Advocates, activists and lawmakers are at the end of their ropes trying to figure out how to solve Seattle’s homeless crisis — but, amid the committees, meetings and media events, the people at the frontlines have an additional question: How can we do this work without becoming homeless ourselves?

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s “Out of Reach” report, a Seattleite requires $61,160 a year to live comfortably.

By contrast, a typical caseworker in Seattle makes less than $48,000 annually. Rarely do they receive raises that keep up with the cost of housing, health care or other needs, which leaves many social service providers on the brink of becoming clients.

The issue of wages was front and center at a committee meeting of the Seattle City Council on Aug. 16. At the meeting, providers made the argument that they cannot afford to pay the people doing the work to transition folks out of homelessness enough to support themselves.

The City, however, has no clear answer.

At a hearing held by the Housing, Health, Energy and Workers’ Rights committee, city staff admitted that they don’t know exactly what it would mean for people who provide direct services to folks experiencing homelessness to get wages that could allow them to live in the city of Seattle.

That is in part because the funding for homeless services is “braided,” meaning that it comes from multiple sources, including the budgets of the city, county and state, as well as private donors, for-profit backers and even the federal government.

Even with all of this input, organizations still struggle to pay their workers enough to make it in Seattle. And the people who are hurt by this low pay are often folks who are already marginalized. According to a memo from City of Seattle staff, between 70 and 82.5 percent of social workers, social and community service managers and social and health service assistants are women.

The low pay means many individuals who would like to do this kind of work simply can’t afford to stay. This creates a constant turnover, which is expensive and saps nonprofits of their already-depleted resources.

The low pay means many individuals who would like to do this kind of work simply can’t afford to stay. This creates a constant turnover, which is expensive and saps nonprofits of their already-depleted resources.

One person during public comment from Youthcare estimated that it cost $4,000 to replace a staff member because of training. The cost to clients, however, was worse.

“Youthcare turnover hovers at a rate of 35 percent per year and every turnover is a setback,” the woman said. “It’s a setback for our young people who are destabilized every time.”

People aren’t born doing this work, said Daniel Malone, executive director of DESC. DESC is one of the largest shelter providers in the city and helps thousands of homeless residents find services they need. Staff turnover is a compounding problem, he said, but existing resources force people to make hard choices.

“Do we cut services or quality of services in order to make do with flat resources?” Malone asked.

Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda acknowledged that pay for workers is thousands of dollars short of what it needs to be. She also noted that organizations stand to lose even more funding; providers that contract with the city are facing a 12 percent cut if they fall short of performance metrics set by the Human Services Department.

Some of those metrics have been criticized as being too high, such as moving 40 percent of people into permanent housing when the average has been 13 percent.

Unfortunately, a lack of data seems to be a constant issue. When councilmembers asked for additional information on wages for caseworkers and other employees, like counselors, the staff pushed back, saying that they have not had the resources to do a complete study.

“You don’t have to get me that perfect number,” said Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, “but for goodness sakes, get me a good number.”

For workers who are actively helping to bring people inside, a “good number” is likely one where they can pay their rent.

Ashley Archibald is a Staff Reporter covering local government, policy and equity. Have a story idea? She can be can reached at ashleya (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Follow Ashley on Twitter @AshleyA_RC

Check out the full Aug. 22 - Aug. 28 issue.

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