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  "persistedAt": "2026-04-14T03:49:53.116Z",
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  "meeting": {
    "title": "Council President Nelson announces plan to fund addiction treatment",
    "date": "2025-07-23",
    "committee": "General",
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    "org:seattle-city-council",
    "meeting:x177662",
    "committee:general",
    "year:2025",
    "month:2025-07",
    "date:2025-07-23"
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  "text": "Well good morning everyone.\nThank you for coming out on this gorgeous day today.\nAnd, it's it's short notice. I know.\nMust be,\nwe're getting into the long weekend, so thank you very much for being here.\nFirst, I want to thank our speakers, Doctor Mercy Waingina, founder\nand CEO of Hope and Chance integrated Health, Daniel Malone\nof, executive director of the downtown emergency Services Center.\nBrandy McNeil and Lisa Dugard, who couldn't be with us today\nwith Purpose, Dignity Action.\nAnd Steve Woolworth, CEO of Evergreen Treatment Services.\nThank you all for being here.\nAnd I also want to alert you to the fact that we've got other guests,\nincluding Uplift Northwest, Seattle Indian Health Board, the Salvation Army,\nwe have Seattle Reach, The More We Love,\nBattlefield Addiction, Sodo BIA, Ballard Alliance\nand the Alliance for Pioneer Square and the City Attorney's office.\nCity attorney.\nThank you all for standing here with me today.\nAll right.\nYou've\nheard me say this before, but I'll just say it again for good measure.\nThe fentanyl crisis and addiction in general is inextricably\nlinked to our chronic homelessness and our public safety problems.\nAnd you don't have to be in recovery to realize that,\nexpanding access to evidence based treatment is a is a good way\nto help solve both problems, or at least chip away at them for too long.\nFor too long, we've watched people suffering\nfrom untreated addiction in mental illness deteriorate in our streets.\nWhile our neighborhoods become less safe.\nAnd there's a reason why we're right here.\nThis area pioneers, you know, Pioneer Square, Occidental Park is\nis one of the Ground Zeroes in this city for,\nfor gun violence, for, and for\nthe heartbreak that\nis associated with addiction.\nSo, that is why\nI put forward my pilot project a couple of years ago.\nThat enables caseworkers,\nto refer people to rehab at Lakeside-Milam Treatment Center.\nIt's over there in, in Kirkland.\nAfter which Lakeside.\nafter 28 days of residential detox and treatment, they just build a city.\nThat's a simple way of getting people the help they need right now.\nBecause the last thing we want is for Medicaid\nrecipients to wait weeks to get into one of the exceedingly few spots\nbecause we know what can happen in the meantime.\nIt's working. Caseworkers with Co-lead,\nWe HeartSeattle, The More We Love have taken advantage of this resource\nbecause everyone everyone deserves the same chance\nat recovery that I had almost five years ago.\nPeople in Medicaid shouldn't have to wait, and the city\nshouldn't have to wait for, for better solutions.\nWhat I'm fighting for is simple, and it's to put treatment\nat the heart and the center of the city's agenda.\nPolicy agenda.\nWe can't keep deferring investments in treatment\nwhile watching the same people cycle through homelessness, overdose,\nemergency rooms in jail over and over and over again.\nSo bringing people together, putting forward\na package of proposed investments isn't just fiscally, responsible.\nIt's a break from what we've been doing in the past,\ndeferring constantly, which is a moral failure.\nThe time is now for a zealous push for a righteous cause,\nusing an opportunity the legislature gave us by authorizing\nlocal jurisdictions to increase the sales tax by 0.1% for public safety.\nAnd the way that the legislature writes public safety in that bill\ndoes include behavioral health.\nWhile Mayor Harrell has not yet announced implementing\nthis new funding source, he has indicated interest in doing so\nbecause it will raise over $35 million for public safety, and my resolution\ncalls for allocating up to 25% of that\nto the pathway to recovery.\nHB 2015 was sponsored by Representative Inman\nand pushed by the Black Caucus, likely because the Black community\nis disproportionately impacted\nby violence, particularly as violence surrounding the drug trade\nand overrepresented in fatal overdose statistics.\nNo one likes to increase\nregressive taxes, but I am I am suggesting to you,\na little bit of the background why it was put forward.\nThe legislature\ncarved out this funding source.