This Needs Update is for the 2023-24 funding cycle. Outreach methods included a statistically-valid phone survey, which is interesting b/c usually city's outreach surveys are emphasized as not being statistically valid.
Conversation
As one might expect, there were significant increases or shifts in need in these areas over the course of COVID-19.
From the phone survey: 1 in 6 Bellevue households lost income because of the pandemic.
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When 74% of your community identifies a lack of affordable housing as the top community problem, it sure sounds like you need to through every tool in the tool basket against the wall and see what sticks.
Combining metaphors, I know. But still.
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Appreciate these numbers getting in front of the eyes of Bellevue electeds. The question is - what are they going to do with this information?
In an ideal world, bold action to increase housing diversity and affordability, but I'm fearful that's not going to happen.
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Accepting 333 children as homeless in one of the richest school districts in the country to be homeless is a policy failure.
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As city continues to diversify, further investments will be needed in bilingual & culturally competent staff that reflects the cities numerous communities.
Unfortunately, our city also sees a decent number of hate and bias incidents - 22 total in the first half of 2021.
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*whispers* When we prioritize a transportation system that doesn't rely on ownership and operation of personal automobiles, these numbers will go down, I promise
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Council comments/questions: DM Nieuwenhuis - asks how DV & behavioral health stats changed from two years ago pre-COVID. Notes that all the issues presented tonight are interconnected.
Staff say 4 point increase since two years ago, 8 point increase from four years ago.
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Also asks what lessons city is learning around outreach to BIPOC communities. Staff note that they were able to adapt and find ways to make sure human services were able to reach the community. Says that the new practices they've learned won't go away post-pandemic.
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CM Barksdale: highlights the Communities of Color Coordinating Team as a partner that can be engaged w/ to support BIPOC community. Mentions Council retreat at end of March and asks if HSC can create a prioritized list of needs that can be analyzed during the retreat.
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CM Robertson: concerned w/ youth behavioral health vis-a-vis school shutdowns. Wants to see more funding going to behavioral health for youth, notes BSD is doing universal BH screening for high school students, that data will be helpful.
Also brings up HB 1590 and its ability to fund capital and ongoing costs for housing, suggest using other human services funds for things that can't be funded by HB 1590 money, like youth mental health. "We cannot let the youth of Bellevue spiral."
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CM Zahn: Notes the health disparities for BIPOC communities w/ COVID & preventative health. Says transportation is a significant barrier for some people to even access services. "Funding is not one size fits all" Wants funding that can give orgs "latitude" to meet community need.
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Also notes importance of keeping and maintaining workers in nonprofits, likens it to helping them get the oxygen mask on themselves. Wants city to streamline processes & reporting so they can more directly & quickly help people. Supports living wages for workers in these spaces.
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CM Lee: "You never meet all the needs. We know the need is out there, and we can only take care of a small portion of it."
I mean, if we actually raised taxes in one of the wealthiest cities in the state, maybe we *could* actually meet all the need. Just a thought.
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Little matches the dread I feel when I'm behind in a live Council meeting so I look ahead at the Youtube preview thumbnail to see how far behind I am in the meeting and I see that CM Lee is still talking 6 minutes later
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In those 6 minutes, I think he alternates between saying that you can't prioritize the needs of a particular group because "one person starving is the same as another person starving" but then later says young people are the most important, so as usual I'm not sure what he means.
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Okay, says two main things: 1) he doesn't want to pit one group in need against another, 2) agrees with prioritizing diverse staff that reflects the community.
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CM Stokes: asks members of Human Services Commission what they'd need from the city to do more & and a better job, "not just money, but other factors". Notes that there are barriers placed around what they're able to do based on Council action, like funding, like I noted above.
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Says staff & commission do great work, but it only meets small portion of the need. Sounds exasperated as he's talking, tbh. "We ask questions we know the answer to, we say, 'Hey, we're doing great, shiny things'...how are we using data to create better outcomes?"
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"How do we get more, because if we don't do it, people are going to die... People are going to be sick. It's just frustrating that we're doing all these great things, but we're leaving so much left undone... Let's refocus on how we use the city's & region's assets."
