity
and help our neighbors move
from homelessness to hope.
To hope.
Thank you.
- And the CEO of Chief Seattle
Club, Derrick Belgarde.
- Bonjour everybody.
Thank you, Mayor Wilson.
And thank you to everyone here today
who continue to stand with our unhoused relatives and community.
Chief Seattle Club, we believe that housing and shelter
is not simply services that we provide, but it is actually medicine.
Every day we see healing that becomes possible when our relatives
have a place, a safe place to rest, and a place that they can call home.
Today's announcement is an important step to,
step forward,
bringing that healing to more people across our city.
For the native people we serve.
This work is especially urgent.
While we make up less than 2% of the general population here in this region.
We are consistently and unjustly overrepresented
in homelessness and housing insecurity numbers.
This is the ongoing impact of displacement,
both historic and modern.
And yet we know from our own programs like Eagle Village and Raven Village
that harm reduction shelters save lives and helps people stabilize faster,
increasing their chances for success in permanent supportive housing.
But to meet that need,
we must scale up our shelter system quickly and intentionally.
And one of the biggest barriers standing in the way
is access to land
right now.
Organizations like ours spend months or even over a year in our case,
navigating complicated leasing, complicated leasing
processes, zoning restrictions and land use approvals.
These delays cost money, time, and most importantly, opportunities
for people to move in, safely out, in doors from the outside.
Every day we wait is another day someone has left outside
who doesn't need to be.
If we want more tiny house villages, more shelter options,
and more healing centered spaces.
And we need a clear, faster path to securing land.
That means streamlining, leasing, removing unnecessary
obstacles, and providing organizations like ours,
community services and others, the flexibility to be innovative
when we are given the tools in the space we deliver, and we show it
and we prove it. Time and time again,
chief Seattle Club is just one, and we're ready to stand and, be ready
to partner with the city and the mayor to open new shelters and sites quickly
operating with cultural expertise that build pathways to permanent housing.
But we can only do that when land itself is accessible.
Our ancestors always taught us that the land is our first teacher,
but today, the land can also be our greatest solution.
If we remove the barriers that keep it out of reach for us to reach our goals.
Together, we can create a city
where every person, native and non-native, has a safe place to be.
A city that chooses compassion over red tape, and a city
that moves with urgency because lives are actually depending upon it.
So we say me to, Mayor Wilson.
We raise our hands gratitude for taking this step forward.
And to our partners.
Thank you all for walking with us.
Let's continue this work
with speed, clarity, and commitment that all our relatives deserve.
Me, which thank you.
- And frontline service provider at LIHI and OPEIU 8.
Local eight member Brandon Ashford-
Whitfield.
- Good afternoon everyone.
My name is Brandon.
I'm a case manager at Low Income Housing Institute.
Also, member A Opu local eight.
Every day as front line service
providers at the Low Income Housing Institute.
We see what it means when someone has been living on the streets.
Finally has a safe place to sleep.
That moment changes everything.
Our work is about meeting people where they are,
whether it's providing
shelter, connecting them to medical care,
or helping them prepare for a job interview.
We focus on what each person needs.
And we walk
alongside them every step of the way.
What we know from doing this work is that change begins with stability.
When someone has a roof over their head,
they can start to breathe.
They can start to plan.
They can start to heal.
That's what programs like our tiny
village makes possible
for people.
They provide that critical first step
from crisis to stability.
And Lehigh is proud to be a part
of making this happen.
This work is hard,
but when you see someone's life begin to turn around
because they finally have a place they can call their own.
That's why we do what we do.
That's it.
Thank you.
- That's the end of our speakers.
But thank you all so much for coming.
And we'll have a press release out for the mayor's office shortly.