\nPerhaps someone who needs treatment.\nAnyway, the legislature carved out this funding source\nfor public safety, specifically for this kind of intervention.\nThis is not about raising taxes on working families.\nThis is about helping working families.\nBecause there isn't one working family I would suggest that has not been touched\nby addiction.\nMany of you people standing behind me as well.\nWhen we invest\nin getting people off the streets and into treatment, we prevent crime,\nreduce emergency room responses, and make every neighborhood safer.\nAnd that is smart public safety.\nThat is public safety.\nSo our speakers will talk today about sustaining the investments\nwe're already making in treatment and bringing new interventions\nto fill in the gaps in what has been up to now,\na more limited set of options for people who are struggling with addiction.\nBecause take it from me, when someone struggling with a substance\nuse disorder decides to take that step, we have got to give them somewhere to go.\nAnd so that's what I'm trying to do here today.\nI will now stop talking and, turn the mic over to Doctor\nMercy one niner, founder and CEO of Hope and Chance Integrated Health.\nHealth which offers wraparound services for addiction and mental health.\nAnd they're located in Belltown. Thank you.\nGood morning.\nMy name is Doctor Mercy Waingina.\nI'm a board certified, psychiatric nurse practitioner.\nI specialize in mental health and also substance use disorder.\nI’m the CEO and Founder of Hope and Chance Integrated Health,\nwhich is a nonprofit organization that provides wraparound services,\nmental health services and also substance\nuh, services.\nWith over 15 years of direct experience\nworking in correctional facilities, for example, King County Jail, Snohomish\nCounty Jail, Monroe Prison, Purdy Women's Corrections\nI've witnessed first hand and heartbreaking\ncycle of recidivism\nToo often individuals are arrested.\nThey come to the jail, whereby they get, detox,\nthey begin sterilization with medications, and then they're released\nback to the streets with no housing or follow up care or support.\nMany relapse within weeks or months, and then they return into incarceration.\nSo there's that cycle that keep going over and over and over.\nThis deeply\nbroken system inspired me to create a model\nthat addresses these gaps head on.\nEach housing site that we have.\nWe have five different, housing in Seattle,\nfive houses in Tacoma, and we provide transportation.\nSo we are covering all the barriers.\nWe provide transportation, we provide housing,\nwe provide, psychiatric,\nservices like medication management, peer support,\ncase management,\ngroup\nmedical services, and also job placement.\nSo we accept referrals from psychiatric,\nhospitals, inpatient facilities,\nshelters and community based organizations.\nAdditionally, our outreach professionals engage directly\nwith unhoused individuals in the community to connect them with services.\nWhat makes our model unique is our fierce commitment\nto remove the most common barriers for recovery,\nhousing, transportation, and community reintegration.\nOne of the most impactful partnerships we've had\nis with We Heart Seattle, and we are working with Andrea Suarez.\nShe's the CEO and founder.\nShe did believe in our mission\nand helping our clients rediscover their purpose.\nMany of our clients volunteer to help clean up the public spaces,\nreclaiming not just the environment, but their own dignity\nand help heal the environment they once struggled in.\nOur program structure is in three phases,\nso once they come into our program, we give them 90 days, which is phase one.\nSo in phase one, we focus on just giving the treatment, focusing on our clients.\nThey are with us for 90 days\nand it's all individual based before they can transition to phase two.\nSo once they move to phase two, the transition to phase two,\nwe started talking about continuing with the treatment.\nAnd also we start talking about job placement.\nWe are currently working with a few apprenticeships,\nso we want to give them the skills while they're still in the program,\nstill getting the treatment that they need.\nSo once they get the treatment that they need and they find jobs,\nthey can go to jobs and still continue getting the treatment.\nSo we are preparing them for placement into housing,\nbecause putting them into housing without a purpose, without giving them\nsomething to look forward to, it's not going to help them\nbecause they're going to go back to using the drugs,\nor they're going to use the same, same drugs in those housing.\nSo we have to prepare them, and they have up to 90 days\nto be able to work,\nstay with us, continue getting the help that they need.