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Mayor Robinson: says she's hearing appreciation but uncertainty from the Council about if what the city's doing is making an impact. Says it'd be interesting to see what the impact of city's funding has been on particular areas. Appreciates the focus on childcare in the update.
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Notes the need for higher pay in behavioral health, asks how Bellevue is responding to that. To first point, staff note pandemic makes it difficult to objectively measure funding's impact. HSC will be discussing guiding principles & priorities w/ applications for funds.
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Staff have noted Council feedback tonight and will include their priorities in HSC discussions.
Mayor says city's put millions into rental assistance and helped thousands of families avoid eviction. Those numbers don't actually stack up, but I'll have more info on that tomorrow.
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Dynamic on display here that I've seen play out time & time again:
Progressive CM highlights the immense work that city still has to do on some issues, like human services.
Mayor brings it back to something positive the city's doing, often with misleading or incomplete data.
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Moving onto the discussion of HB 1590 fund allocation. Says that they'll be back at the end of Q1 with discussions around funding allocations for 2022. Tonight's discussion will also delve into "what's next", which I hope includes a mention of what's happens to the leftover $4.4M
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Timeline of the process so far. City approved behavioral health funds back last year. RFPs for capital projects funding opened up in Fall 2021, discussion happens tonight with formal approval happening at a later meeting via consent agenda.
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Just, *really* want to highlight the speed argument. KC had projects ready to go and was able to mobilize quickly *because* synergies were able to happen across agencies.
Going it alone means a 4 month RFP process several months after funds started being collected.
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Important to keep in mind that HB 1590 funds can only be used for housing & services for certain members of the population.
King County's Health through Housing initiative, for example, focused on Permanent Supportive Housing facilities for people who are chronically homeless.
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ARCH Trust funds will also be up for discussion in front of Council later this quarter, though I will need to do more research as to the exact amounts of funding available and what they can be used for.
Staff do establish that unassigned monies this year will flow into next year
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To Council's credit, housing at 0-30% AMI was identified as a key priority for these funds. HB 1590 funding can technically be used for housing up to 60% AMI, and there was the concern when city decided to go it alone that they'd choose to focus on this upper range.
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This is important because the largest housing availability gap in Bellevue is in that 0-30% AMI range. This is also the population most at risk of homelessness.
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Lots of good tables and graphs in this document.
20% of Bellevue households were <50% AMI in 2017 (I suspect that's gone up).
1/3 of Bellevue households were cost-burdened from 2013-2017 (again, I suspect that's gone up).
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The project that staff are recommending funding for this evening note that the org has received some additional funding since their original request. They're only recommending $1.6M in funding instead of the full $2M as a result. The state, KC, and ARCH all recommend the project.
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Project will create 25 affordable units for survivors of domestic violence. Lifewire will be able to provide services to residents through a brand-new services building on the property. City will not have to fund supportive services for the project b/c funding is from elsewhere.
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The two projects staff is recommending not be funded at this time are still in early planning stages and could be eligible for funding in the future pending project clarification. Between the two of them, still would have been only $1.1M out of the $6M available in this RFP.
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"These projects are not expected to be constructed *for the next 5 to 9 years*"
Wow, really doing some advance planning there by applying for these funds. So concerning then that there aren't more orgs that applied for funding.
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If the only orgs who applied for this RFP were 1 doing construction right now and 2 doing construction 5-9 years from now, where will the orgs for next year's RFP be? The year after that? What's missing, that these projects just aren't happening in the near-term?
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For lessons learned, staff note the extensive collaboration between different entities, such as ARCH & public funders. When they chose to go it alone, Council did note they still wanted to be a good regional partner.
Staff also note synergy needed between housing & services.
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Staff also note that many developers "were not aware of this funding last summer" and that now they are, so they are interested in applying for this funding going forward.
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Mayor Robinson: "It's so hard...to see this funding available and to be anxiously wanting to provide funding for these projects, but we're just beginning. It's a process, and I appreciate the work we're doing. I hope going forward we can move faster on funding other projects."
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Believes outreach will be an important piece, "We can't just sit back and hope people will apply for this." Also appreciates emphasis for on-site supportive services.
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