Seattle mayor rolls out plan to address ‘homeless crisis’
Sep 12, 2014, 2:47 PM | Updated: 3:03 pm
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray Friday detailed plans to increase funding for public safety and add additional services for the homeless as part of his 2015-2016 budget proposal. (Photo: Brandi Kruse/KIRO Radio)
(Photo: Brandi Kruse/KIRO Radio)
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is revealing his plan to address homelessness in the City of Seattle.
In a press conference Friday, Murray detailed aspects of his 2015-2016 budget proposal that would increase funding for public safety and add additional services for the homeless.
The plan includes $3.3 million in funding to hire 50 new officers by the end of next year and $2.5 million for human services, including $1.5 million to help the city’s homeless transition out of shelters and into permanent housing.
“It is an incredible crisis,” Murray said of the number of people living on Seattle’s streets. “The roughly 3,000 people who are homeless under my watch are now my responsibility, but I cannot by myself solve what the great recession has inflicted on people in this county, on people in this state, and on people in this city.”
Murray stressed the importance of the state and federal government helping to fund human services.
“I don’t believe that we have the resources as a city alone, without partners in the federal government and state government, to take care of the people who sleep on our streets,” Murray said.
The mayor’s proposal includes $600,000 a year to fund a program to provide 150 homeless adults – mainly veterans – with rental assistance and help finding a job.
Murray also outlined new funding for public safety, which will include hiring a civilian chief information officer to “drive better policing, better use of resources, and better accountability.”
The CIO, Murray said, would also help ensure full compliance with a federal court order to reform the police department. He said he has set aside $5 million in the 2015-2016 budget to comply with requirements of the order.
The budget proposal also includes $3.3 million to fill recruitment classes at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center. Murray said the police department will seek to hire 50 new officers by the end of 2015, with a goal of 100 new officers by the end of his term.