\nAnd then once they're stable, they're able to save up enough money\nto put down for, for housing, and then they're able to transition and,\nwe have had a lot of success stories.\nWe have clients that have moved into housing, low income housing.\nThey are still working.\nThey still continue seeing our psychiatric nurse practitioners.\nWe have almost five psychiatric nurse practitioners.\nWe have medical providers who provide a who provides medical services.\nAnd we check in with these clients even after they move on.\nAnd, all I can say is we are getting good,\nprogress and we're getting good success\nstories.\nAt Hope and Chance\nIntegrated Health, we are not just providing treatment,\nwe are restoring hope, rebuilding lives, and creating\nlasting change in our communities, one person at a time.\nThank you.\n(applause)\n- Next, I'd like to\nwelcome Daniel Malone, who needs no introduction from downtown.\nYeah.\nEmergency services.\nGo ahead.\n- Thank you very much.\nCouncil President Nelson. Good morning.\nI'm with DESC, which is an organization that provides\nshelter, emergency housing, permanent supportive housing,\nand behavioral health services for people with really complicated and profound\ndisabling conditions who have also been experiencing long term homelessness.\nAnd in short, we assist people with getting off the streets for good\nand giving them a chance\nto stabilize and better reconnect with the life of the community.\nThe things that make the biggest difference for people\nwith serious mental illness and long time substance use disorder to live\nhealthier and happier lives include, first and foremost,\na safe and stable place to live, as well as a range of care\nand support that's applicable to their individual needs.\nFor many people who we focus on helping a DESC\nthat includes tailored behavioral health services,\nincluding case management, psychiatric diagnosis and medication\nand treatment for a range of substance use disorder conditions.\nWe offer a state licensed substance use disorder treatment that includes\noutpatient counseling and case management, assistance with accessing inpatient\ntreatment and use of medications where indicated.\nOver the past year, we've had markedly improved\nsuccess in assisting people to start\nand stay on medications for opioid use disorder.\nThis success is attributable to bringing care\nto people where they're comfortable receiving it,\nand to advances in the protocol for administering buprenorphine so that,\nit's much more comfortable for people to take.\nIt's hundreds of people are benefiting from this approach,\nand they're staying off of fentanyl use as a result.\nBut many, many more people need this kind of treatment.\nAnd existing programs are at capacity.\nWe also see many more people struggling\nwith their use of other substances, including stimulants like methamphetamine.\nAnd we need to, as a community, devise and implement\na range of better interventions to help people who use\nmethamphetamine achieve the same kind of success\nwe're having with people who are using fentanyl and other opioids.\nThis funding that Council President Nelson is proposing ensures that the city's\napproach to the crisis on our streets will include evidence\nbased and innovative strategies that will produce lasting change,\nand I'm grateful to see these proposed investments.\nThank you.\n(applause)\n- Next I'd like to call it Brandy McNeil of of Purpose\nDignity Action.\n- Thank you.\nI want to, begin by expressing deep admiration for Council President Nelson.\nShe has been a consistent and vocal champion of recovery services,\nand she has never wavered in her commitment\nto making these issues a top priority for our city.\nHer leadership is one of the reasons we're able to stand here today and talk\nnot only about the challenges we face, but also the progress we've made.\nLet's be clear any serious public safety system must prioritize\nhow we respond to individuals with complex behavioral health needs,\nespecially when those needs are contributing to harm\nor distress in neighborhoods and business districts.\nIgnoring that reality only prolongs the cycle.\nConfronting it head on is how we build safer, healthier communities.\nOver the last several years, we've seen measurable progress\nthrough initiatives that take this approach seriously.\nOur partnership with SPD on drug\npossession and public use diversions required by both\nthe Possession and Public Use Ordinance adopted in the fall of 2023\nand by speedy policy, has been a standout success.\nNow, instead of jail or prosecution, individuals contacted by SPD\nhave access to a warm handoff 24 over seven within 30 minutes to a field\nresponse team that can connect them to services immediately.