BURIEN, Wash. — An array of programs and agencies received part of Burien's $508,000 funding for human services in 2023. The money went to city council-approved priority areas.
"Everything you do really impacts all the issues we've been dealing with on the council, from homelessness to crime. It all gets started at a root cause you're trying to address," Councilmember Hugo Garcia said to the two-person team that runs the Human Services Division at Monday's council meeting.
The Human Services Division gave the following breakdown of how the money helped people in Burien.
- Nearly 10,000 residents served
- More than 1,200 nights of shelter were provided
- Emergency financial help was given to more than 200 families
- More than 1,300 were connected to health services
- More than 1.13M lbs. of food was distributed
- Nearly 3,000 hours of academic support was provided.
Councilmember Sarah Moore noted that around half of the money went to help people with rental or utility assistance, which keeps them off the streets.
"It's no surprise to us that given the rising rents occurring here in Burien, that people are struggling to make ends meet," Colleen Brandt-Schluter, Burien's Human Service Manager, said in response to Moore's observation.
The struggle some face in Burien is more obvious than others. For more than a year, Burien City leaders have struggled with how to address the crisis on its streets: a small but highly visible unhoused population.
Burien and the King County Sheriff's Office are currently in a legal battle over the city's recently expanded camping ban. Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall filed a complaint earlier this month. She wants a judge to determine the constitutionality of the ban.
As that case, and another lawsuit against the ban, works its way through the court system, Mayor Kevin Schilling said the city is still focused on leading with services to the unhoused.
"The City of Burien just approved a partnership between Mary's Place and Mercy Housing to fund 200 shelter beds and 90 permanent supportive housing (units,)" Schilling said. This was made possible, according to him, by Amazon giving $6 million dollars for the partnership to happen. Schilling believes it helps hammer home the point he continues to make on the topic of homelessness; local cities can't address it alone.
"As a community, our economy is not set up to match the need in place right now," Schilling said. "It will require the federal government and state government to really step up because resource strapped communities aren't going to be able to solve the problem for everybody."
Organizations that would like to apply for funding from Burien's Human Services Division for next year have to apply by April 8.
Below is the list of agencies and programs that were awarded money.
- African Community Housing and Development awarded $5,000
- ANEW was awarded $6,000
- Asian Counseling and Referral Services awarded $21,000
- BrightSpark awarded $6,871
- Catholic Community Services awarded $13,500
- Children’s Therapy Center awarded $8,500
- Crisis Connections awarded $9,000
- Domestic Abuse Women’s Network awarded $3,500
- Families Of Color Seattle awarded $10,000
- Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest awarded $7,500
- HealthPoint Dental awarded $10,000
- HealthPoint Medical awarded $5,000
- Highline Area Food Bank awarded $18,000
- Hospitality House awarded $15,000
- Institute for Family Development awarded $15,980
- King County Bar Association awarded $10,000
- King County Sexual Assault Resource Center awarded $8,560
- Lutheran Community Services NW awarded $5,000
- Mary’s Place awarded $22,600
- Multi-Service Center awarded $23,450
- Navos awarded $27,000
- Partners in Employment awarded $10,000
- Puget Sound Training Center awarded $6,500
- Safe Futures awarded $16,000
- Seattle-King County Department of Public Health – Mobile Dental Van awarded $8,000
- Sound Generations awarded $10,920
- Sound awarded $10,000
- Southwest Youth and Family Services awarded - $70,000
- St. Vincent de Paul awarded $56,4000
- The YMCA awarded $22,500
- White Center Food Bank awarded $35,000
- YWCA – Seattle/King/Snohomish awarded $10,000