Occupy Chaplains Seattle

10/15/2026

From Seattle City Council Member Dan Strauss:
Dear Neighbor,

The final City Council vote on my legislation, the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program (VRAP), is this Tuesday, October 20 at 2 p.m.

The VRAP is comprised of six pieces of legislation aimed at creating pathways to shelter and housing for people who live in their vehicles.

One out of every four people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our region is living in their vehicle. Right now, the City of Seattle does not have any strategy to help them build pathways to shelter and housing. We also know that our city’s current approach to RVs is not working. This legislation is about ensuring that people who live in vehicles are not forgotten — but that they're cared for and have a clear road to housing.

This legislation would create new resources to help people who live in all types of vehicles, establish new resources and rules specific to motorhomes and travel trailers, and clarify the city’s existing junk vehicle law.

I joined KUOW's Libby Denkmann and David Kroman this week to talk about VRAP and answer questions. That episode of KUOW Soundside is available now.

How you can voice your support

We need your help to pass this legislation. Please consider coming to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 20 and making your voice heard.
• In-person public comment: Sign-ups start at 1:30 p.m. in Council Chambers.
• Remote-public comment: Sign ups start at 1 p.m. and you can use the link below.
• Email the Council: You can email all nine councilmembers at [email protected].
• Sign up for public comment at https://www.seattle.gov/council/meetings/public-comment
•

Sign up to make public comment for items appear on Seattle City Council agendas

09/17/2026

The Housing and Urban Developlment (HUD) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) can go forward for now.

As you know, on August 7, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island vacated (or, in other words, struck down) the 2026 CoC NOFO, effectively blocking the unlawful weaponization of government funding.

07/21/2026

I, Elizabeth Maupin, read a post from a Mercer Island resident who doesn't want any services or housing for homeless folk on her island. People on the wealthy end of our wealth gap who live in isolation from the poor easily buy into scary stereotypes of those who have lost their housing. One of the difficulties of sending all low income people to rural or lower cost areas is that of isolation. The rich become isolated from reality. If you don't know anyone who struggles to survive, you will have less understanding, empathy, and compassion for what they are going through. You will tend to support "solutions" that meet your needs without realizing how they impact others. Low income folk have trouble with transportation. Cars are expensive and public transit isn't plentiful outside the urban cores. The poor get isolated in food desert ghettos where opportunities for upward mobility are not abundant. In mixed communities people can help each other. When everyone around you is equally poor there is less chance of making the kind of connections that can help you over rough spots or open the door to a more comfortable life. We, the poor, the elderly, the differently abled, need you who are able bodied, young, and more affluent in our lives and social circles almost as much as we need a roof overhead.

07/16/2026

KCRHA is activating severe weather protocols: With elevated HeatRisk in the orange category in the forecast, KCRHA is activating tier 2 severe weather protocols, in accordance with our Severe Weather Policy, from Monday, July 20, through Tuesday, July 21, winding down the morning of Wednesday, July 22. If the forecast shifts, we may extend the activation. We anticipate having our website updated with initial shelter and cooling information by 4:00 pm on Friday, July 17.
• If the information about your agency is incorrect or outdated on our Severe Weather page, you can submit updated information here.
• We will have regional flyers and shareable resources posted by 4:00 pm on Friday, July 17. You will be able to find these in the “Shareable Graphics & Flyers” section on our Severe Weather page.
• Please bookmark the KCRHA Severe Weather page so you have quick access to the most up-to-date information during activations.

07/02/2026

Today at 2 PM is the deadline to send a comment to the Federal Register opposing the draft USPS rule that would undermine vote-by-mail. Will you send a message?
SEND YOUR COMMENT
Elizabeth--

A federal judge has struck down an executive order from the current administration that would have required states to hand over their voters lists to the USPS in order to mail ballots through the Postal Service.

The decision struck a blow in favor of democracy but the USPS is still has an open consultation on the change. Will you submit a comment against the Postal Service's draft rule implementing the order?

While the judge has ruled against the executive order, the Postal Service draft rule is still available on the federal register for public comment. That comment period closes today, on July 2.

We still need to raise our voices.

The Executive Order, and the Postal Service’s proposed changes, are an unconstitutional attack on the millions of Americans who vote by mail and another front in an ongoing assault on voting rights in the United States.

If USPS’s rule is implemented, postal workers would be thrust into the role of election administrator – determining who is and who isn’t eligible to vote and potentially refusing thousands of pieces of valid ballots from ever entering the mail stream.

This isn't what postal workers signed up for. It isn't what we want them to do.

That's why we are asking you to submit your comment. Tell the USPS to scrap this dangerous and unconstitutional rule.

Graham - US Mail Not for Sale

US Mail Not For Sale
C/O APWU
1300 L Street
Washington, DC 20005

07/02/2026

https://kcrha.org/news-a-new-phase-for-kcrha-and-the-regional-homelessness-response/

Today, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson announced a plan to stabilize, right size, and reset the King King County and Seattle leaders announced a plan to stabilize, right size, and reset the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA). This is a signif...

06/25/2026

https://www.desc.org/the-faucet-is-still-on-why-homelessness-keeps-rising/

King County’s Latest Point-in-Time Count shows thousands of people leave homelessness each year, but even more continue to fall into it.

06/16/2026

1-4 June 17 training on noticing human trafficing.https://endgv.org/event/seeing-what-often-goes-unseen-identifying-and-supporting-survivors-of-exploitation/

06/16/2026

Reposting the PHSS position with Kids Plus/CSHCN. Please help spread the word.

King County is committed to equity and diversity in the workplace. In addition, the county is committed to recruiting and maintaining a quality workforce that shares our guiding principles: collaborative, service-oriented, results-focused, accountable, innovative, professional and fair and just.

06/14/2026

A little reminder about our universe:

☀️⚫ Look closely.

That tiny black dot crossing the Sun isn't a sunspot, dust on a camera lens, or a missing pixel.

It's an entire planet.

The dot is Mercury, the innermost planet of our Solar System, measuring nearly 4,900 km (3,040 miles) across. Mercury is a real world with mountains, cliffs, vast lava plains, and a history stretching back billions of years.

Yet against the staggering size of the Sun, it appears almost invisible.

This rare event is called a Transit of Mercury, occurring when Mercury passes directly between Earth and the Sun. Despite being a planet, Mercury is so small compared to our star that nearly 285 Mercurys could fit side-by-side across the Sun's diameter.

The glowing structures along the Sun's edge are colossal solar prominences—loops of superheated plasma so enormous that entire planets could fit within them.

Images like this are a humbling reminder of the incredible scales involved in our universe. A planet that would take months to circle by spacecraft becomes nothing more than a tiny speck when placed in front of a star.

🌎 We often think planets are huge.

☀️ Then the Sun reminds us what huge really means.