\nWe're also in the process of critical data integration with SPD systems,\nso that officers can make decisions directly within their information system,\nget credit for those those decisions,\nand have greater visibility into who's already in the program.\nThat means officers can directly contact case managers\ninstead of cycling people through jail or emergency rooms.\nThat's as council member, council President Nelson said, that's\nsmart public safety policy and smart public safety policy works.\nOther efforts have seen similar success.\nThe Just Care program, originally focused on encampment resolution,\nhas evolved into a robust model that informed the state transfer\ntransportation, right of way encampment resolution program\nco-lead continues to show remarkable outcomes.\nOver 95% of participants accept services.\nMore than 70% transition to permanent housing, 100% are enrolled in Medicaid,\nand we've had zero co-lead participant overdose.\nOverdose deaths in co-lead lodging.\nThe Third Avenue Project is another example.\nBusiness owners and residents alike.\nPardon me, residents alike, have reported a high level of satisfaction with\nWe Deliver Care’s rapid street level response, and we've seen successful\nshelter and housing placements through lead case management\nfor chronically unsheltered people with high neighborhood impact.\nBecause of\nthese interventions, we're seeing tangible results\ndeclining crime rates, a growing sentiment among residents and businesses.\nThat disorder is decreasing and reduced overdose deaths.\nBut I want to be honest, we still have a long way to go.\nAnd what's even more pressing is that all the programs I've mentioned\nhave suffered major setbacks\ndue to state and local funding reductions over the last three years.\nWe cannot afford to let what's working fall apart.\nWe have to stabilize these programs\nand add new pieces to address the gaps that remain.\nOne such effort was Council President Nelson's idea\nto sponsor a low friction pathway for immediate placement\ninto private pay inpatient treatment programs like Lake Lakeside-Milam.\nShe understood that low barrier programs like LEAD and Co-LEAD\ndon't require sobriety at entry, but they do support people\nmaking as much progress as possible on the path to recovery.\nCo-LEAD nominated the largest group to use this option so far,\nand nearly all of them completed treatment and are still doing well today.\nBut that\nexperience also revealed another gap when participants finished treatment.\nThey shouldn't have to return to housing where active use is prevalent.\nCouncil President\nNelson was absolutely right to push for recovery housing rent subsidies\nto help people maintain the progress they've worked so hard to achieve,\nand perhaps most fundamentally, none of this works without long\nterm, high quality case management.\nThat's the heart of what lead and CO-LEAD provide.\nAnd yet those programs are very much in jeopardy due to millions of dollars\nin lost local and state funding over the last two years.\nWe strongly support the full range of investments\ncalled for in the resolution under discussion today and\nand yet those this work\nbelongs at the center of our city's public safety agenda, not on the margins.\nAnd it must be funded accordingly.\nOnce again, I want to thank Council President Nelson\nfor her leadership in advancing this work.\nWe have proof that these approaches work now.\nWe must ensure that these efforts\nhave the funding needed to continue delivering results.\nThank you.\n(applause)\n- Last but certainly not least, Stephen\nWoodworth of Evergreen Treatment Services.\n- Good morning.\nWe had evergreen treatment Services have been providing substance\nuse disorder treatment in Seattle for 52 years.\nWe find ourselves, right now in the nonprofit,\ncommunity based behavioral health and social service sector\nin very challenging and uncertain times.\nFor those organizations who serve individuals with severe substance\nuse disorder, especially those living unsheltered,\nbecause it's a struggle for much of our workforce\nto actually afford to live in Seattle.\nLending support for a sales tax increase is not something that I take lightly.\nHowever, if this tax to support public safety is adopted, I strongly support\ndedicating a portion of the revenue to funding low barrier shelter\nservices, jail diversion and alternative response,\nand the coupling of behavioral health and permanent supportive\nhousing in addition to needed capital improvement projects,\nwe continue to find ourselves in a perilous situation\nwith poisonous drug supply and persistent, preventable drug overdose deaths\nthat disproportionately affect those living unsheltered.