The purpose of the Consumer Advisory Council is to Educate. Advocate. Inform Change.
The Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) serves as a forum to incorporate consumer feedback within policy and strategic decisions and action items under the Strategic Plan. Consumers ensure that the effort to end homelessness in King County incorporates the expertise of people who experience homelessness – including those who are at risk of becoming homeless or were formerly homeless – at all levels of implementation, evaluation, and plan revision.
To become a Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) member, please complete an All Home CAC Application Form and submit responses to allhome@allhomekc.org. Email allhome@allhomekc.org or call 206-263-8256 with any questions. While applications are accepted on an on-going basis.
To submit general feedback, please complete a form here (available under the “Share” heading).
2018
September 26 | CAC Norms and Governance Updates
August 29| CAC Communication Plan and Team Organizing
July 25| Dynamic Prioritization and Accountability Using Ombudsman Program
June 27| Cancelled CAC Meeting: CAC members are encouraged to attend the All Home Annual Conference on July 11th in the Pacific Tower’s Panoramic Room, 1200 12th Ave S, Seattle, Wa 98144
May 30 | Youth Advisory Board and Consumer Advisory Council Joint Meeting
April 25 | Dynamic Prioritization and Seattle Times Project Homeless Storytelling Event
March 28 | Updates on All Home Committee and One Table Involvement
February 28| Governance Summit and One Table Debrief, Input on Mobile Medical Van
January 31 | Updates on All Home Committee and One Table Involvement
2017
December 27 | Consumer Rights Proposal Continued and Impacts of Hygiene Centers
November 29 | Racial Equity Summit and Consumer Rights Proposal
October 25 | Prevention and Federal Strategic Plan, Opening Doors
September 27 | Orientation to Consumer Advisory Council
This was the first member based meeting. To apply to become a future Consumer Advisory Council member, please complete an All Home CAC Application Form and submit to allhome@allhomekc.org.
August CANCELLED | Change to the Consumer Advisory Council
In partnership with consumers and the Coordinating Board consumer representatives, All Home staff decided to resume a membership based model for the All Home Consumer Advisory Council (CAC). This model will offer members the ability to learn and grow together, to more fully understand the intricacies of the Continuum of Care, and to work closer with the Coordinating Board to have more intentional and deliberate recommendations for policies and system change.
Focus groups, listening sessions and other ways to engage consumers will continue to be held outside of the CAC.
June 28 | Shelter Utilization
There was a wide range of input on why folks chose or chose not to stay in shelter:
- Professionalism
- Need for well trained, committed and competent staff
- Want to see staff who want to help me move on and into housing
- Not enough staff to meet individual needs
- Care and respect
- Too many people do this job for a job’s sake; lots of feelings of disrespect and being just another “homeless person”
- When shelter gets in trouble or something happens in the community, there is retaliation on clients
- Violence and trauma
- Don’t want to be around violence, drug use or other people’s trauma
- When violence happens and staff aren’t equipped to protect other clients, confidence is broken
- Sacred of losing limited belongings or important documentation
- Rules and timing
- Lottery systems are stressful
- Check-in times don’t fit unexpected events, employments or appointments
- Unable to access shelter with self-declared family composition
- Unable to access shelter with pets
- Communication
- Not aware of shelters located outside of Seattle
- Don’t understand why some shelters are for “the most vulnerable”
- What do we do after completing a Coordinated Entry assessment?
May 31st | City of Seattle Human Services Director Catherine Lester on the up-coming Request for Proposal process
Catherine Lester joined the first half of the CAC to share about the City of Seattle’s up-coming request for proposal (RFP) process and to seek insights on how participant’s homelessness could have been avoided or resolved faster. The Coordinated Entry for All (CEA) referral specialist team held a listening session during the remainder of the time to get feedback on CEA for the up-coming lean process.
Items to bring to Coordinating Board:
- Criminal records continue to keep people out of housing, both in the private market and in the homeless system
- Communication on how the homeless response system works and what to expect continues to be confusing and sets people up for disappointment
- There is a need for more affordable housing in Seattle
- There needs to be a stronger integration of systems and services (i.e. VA, WorkSource, housing authorities)
- We need resources/services on demand so people don’t experience additional trauma and prolonged experiences of homelessness
April 26* | Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project
Next Steps:
- All Home staff will provide consumer recommendations to the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project advisory boards.
- Consumer Advisory Council needs to round back to outlining what peer outreach looks like and what employment opporunities could look like for homeless job seekers.
Items to bring to Coordinating Board:
- Young Adults are caught in the middel of the young adult and adult system.
- Highlight barriers to young adult programming shared by the group (ID requirements, income/job pre-conditions, inability to access system with a partner/family, etc.)
- Poor customer service is not captured in data and there isn’t a mechanism to hold providers accountable to treating people well (recommendation: providers have a code of ethics and commitment to good customer service; collect qualitative data at a system’s level; create a system wide “Human Rights” for people experiencing homelessness).
- The system takes so much time to navigate (recommendation: create an App for 211 resources).
*Note change in meeting date. Starting in April, the CAC will meet on the last Wednesday of the month to better align to give recommendation to the All Home Coordinating Board.
March 15 | Open Forum
Next Steps:
- All Home staff will prepare consumer feedback for the next meeting that resulted from the new online feedback form.
- All Home will follow up with the City of Seattle to remind Count Us In guides about CAC opportunities
Items to bring to Coordinating Board:
- Recommendation of more peer to peer outreach to help connect those who are distrustful of the system or “professional” outreach workers.
- Warrants and criminal records are a barrier to housing, and health/treatment/social services.
February 15 | Increasing Diverse Consumer Voice
Next steps:
- CAC participants will work with All Home staff to set up and lead or co-lead focus groups.
Items to bring to Coordinating Board:
- Coordinated Entry for All remains confusing for people trying to access the system – Different parts of the system share different information and “Diversion” isn’t available in real time.
- There isn’t a clear place for consumers to share their concerns or experiences about the system – How can we create a centralized process for feedback?
January 18 | Changes to All Home Structure and CAC 2017 Goals
Next steps:
- Think about how to engage consumer voice who may not be able to prioritize a meeting or focus group, or for consumers who desire anonymity.
Items to bring to Coordinating Board:
- CAC meeting should happen monthly to align with the frequency of Coordinating Board meetings
Additional materials upon request.
