Human Services

Organization of this Chapter

This Human Services Chapter is divided into the following sections:

The Introduction describes the intent of the Human Services Chapter and how it coordinates with other chapters of the Comprehensive Plan.

The Planning Context summarizes how this chapter responds to the requirements of the Growth Management Act and the Countywide Planning Policies. It includes a demographic profile of Redmond as a way to understand the subsequent policies.

The Human Services Policies are divided into the following sections:

A. Human Services Framework Policies address delivery of such services to Redmond residents.

B. The City’s Role In Providing Human Services Policies focus on the City’s role in planning and providing for human services as well as how it can use regulation to effect desired change.

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Introduction

edmond’s vision for the future includes goals to “assist in meeting the recreational, educational, social, economic and cultural needs of the community” and “to maintain a safe community.” The Human Services Chapter describes how the City’s efforts in human services planning, funding and coordination contribute to reaching these goals and to enriching the quality of life in Redmond. This chapter defines the City’s role in the provision of human services and describes the range of tools used to understand and address the human needs of Redmond’s residents.

The approaches described in this chapter are not the only ones Redmond will use to try to help residents meet their needs. The Housing, Transportation and Economic Development Chapters of this Comprehensive Plan also describe complementary ways Redmond will approach these issues. The Housing Chapter, for example, includes goals to provide housing opportunities that are affordable to households with low incomes and goals to encourage the preservation, maintenance and improvement of existing affordable housing. The Plan’s Transportation Chapter describes the City’s intent to make future development accessible to all citizens by many modes of travel, a goal which will help those lower-income persons who report difficulty in getting to jobs and services.

Similarly, the Economic Development Chapter contains several important commitments. One policy calls for development standards for retail, office and light industrial areas that include providing adequate public services to ensure a high quality of life. Another commits the City to give priority, when using incentives to attract businesses, to those businesses or industries that provide housing for employees or have jobs which match the skills of workers living here. In short, policies that support the well-being of Redmond residents can be found throughout the Comprehensive Plan, not only in the Human Services Chapter. This chapter, however, focuses on those policies.

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Planning Context

either the Growth Management Act nor the Countywide Planning Policies require policies dealing with human services specifically. Without such policies, however, this Comprehensive Plan would be largely a physical plan and would ignore the “human side” of Redmond. This chapter was included so that this Plan would address every aspect of living in Redmond. The following section is a brief demographic profile of Redmond which serves as a basis for understanding the subsequent policies.

Who Are We Planning For?

The availability of human services is important to all people, regardless of income, family structure, age or cultural background. Many needs associated with human services have nothing to do with income. Rather, they are a question of circumstances. Any parent can experience difficulty finding quality child care or need help dealing with family violence or substance abuse problems. Some of the City’s efforts in human services are geared toward building a service delivery system that has the capacity to meet the needs of all residents.

However, while human services are useful to, and used by all, Redmond focuses its financial commitment on those who lack the resources to cover their most basic needs. Through the City’s subsidy of the cost of certain services, persons who can’t afford to buy the services they need and want in the marketplace can still obtain help. An important component in planning effective human services for such persons is an understanding of how many people fit into this category and a knowledge of their needs. One tool for estimating types and size of need is the 1990 census.

An overview describing the City as a whole shows that Redmond’s population grew 50% between 1980 and 1990 to 35,800. Residents’ households have an average of 2.5 members. The City is similar in household structure to other cities in King County, but has a higher percentage of households with married couples and their children (28%) and a lower percentage (25%) of single-person households than does the rest of King County. Redmond has the largest median-family size of any Eastside city (just over three persons per family). Since 1980, female-headed households with children have grown by 50% to 17% of households with children. Over time, more varieties of non-traditional families have appeared.

Redmond’s typical resident is 32 years old, which is younger than the area’s average. This reflects the City’s high percentage of children, 30%, and the Eastside’s lowest percentage of senior citizens, 7%. The percentage of senior citizens has grown slightly since 1980 and, if Redmond follows general trends, it will continue to do so. About 10% of Redmond’s senior residents, and fewer than 1% of all residents, have limitations related to mobility or caring for themselves.

The population has become more diverse than it was in 1980: 12% of Redmond’s families speak a language other than English at home and 9% of families are non-white.

Redmond’s per capita income ($20,037) is the lowest of the Eastside cities, except for Bothell, but is higher than the County’s ($18,587). The percent of households with incomes above King County’s median income is lower than it was in 1980. Conversely, the percent of households with incomes below the County’s median has grown. In general, income rises with age, through age 54, and then drops. The strongest determinant of family income is the number of workers. The median income of non-family households (often one person) is about $20,000 less than the median income of families.

Redmond has enjoyed a very high percentage of traditionally high-paying manufacturing jobs but, the kinds of jobs Redmond now offers are changing. The City expects to have a larger segment of lower-paying jobs in retail and service areas in the future.

Currently, 69% of our households have two workers; few have no workers. Although many families have employment, since 1980 the City has seen an increase in the percentage of very low-income and moderate-income families and a decrease in middle-income families. The 1990 census figures suggest that almost one-fourth of Redmond’s households would qualify for federal help because they have low to moderate incomes. That 23% equaled about 9,000 persons in 1993.