\nTo date, even if we had tighter system coordination,\nI would argue the resources have never been adequate\nto address the scale and scope of the problem that we face.\nUnfortunately, the irresponsible and draconian Medicaid cuts\nthat the Senate just passed moments ago by one vote\nwill further compound the devastation and the consequences\nfor the most vulnerable here in Western Washington will be severe.\nI see the opportunity to invest the sales tax generated\nrevenue in recovery oriented services as one step we can take\nto fund evidence based services at the local level,\nin response to the federal government's abandonment of vulnerable and sick people.\nAs is often said during a times of crisis, every little bit helps.\nI want to\nacknowledge and\nthank Councilmember President Nelson for her leadership and foresight\nin recognizing that public health and public safety are inextricably linked.\nHealthy communities are safer communities, and given what we're up against,\ndirecting some public safety funding towards pathways to recovery\nis the right and responsible thing to do.\n(applause)\n- Thank you all.\nI'll just briefly close us out here by by,\nsaying out loud what you might be thinking.\nThis is an eclectic mix of service providers.\nThey represent different, methodologies, different\nphilosophies, different approaches to addiction and treatment.\nBut it takes all of us, really.\nWe cannot, we can't pick and choose.\nI believe when I stumbled into the politics\nof treatment and recovery I didn't know about,\nyou know, harm reduction versus not harm reduction, housing first, etc..\nI was just thinking about the fastest way to get people help.\nAnd so that's what that's the spirit that we have to go forward with.\nI want to recognize that city attorney and Davison is here today\nbecause in a few weeks, her drug possession,\ndrug prosecution alternative will start up as the next layer\nthat we need in the fight for winning, for people winning over addictions.\nAnd, in where they will have more accountability\nleading to the doorway to recovery treatment.\nI mangled that quote,\nbut I just want to say that it takes every, every branch of government\nto do their job as well.\nPolicy, the courts and and the executive.\nAnd so what I'm calling for is a critical shift in how we think about,\ntreatment and recovery in substance use disorder.\nAnd, and I'll come together because it's because, as I've said before,\naddiction is expensive for us to deal with the, the impacts.\nAnd I'm not even touching on the sorrow and the heartache and,\nand the desperation that people around us in this town feel every day.\nThe next steps in this, in, in this process is that\nI do have a resolution that has been cleared by law\nand will be on the introduction and referral calendar next week.\nIt is a, it's a it's an introduction.\nIt's a resolution that lists a series of investments.\nAnd if somebody has their paper,\ncan I read some of them?\nThank you.\nThis is not a complete list of all the things that I'm calling for, but\nbecause our needs are great,\nexpanding access to on demand\nresidential and intensive\noutpatient substance use disorder treatment, enhancing access to recovery,\nhousing and recovery based services within already existing housing.\nPermanent supportive housing,\ninnovative, innovative approaches to addressing stimulant\nuse disorder and expanding the provision of long lasting buprenorphine injections.\nThat's what, that's what Daniel Malone was just talking about.\nAnd on and on and on.\nIt's really long list stabilizing diversion.\nAnd, and our co-lead model,\nfunding capital investments\nin the facilities where people go, for treatment\nand also our drop in centers for people that, that are living outside unhoused.\nAnd this is one thing that I haven't mentioned and hasn't come up in\nconversation is we need to coordinate with the King County to increase\nthe number of designated crisis responders, otherwise known as doctors,\nthat operate within Seattle to facilitate referrals\nto secure withdrawal management and stabilization facilities,\nsuch as the one operated by Valley Cites Behavioral Health Care.\nAnd, what we're talking about is involuntary commitment.\nWe've heard more and more acceptance of,\nin recognition of the need for that,\nfor people who are in danger of harming themselves and others.\nThe problem is there aren't enough doctors to really,\nhelp us take that next step.\nSo the list goes on and on.\nI'm not going to bore you with, with everything that we need to do.\nMy point is that we have to start now and focus on treatment\nas a public safety response.