For the Reporter

Mayor Nancy Backus will represent the City of Auburn and Sound Cities Association on the new 28-member All Home Coordinating Board.

The board is designed to analyze, strategize and ensure change, bringing a diverse body of stakeholders working to address the issues of homelessness and leverage the expertise and resources of the partners and the wider community in collaborative support of a strategic plan.

All Home – formerly the Committee to End Homelessness – is a community-wide partnership to make homelessness in King County rare, brief and one-time. All Home brings together local governments, religious institutions, nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, shelter and housing providers, the private sector and engaged citizens in a coordinated effort that both responds to the immediate crisis of homeless individuals and addresses the root causes of the problem in our region.

The board has begun implementing a new four-year plan to address homelessness in King County. The new name is intended to emphasize that it takes a community-wide effort to tackle the problem of homelessness.

“It is not just the name change that will make the difference,” Backus said. “It is the renewed and pragmatic effort of the entire region that will. It can no longer be accepted that children and families are forced to live on our streets.”

According to All Home officials, homelessness is a crisis in King County. In 2015 alone, nearly 10,000 people are experiencing homelessness on a given day, and nearly 40 percent are unsheltered. People are homeless on average for more than 100 days, and they return to homelessness after being housed nearly 20 percent of the time.

To learn more, visit allhomekc.org.