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City of Seattle and King County Partner with Biden-Harris Administration to Reduce Unsheltered Homelessness

Seattle – Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell and Executive Dow Constantine joined the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) to announce that the City of Seattle, King County, and the King County Regional Housing Authority (KCRHA) are participating in ALL INside, a first-of-its kind White House initiative to address unsheltered homelessness.  

As part of ALL INside, the City, County, and KCRHA are part of a joint agreement to partner with USICH and its 19 federal member agencies for up to two years to strengthen and accelerate local efforts to help unsheltered people move off the streets and into homes where they can access supports and find new pathways to stability. The partnership will bring enhanced collaboration at an opportune time for the City as it looks to build on Mayor Harrell’s One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan

“This new initiative from the Biden-Harris Administration and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is an example of our One Seattle philosophy in action – bringing together people and government partners around common values and a shared mission to make progress,” said Mayor Harrell. “With our partners at King County and the KCRHA, we have a new opportunity to leverage support from the federal government and make a difference reducing homelessness and bringing people inside.” 

To accelerate ongoing efforts by local leaders, the Biden-Harris Administration will offer innovative and tailored support to participating communities for up to two years, including: 

  • Embedding a dedicated federal official in each community to accelerate locally driven strategies and enact system-level changes to reduce unsheltered homelessness; 
  • Deploying dedicated teams across the federal government to identify opportunities for regulatory relief and flexibilities, navigate federal funding streams, and facilitate a peer learning network across the communities; and 
  • Convening philanthropy, the private sector, and other communities to identify opportunities for follow-on support and collaboration.  

“I’m grateful for the partnership of the Biden administration in our mission to ensure every person in King County can have a home,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “The ALL INside initiative is a testament to the power of collaboration, from the federal level to the local organizations meeting the needs of the people we serve, and I look forward to this program being a vital partnership in the work ahead.” 

The Biden-Harris Administration will also launch new cross-cutting policy efforts to address major barriers to housing, health care, and other support for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, as mentioned in the ALL INside White House Fact Sheet and USICH Announcement released today. 

Leaders from Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix Metro, and the state of California participated in today’s event launch with Ambassador Susan Rice, the White House Domestic Policy Advisor; Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, the chair of USICH; and USICH Executive Director Jeff Olivet. The event was livestreamed on the White House YouTube channel.  

ALL INside is part of All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, the White House plan to reach its goal of reducing homelessness 25% by 2025 and ultimately build a country where every person has a safe and affordable home. 

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING 

Senator Patty Murray 

“This is good news for Seattle—sharing best practices for ending homelessness, expanding technical support, and collecting data more effectively is important. We need to be doing everything we can to bring as many federal resources back to Washington state as possible. As Senate Appropriations Chair, I will continue to do everything in my power to prioritize federal funding to help end homelessness and to bring additional resources back to Seattle and every community in Washington state—because everyone deserves a safe place to call home and a roof over their head, it’s as simple as that.” 

Representative Adam Smith, WA 9th Congressional District 

“The announcement today that Seattle has been chosen for the Biden-Harris Administration’s ALL INside initiative to prevent and end homelessness is terrific news for our region. The initiative will leverage the strength of the federal government to advance the efforts of local organizations already doing the important work on the ground to get people off the streets and into safe and affordable housing. I’m pleased to see that the program will work to address all facets of the crisis by increasing access to mental and behavioral health care and workforce services, which are crucial to solving the problem. It will also help promote coordination and best practices in the region, which is crucial to ensuring we are effectively using local, state, and federal funding to tackle the crisis. Homelessness is one of the greatest challenges we face in the Puget Sound region—this exciting partnership will take us further in combatting this crisis in our communities and across the country.”   

Representative Pramila Jayapal, WA 7th Congressional District 

“Seattle has one of the largest unhoused populations across the country, and it only continues to grow as we face a housing affordability crisis. Every single person deserves a place to call home and a roof over their head at night. I am grateful that the Biden Administration has selected Seattle as a partner community for the All INside initiative—bringing much needed federal assistance to help to restructure the conversation around homelessness and bring focus to the root causes.” 

Councilmember Andrew Lewis, Seattle City Council, District 7 

“This partnership between the City of Seattle and the Biden-Harris administration will help us take full advantage of grants and programs necessary to move forward on homelessness.” 

Helen Howell, Interim CEO, King County Regional Housing Authority 

“This is an opportunity to leverage the expertise of our federal partners and opportunities for federal funding.  We appreciate the support of the White House and USICH in championing a place-based, person-centered, and housing-first approach to bringing more people inside.” 

Lisa Daugaard, Co-Executive Director, Purpose Dignity Action 

“I’m hopeful that this Initiative will usher in a strong federal partnership for local efforts to reduce unsheltered homelessness, and appreciate that it was a joint effort by the Mayor, the Executive, and KCRHA under CEO Marc Dones. To deliver the kinds of impacts that everyone wants to see, we have to go beyond the resources that the City of Seattle and King County have at their disposal currently. This is a potentially important new partnership and credit is due to the united approach that made it happen.”