\nSo thank you very much for all being here today.\n(applause)\nI can take a couple questions.\nYeah.\n- Your announcement says that this is going to be\na low barrier to the, treatment.\nSome of the folks that are gathered here might offer a low barrier to support it.\nSo how is that legislation will be guaranteed if this is low barrier\nrather than treatment that, you know, for example, kicks people out of\nthe program.\n- Most treatment is short\nterm, that I'm talking about when I'm talking about treatment there.\nObviously, we've got opioid use disorder treatment\nthat is ongoing for a long time, and then you've got your rehab,\nwhich is simply, you know, you go to a facility at detox,\nand then you spend some time trying to get your mind straight.\nThe point is that, it, it takes everything.\nAnd it's not up to us to define, what people should do.\nAnd what is the right,\npath to recovery for them.\nWhat I am trying to do\nis I'm trying to add more pavers on that roadway to recovery.\nSimply.\n- As I've I've studied this topic\nmore deeply over the past year, Council members,\nI was really unaware of the schism\nbetween low barrier and recovery\nhousing.\nI find it hard to believe\nthe two sides are necessarily going to come together on this.\nOne of the things I found, most interesting as a study\nabout this is\naddict upon addict I've spoken to has said,\nthey aren’t asked with getting into recovery\nabout getting into detox until they proactively ask for it.\nWhy aren't we proactively\nasking people in crisis\nimmediately and often\nto get into treatment?\n- That's a very good question.\nAnd first of all, what I would have to say is that, the new HSD contracts for\nfor outreach for our outreach services do require that the outreach workers do\nemploy, motivational interviewing, which is a way of centering\nthe conversation on the client and servicing their\ntheir goals, short term and long term goals and leading\nfolks to a decision to take care of themselves.\nSo what I think I would like to tell you is that, yeah, the schisms\nthat you talk about, I, I truly believe because I wouldn't be standing here with,\nall sides of the schism if we all didn't recognize that\nit takes all kinds of treatment and all because there is not one cookie cutter,\nthere's not one path only to recovery.\nAnd it takes, and that is why every single service that, that,\nthat the organizations represented here provide are important because,\nyou know, I chose one thing\nwhen I made that decision, but somebody else might choose another.\n- Your announcement is up to 25% of the revenue\ngenerated in the people, based on service providers agreement.\nYou have an idea of the other 75%\nwould go to?\n- Well,\nI think that's for the mayor to say.\nWhat I will say is that there is,\nthere are vastly more services.\nThe need is tremendously greater than than,\nyou know, 20%, 5%, 25% of $35 million.\nRight? I'm talking about starting.\nI'm talking about starting a conversation toward, focusing on the need\nfor treatment and, and, and shoring up the services\nthat we already have and filling in the gaps.\n- I just wanted to go back to the designated crisis responders.\nMy understanding is that there is a problem.\n- Oh. Oh.\nOh, Gina.\nI'm sorry. Can you come up here?\nI didn't.\nMy understanding is because.\nGina with Uplift Northwest. Go ahead.\nAnd where, you know, you can have more people\ntrying to get people to do voluntary....\nGood.\nBut there's, certainly there's not necessarily anywhere\nto put them that is secure.\nYou know, when you're talking about involuntary treatment, what we focus on.\nBecause I guess this question sorry, I got.\nDistracted by, yeah.\n- Focusing on DCR simply because, when I am told\nwhy it's difficult to get people who,\nfrom a professional perspective\nshould be, in such a facility,\nthe people that actually make that call are,\nvery difficult to reach or just simply unavailable for too long.\nSo that is why, that is why I'm focusing on\nand obviously they're designated by King County,\ncorrect?\nAnd so we're not the boss of, of the county, clearly.\nBut if we were to,\nprovide some\nadditional funding for some additional,\nFTE, let's say that could serve specifically Seattle residents,\nthen I think that would go a long way toward breaking through that bottleneck.\nYeah.\n- So that point is this sort of reflect\nthe lack of faith that the King County is going to increase its investment.\nIn this intensive services?\n- So I'm not going to speak for the county.\nI do serve on the Board of Health and the,\nthe governance board of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.\nSo I do hear of their budget,\nchallenges as well.\nIt's not a lack of faith.