Community Engagement for the Homelessness Action Plan
The City is committed to ongoing community engagement and conversation about the timely topics and evolving issues related to homelessness in our community—ranging from shaping Kirkland's Homelessness Continuum of Care Action Plan (Action Plan) to informing separate but related plans, such as King County's Health through Housing (HTH) project in Kirkland. This page is intended to keep you apprised of ongoing opportunities to lend your voice to this important topic and provide updates along the way.
After Resolution R-5631, and subsequent Resolution R-5641 were signed, City staff set about engaging in dialogue with a wide range of community stakeholders on the current state of homelessness in Kirkland, the City’s response, and to begin gathering feedback to help shape our future action plan. In early 2025, staff conducted outreach to more than 50 stakeholder organizations, including the general public, faith community and individuals with lived experience. Staff gathered feedback in multiple ways, including community forums; facilitated small group discussions; individual interviews and online surveys.
Watch a presentation, introducing Kirkland’s Homelessness Continuum of Care and the community engagement process to develop the plan:
Read or view other outputs from Phase One community engagement:
February 2025 Community Forum
Update to Council on April 12, 2025
Transmittal of DRAFT Action Plan
After interviewing stakeholders previously identified by Council as essential to ongoing conversations about homelessness and potential solutions, staff delivered a DRAFT homelessness continuum of care action plan to Council for initial consideration and input during the June 17, 2025 Council Study Session.
Following the Study Session discussion and feedback from Council on the draft Action Plan, staff incorporated Council’s feedback and will use the updated plan as the focus for the next phase of engagement. This second phase of engagement will consist of sharing the draft Action Plan with both the broad community and target groups to collect additional feedback.
Target groups for this phase include the following:
- Relevant Boards, Commissions, Networks, and Staff Human Services Commission, Youth Council, Senior Council, Neighborhood Associations, and potentially impacted City departments.
- Phase One Stakeholder Re-engagement. Staff may expand outreach to include additional individuals or boards affiliated with or recommended by consulted organizations/contacts. Staff will group complementary audiences when appropriate for efficiency.
- Engage newly identified/requested and previously missed stakeholders. This could include community groups requesting presentations or re-engaging those who were previously unable to meet or were unresponsive.
- In addition to offering in-person opportunities to provide feedback on the draft plan, staff are offering an online survey for asynchronous feedback collection, recognizing different preferences for learning and engaging. This feedback will be reviewed by project staff and synthesized with all other feedback collected during this process.
Take the Survey
Staff intend to complete Phase 2 in the fall and will return to Council with an updated plan before the end of the year.
Other Opportunities to Stay Plugged In
In addition to the outlined Phase Two opportunities to engage, the community can provide input to the City and stay apprised of the ongoing homelessness work in the following ways: