2022-03-09 Youth Commission MinutesYouth Commission Meeting Minutes 3/9/2022
Commission Members Present:
Audrey Lim
Aaron Nateephaisan
Secretary Sydney Pearson
Publicity Officer Brooke Rinehimer
Co -Chair Brook Roberts
Mariana Yenter
Secretary Samuel Yi
Staff Present:
Casey Colley
Shannon Burley
Jay Sandstrom
Commission Members Absent:
Julie Andres
Chair Owen Lee
Finn Paynich
Councilmembers Present:
Diane Buckshnis
I. ROLE CALL & ABSENCES
Co -Chair Brook Roberts moved to call the meeting to order at 6:03 PM over Zoom.
II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Co -Chair Brook Roberts moved to approve the agenda; Publicity Officer Brooke Rinehimer
seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
III. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 23RD, 2022
Publicity Officer Brooke Rinehimer moved to revise the word "committee" to "commission" on
Page 2 of the February 23rd, 2022 Youth Commission notes; Co -Chair Brook Roberts seconded
the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
IV. WELCOMING BACK CASEY
➢ Casey is happy to be back with the Commission!
V. PUBLIC COMMENT VIA ZOOM
➢ No public comments
VI. HOUSING AFFORDABILITY FROM CHRIS COLLIER, HOUSING AUTHORITY OF
SNOHOMISH COUNTY
➢ Chris Collier will send a PDF of the presentation
➢ Talking about two segments of housing continuum
o Homeownership and market rate housing
➢ Questions:
o Brooke's question:
■ Particularly senior households are locked into their homes: unable to or
unwilling to move
■ The home sale market is locking up
• Impacts on young households that would want to buy their first
household (senior households not moving)
o Brooke's question: Will there be a loosening of the market once the elderly
generation is not here?
■ Not substantially: huge deficit in housing will still continue to worsen
(especially as more young people looking for economic opportunity
continue to move here)
o Shannon's question: the eviction moratorium has expired (the moratorium
helped with stability in the houseless population); what will it look like coming
out of the eviction moratorium?
■ It will be really hard for the market to snap back from the pandemic
■ Rents will rise, people will be displaced (financial evictions)
• More people will become houseless
■ We don't have long-term resources for people who cannot afford rent
o We have basically no supply of homes available
■ Price increase will never come back down
o Where are the starter homes today?
o Snow events show the impact of workers living far away from where they work;
same thing would happen with a disaster event
o Need more options and variety in housing options (such as letting senior
households downsize in own communities instead of having to move farther
away)
o Need polite programs to show the finance community success stories
o Shannon: zoning based on form vs. density
■ Edmonds may be more comfortable w/ a big, million dollar house in an
expensive neighborhood that can house multiple people
■ This would work to house more people and would fit the form of the
community that they are in
o Land use and zoning and society need to support the expansion of diversified
affordable housing
o Need to expand idea of what shelter can be for the future
o Need to have more discussions of housing in general
VII. UPDATE FROM EDMONDS HUMAN SERVICES DIVISION
➢ Council authorized that they hire full time social worker from Compass Health (they
provide social workers to cities around the state)
o Someone accepted this position and is in training right now
o Anticipated start date: March 21st
➢ Working on prevention of houselessness
o Council advocated $3 million to household support grants
■ Seeing significant demand for this money
■ Grants are $2,500 at a time
o Study on homeless population: 450 people are homeless in our zip codes
■ There are 5,000 - 6,000 people who are extremely cost -burdened that
they are at risk for becoming homeless in Edmonds
o Trying to implement a home sharing program
■ An elderly individual might have extra rooms and may need help; a
younger individual can provide services to elderly and live in their home
o Most chronically affected homeless people with substance abuse issues cannot
join shelters due to requirements (being clean, accepting treatment)
■ Impact on hospitals, therefore availability of paramedic
■ Focusing on prevention situation and meeting people pre -crisis
• Connecting people to services that can keep them out of crisis
o Potentially outstationing a 211 worker
o Senior population is prideful; getting help and asking for help is difficult for them
■ Taking medication, eating, getting medical services is often a problem for
seniors
■ Hoping to provide a safe space for senior citizens at the Anderson Center
o Put together an Urgent Needs Program
■ Purchased necessary supplies for people and have distributed them
throughout police force
• When police encounter somebody who is unsheltered, they can
provide them with a kit of supplies
• Goal to build trust between law enforcement and unsheltered
community
o Snohomish county working to purchase another facility w/ the Hand Up Project
to provide full service behavioral health and treatment facility
o Project by Housing Hope is being established at the Lutheran Church
Co -Chair Brook Roberts moved to extend the meeting by 15 minutes; Publicity Officer Brooke
Rinehimer seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
o Brooke's question: is there another place besides the bowl to put the Human
Services Division?
■ Yes, the Francis Anderson center isn't their intended permanent spot
■ But, a significant amount of unsheltered people go to the library often, so
the location of the Human Services Division is a location where they can
connect with unsheltered people
o Brook: would the police station and council possibly move up towards 99 and out
of the bowl?
■ That's a long process, so that won't happen now (and we need more
immediate solutions)
■ Ideally, there would be a community center up there
Co -Chair Brook Roberts moved to remove "Committee Work Session" from the agenda; Publicity
Officer Brooke Rinehimer seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Co -Chair Brook Roberts moved to extend the meeting by 5 minutes; Publicity Officer Brooke
Rinehimer seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
VIII. FINAL COMMENTS
➢ The Commission said their farewells to Jay
X. ADJOURNMENT
Co -Chair Brook Roberts adjourned the meeting at 7:47 PM.