\nIt is simply that we have to do more.\nAnd I think that we can all agree that, that what the county offers,\nit offers is insufficient to meet the need we've got right here in Seattle,\nlet alone the rest of the county.\nSo that's why we're trying to to pitch in here.\nYou know, what I want to mention is that we expanded,\nthe CARE team from seven to, I believe, 27.\nResponders.\nBut where do they send people when they're dealing with somebody in crisis?\nIf a CARE team member were right here, what would that person,\nsay or do with the with the gentleman who is who is just passing by.\nThe same goes for, for outreach.\nI want to recognize Andrew Constantino.\nHe took me on a walk in Little Saigon and, explained the work that he does.\nBut what does one tell someone if when Andrew's in conversation with them,\nif they say, yeah, I really want to stop using where do they go?\nAnd so this is what I'm talking about\nis our resources that are, immediately available.\nAnd also meet many other needs.\nI funded a an additional, mobile medication unit for evergreen\ntreatment services because we can't just arrest people\nfor using drugs downtown, we should be also offering them treatment\nright where\nRight in the hotspots,\nThird Avenue Pike in Pines, Little Saigon.\nThat's just one, however.\nAnd so I am calling for a,\na pivot, a critical shift in the way we think about the importance\nof treatment and centrality in advancing public safety.\nAnd also, public health.\n- Would investments in,\nearmarking these investment for treatment\ntake away from the larger, goal around the police\ndepartment?\n- Well.\nI, I recognize that we that hiring\nthat SPD is hiring at unprecedented rates.\nYou know, thanks to many of the policies that council put into action.\nSo we will likely have, a shortfall this year in that department.\nI don't, but it is not up to 35 million.\nAnd I'm sure that the mayor has other plans for, for this, resource,\nwhen and if, he puts it forward with the, with the other budget legislation.\nBut what could be more important?\nThat's simply the point I'm trying to make.\nOkay.\nOne more question.\nOkay. I.\nI did,\n- We've been getting sober\nand sober about a lot of years.\nLike, I kind of question to everyone up here\nand I, I've always wanted to know the answer to this.\nI was an addict.\n17 years, 14 years recovery.\nI've always heard this word evidence based.\nEvidence of what?\nCan anyone answer\nwhat the what that evidence means evidence of what?\nI mean.\nWe talk about investing money in evidence based solutions.\nEvidence of what?\n- I'll answer I will I'm not going to go there.\nDoes that mean a person buys a home?\nDoes that mean a sober person\nthat doesn't use drugs or what does the evidence show?\nThe what I will simply say is I've never looked at that question the same way, but,\nSAMSA defines\nrecovery basically as getting one's life back together.\nAnd that is the goal that we are that we're after is is helping.\nExcuse me, sir.\n- But I'm just asking because that's that's.\nAnd no one's ever came and asked anyone from us about that.\n- And that's okay.\nSo this is what this...\nHow do we get our evidence put forth?\n- Okay, I would be let me, let us talk about that later.\nBut the reason why I also want people to recognize\nis that in addition to our, our existing large service\nproviders, when we're talking about getting people off the street,\nthere is a whole network of pie of private or philanthropy supported\nsmaller shops that can also help relieve the,\nthe shortage of space in our, in our already existing,\ntransitional and permanent supportive housing.\nAnd I and here's the reason that I wanted to just add one more thing.\nI asked the, the directors of two of our business improvement areas\nhere is because as a small business owner, I hear, I know,\nand I hear from small businesses all the time, the, the,\nthe impacts of the,\nthe fentanyl crisis on our neighborhood business districts.\nAnd mind you, the game has changed completely with fentanyl.\nAnd so we can't keep doing things in the same old way that we used to.\nThat is why I'm calling for a critical pivot toward a focus on treatment\nthat offers a number of different modalities\nto help the people that we see struggling on our streets every day.\nThank you, everybody, for coming today.\n- Is the mayor supporting your proposal?\nThe mayor has indicated,\nsupport of the principle of the, of the idea.\nAnd, it will have to wait until we get closer to the,\nto budget to figure out what, what the departments\nare proposing for some reductions before we get to any hard numbers.\nThank you.\n(applause)"
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