Just a few weeks ago, the city announced a new comprehensive homelessness strategy includes three initiatives.

The first is called Home Starts Here, which focuses on four pillars health care, outreach and navigation, multidisciplinary engagement, and economic security.

The goal is to address the multiple complex factors that contribute to housing instability and homelessness.

The Home in Home Starts Here is an acronym for those four pillars I mentioned health care, outreach.

Navigation, multidisciplinary engagement, and economic security.

There's a lot there.

But Don, can you explain the main goal for each of those pillars and how they work together to address what we're talking about?

Housing instability?

Yeah.

So I think we're trying to create a framework that the city can operate under, acknowledging that homelessness is a very complex topic.

I think Joe alluded earlier to the fact that there's no one way or one reason that makes a family or an individual experience homelessness.

We know that access to things like health care are critical to stabilizing somebody.

We know that shifting and coordinating better amongst outreach services is going to be essential, as we continue to work towards longer term success.

The multidisciplinary piece, I think, is attempting to really acknowledge that there is a role for code enforcement and first responders to play.

You've seen in the last year some expansions and reinvestment in the CARES program, the BSU, the you a lot of our co responder teams to public safety.

We know that they play a part in the solution as well.

And on the economic side we know that Spokane's average median income has increased.

We need to have better paying jobs so that families can't afford the the rising costs of rent.

And we know that it takes addressing all four of those components to really be successful in stabilizing somebody.

Unfortunately, this is a very complicated problem.

And if we don't attack it from all angles, we're not going to see long term success.

And creating a framework for the city to operate under gives us better direction and guidance on how we utilize resources collaboratively with the county and others to really make meaningful change.

I think this new framework also includes rental assistance, eviction prevention, and apprenticeship training.

How would those then be funded to the already funded interventions of the City of Spokane passes funds from the state and federal government to support.

So we do fund those things currently.

I think, you know, one opportunity that this, kind of discussion today will provide is for us to highlight a lot of the work that most of the community is not aware about because our focus, again, on perception versus a lot of the work happening.

So we spend a substantial amount of money every month on eviction prevention.

Which gets to Joe's point earlier of actually getting upstream on the challenge.

Our diversion programs are quite successful in diverting people away from homelessness through landlord tenant relationships.

And a lot of mitigation and damages when necessary.

So I think those those are all funded things currently that we're trying to really draw attention to and make sure people understand.

That's also part of this response.