Some of the richest people in America call Seattle home. So do some of the poorest.
Men, women, and children forced to sleep on the streets because of rising house prices, addiction, or mental health problems were told two years ago a plan was in place to save them from their nightmarish conditions.
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The Partnership for Zero, a heavily promoted public-private partnership with the mission of ending unsheltered homelessness in downtown Seattle, was formed. People who had been homeless were hired to do outreach and were given case management responsibilities. The goal was to decrease the number of people living on Seattle's streets to under 30. On any given night, about 1,000 people still call the streets of Seattle home.
Two years after it was formed, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, or KCRHA, announced it was pulling the plug on the pilot program, citing funding problems.
The decision to shutter the plan has also put nearly 40 people who had been homeless at risk of losing their jobs. It has also upset business leaders and city and state officials who were told the program would finally begin to make a dent in the city's homelessness problem.
"This is a tough situation, and we know that it may be especially difficult for staff who have lived experience of homelessness," said Helen Howell, interim CEO of the KCRHA. "It's important to me to extend our deepest gratitude to the Partnership for Zero team and make sure staff are supported through this transition."
The decision to dump the program comes after its initial funding expired and Howell began to reexamine the authority's function and goals as it moves away from providing direct services to Seattle's homeless.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell called the decision "a disappointing end result for the authority, their workers, philanthropists, and, most importantly, people living on the street unhoused downtown."
The Downtown Seattle Association also slammed the decision.
"Partnership for Zero was the right approach that was executed in all the wrong ways," DSA President and CEO Jon Scholes said in a statement. "The effort lacked sound management, oversight, and focus."
KCRHA was denied its initial funding by the Seattle City Council when the program was first pitched. The authority then found private donors through an organization called We Are In, which connects public groups with private philanthropists working to combat homelessness.
Partnership for Zero received $11 million from Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, JPMorgan Chase, and the Ballmer Group, including "contributions, pledges, and in-kind donations," though KCRHA officials said they only received about half of that money.
"The reality is that KCRHA did not want to continue the program as currently set up," said Erik Houser, managing director of external affairs for We Are In. "I know the philanthropic community remains committed to figuring out what the next iteration of downtown outreach looks like."
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The KCRHA has a history of being scrutinized over how it spends money and how it has consistently failed to deliver on promises. Its Governing Committee, which Harrell is on, has called for a comprehensive review of its governance structure, oversight, and accountability systems, the Seattle Times reported.
In announcing that it was going to cancel the Partnership for Zero program, the KCRHA admitted the pilot program "represented an important opportunity to implement a new way of approaching homelessness response as emergency management, and that approach can be applied to future efforts. At the same time, in an environment of limited resources and urgent need, KCRHA's focus needs to be on the core functions of contracts, systems administration, and implementation of the Five Year Plan — supporting our provider partners working across King County."