Dear Seattle City Councilmembers and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray,

It's raining now: Augment the emergency response to homelessness by bringing more people inside.  

Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine joined together to declare a State of Emergency around homelessness last week. As you finalize the city's budget, we urge you to treat this declaration as an opportunity for an emergency response. With 3,772 people homeless outside, Seattle must offer more than 100 people mats on the floor.  

We urge the Council to direct an additional $2.3 million to open new shelters, extend hours of service, and begin to shape a true emergency response. We call on Seattle's leaders to take the actions outlined for a Tier 1 Emergency in the city's Disaster Readiness and Response Plan: open emergency shelters in city-owned buildings throughout the city. If we marshal all of our resources, public and private, we really can bring 750 to 1,000 people indoors in short order. 

Thank you for speaking up!
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