Five years ago, King County and the City of Seattle declared a state of emergency on homelessness. Nevertheless, despite modest declines in subpopulations like families and youth, homelessness rates continued to rise almost every year. As thousands of new workers arrived daily, the region’s affordable housing stock shrank. Rents skyrocketed, historic Black and Brown neighborhoods… Read More of “YouthCare Endorses JumpStart Seattle Payroll Tax”
Yesterday morning the Seattle Times published an article regarding the City of Seattle’s performance standards for our homeless response system and emergency shelter services. The article referenced YouthCare’s CEO, Melinda Giovengo, who participated in an interview in an effort to provide accountability and transparency—as she, and YouthCare—have always done. Unfortunately, the complexity of the issue,… Read More of “YouthCare Responds to the Seattle Times”
YouthCare commends the Seattle City Council and Mayor for their commitment to ending homelessness and their investment in affordable housing. Seattle is in the midst of an economic boom, as new workers flock to our city and new buildings pepper our skyline. At the same time, we are experiencing rising rates of inequality and soaring… Read More of “YouthCare Endorses the Seattle Employee Hours Tax”
“Just because youth are sleeping outside doesn’t mean they prefer to live there,” writes YouthCare’s CEO, Melinda Giovengo, in this Op-Ed to the Seattle Times. “That’s a false dichotomy. It means they were put in the impossible situation of choosing themselves over their family. Or abandoning their partner, because there’s no couples’ shelter. Or their… Read More of “No, Youth Don’t Choose to Live Outside”
Over 40 years ago, Congress passed the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act—the first and only federal law targeted at serving unaccompanied youth. For nearly as long, homeless youth providers and organizations like the National Network for Youth have advocated that Congress fund well-researched and accurate data on the prevalence of youth homelessness. For decades, those… Read More of “4.2 million Homeless Young People is Unacceptable: We Must Do More”
YouthCare supports the renewal of the King County Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy (VSHSL). Our region faces an affordability crisis. Rents in Seattle have risen 57% in the last six years and studies show that every $100 increase in rent is associated with a 15% increase in homelessness in metropolitan areas. King County is… Read More of “YouthCare Endorses King County Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy”
This morning, All Home King County released the results of their point-in-time count of homeless people in our community. The count was performed on January 27, 2017. For this year’s count, All Home employed different methodology than previous years and worked with a new research partner. We have long known that previous counts of 800-1,000… Read More of “YouthCare Responds to All Home 2017 Data on Homelessness in King County”
YouthCare’s Board of Directors recently voted to support the Seattle Housing Levy. The levy would renew and expand the existing property tax levy that funds construction and maintenance of affordable housing—including several YouthCare projects over the years. The August 2 primary election is fast-approaching and YouthCare requests your support for affordable housing. At the end of… Read More of “YouthCare Endorses Seattle Housing Levy”
YouthCare is excited to announce the opening of new housing for homeless youth in the University District! YouthCare will manage University Commons in The Marion West, twenty units of permanent supportive housing for homeless young adults. The Marion West will also be the new home of the University District Food Bank and twenty-nine units of… Read More of “YouthCare Expands Housing for Young Adults in University District”
With more than 40 years of experience serving homeless youth and young adults, we can say with certainty that the best way to end youth homelessness is to prevent youth homelessness from ever occurring. That’s why homelessness prevention has been a growing focus of our work over the last several years, and why our board of… Read More of “Vote Yes on KC Prop 1 – Best Starts for Kids”
