A win on housing

In the 2008 legislative session, SEIU 1199NW members and other housing advocates were successful in winning an additional $70 million for the Housing Trust Fund. We are proud of our advocacy work -- check out our 2008 housing lobby day blog here. The Housing Trust Fund supports the development of affordable housing and housing for the homeless. We advocated for this money because we know that stable housing is the foundation for people getting the other basic necessities in life, including health care.

Got something to say about housing and healthcare? Join in the conversation at A Place to Call Home

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A step forward on housing

The 2008 Washington state budget includes a number of items that will improve the lives of our clients. We're proud of the work we did, along with other advocates, to win:

$70 million in additional monies for the Housing Trust Fund, which supports housing for low-income and homeless people.
$6.25 million in new mental health funding for non-Medicaid clients
$2.9 million in new funding to the RSNs for increased services

You can check out the operating budget details here. See Pages 89-90 for details on the mental health care portion of the budget.

Big win for communities, clients, workers

King County Vote

The King County Council has adopted the Mental Health Tax Ordinance, which will improve mental health care in our community and ensure that workers have the right to organize freely and fairly, without employer interference. On Tuesday, Nov. 13 the County Council voted 5-3 (with another "yes" vote excused) to enact the ordinance, which will fund the County's Mental Health and Drug Dependency Action Plan. The new law will bring in $50 million/year, and will cost the average taxpayer about $25/year.

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"As our community improves the system that cares for underserved people, it's important that we also build a system that's fair for the workers who help them."

The Rev. Dr. Sanford "Sandy" Brown
Executive Director
Church Council of Greater Seattle

Read this religious leader's guest editorial in support of services, workers

Mental health workers win for clients, communities....

Mental Health Workers Win

We took a stand and the Washington state Legislature listened to us.

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Safety for Workers!

Marty Smith

The Marty Smith Law provides the strongest safety protections in the nation for community mental health workers.

Named after our colleague Marty Smith, who was killed by a client in 2005, the new law provides for annual safety training for all workers and ensures that no one will be required to go out on a home visit alone.

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