At the time of the census, 1,400 residents, 4% of our population, received some kind of government assistance, mostly food stamps and/or Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Forty persons received Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) assistance for refugees in 1990. Residents under the age of 35 and single persons are disproportionately represented among the poorest groups. Children with one parent are more likely to be in very poor families than children with two parents.

From this data, we can draw some conclusions. First, a significant number of persons are experiencing real difficulty and need help with food and shelter. In addition, a larger group probably does not have enough income to meet more than basic necessities and may need such help as affordable medical or dental care or counseling. The data also implies that other Redmond residents may be losing higher paying jobs and finding only lower paying jobs available. Child care is a service many families probably will need. Another finding is that an increasing percentage of the population speaks a language other than English at home and may have difficulty gaining access to services they need.

Along with census data, community meetings, forums, and surveys of human service providers and clients are all tools which collectively have helped to shape a picture of the human side of need in Redmond. Human services staff use these tools to ensure that the City’s resources for human services are allocated fairly and appropriately.

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Human Services Policies

A. Human Services Framework Policies

uman services are those services provided directly to individuals or families having difficulty meeting their basic human needs for:

▀     physical survival (food, shelter, clothing);

▀     adequate preparation for and help in sustaining gainful employment (employment and training programs, child care);

▀     social support and interaction, especially in times of personal family crisis (counseling, family reconciliation);

▀     assistance in overcoming specific pathologies (health, mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence);

▀     help in gaining access to available services (transportation, information about and referral to services).

Residents choose to use these services. They are not imposed upon people but simply are made available as resources or tools residents can use as they try to care for themselves and their families.

Services may be targeted geographically, by age group, or by specific condition. Residents should not be denied access to services because of physical barriers associated with the architectural design of or the location of offices, inaccessible hours of operation, stringent income eligibility requirements to qualify for services or lack of interpreters for persons who do not speak English.

FHS-1 Redmond shall help to improve the welfare of its citizens by supporting the provision of human services in the community.

FHS-2 Services may either be preventive or remedial. They are not meant to be used for long-term maintenance, but rather to assist recipients to achieve the greatest possible level of independence and to prevent further or more serious problems in the future.

FHS-3 Redmond shall ensure that human service programs reflect and are sensitive to the cultural, economic and social diversity of the City.

FHS-4 Redmond shall encourage the agencies serving its residents to make their services accessible to all in the community. Barriers to accessibility should be eliminated to the extent possible.

B. The City’s Role in Providing Human Services Policies

hen people think about the kinds of services their city offers, most think of roads, water, police and fire protection. They may not see their local government as a place that also tries to understand and plan for another whole range of services that deal with “human” needs like those defined above. However, building infrastructure for human needs is every bit as important as paying attention to the physical infrastructure of roads and bridges. The vitality of the City is dependent upon the degree to which individual potential is developed. This situation makes an effective human services delivery system a crucial component of any healthy community.

The City of Redmond’s primary role is to serve as a catalyst to help build a comprehensive and affordable safety net of services that, at a minimum, provides for the basic needs of Redmond’s residents. The City’s response varies from identifying needs to planning long-range actions to funding programs to serve those whose income does not allow them to buy these services in the marketplace. It helps to design effective systems to deliver human services.

While the City has an important role in helping to build and invest in this safety net of services, it views its role as that of one player on a team. The City is a local partner with churches, businesses, schools and civic groups in Redmond and works with them to foster greater community involvement in meeting needs. The City also educates people about the range of issues that are present within Redmond and invites citizen participation in both information gathering and decision making. It is hoped that these efforts will serve as a catalyst to encourage new people and groups to become partners in building Redmond’s social safety net. Citizen involvement also helps to ensure that services are appropriate and tailored to reflect local need.

Redmond recognizes the value of working cooperatively with other jurisdictions and organizations which fund human service programs. Such partnerships help to ensure that local and regional human service programs and systems are designed, funded and delivered in a way that maximizes resources and meets the needs of Redmond’s residents.

HS-1 Redmond shall involve its citizens to the greatest possible degree in assessing needs, planning and making decisions to improve human services.

HS-2 Redmond shall work with other entities and jurisdictions throughout the County to determine potential areas for cooperative planning, funding and administrative oversight of human services programs and shall engage in such cooperative work, where possible.

HS-3 Redmond shall promote increased awareness of local need for human services through community education and shall support a stronger and more coordinated local response from the church, business, school and service communities.

HS-4 Redmond shall monitor changes in local human services needs and priorities on an ongoing basis and alter its response as appropriate.

HS-5 Redmond shall work to increase the base of both public and private dollars for allocation to non-profit human service agencies.

In addition to the systems development and funding of specific human service programs, the City also has other opportunities to affect desired change. Some examples have been given in relationship to the Housing, Transportation and Economic Development Chapter of this Plan. Others could include looking at things like zoning or land use changes which affect the type and size of child care centers or group homes. Density bonuses for senior housing or offering incentives for businesses to provide on-site child care are other examples.

HS-6 Redmond shall explore the use of mechanisms such as regulation, deregulation and zoning reform as a means of bringing about needed change in human service provision.

The City’s Human Services Division also tries to increase housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families or individuals. It oversees the use of federal Community Development Block Grant dollars, both capital and operating funds, to address housing needs of low-income and special populations, including the elderly, homeless, developmentally and/or mentally disabled and persons living with AIDS. The Human Services Division’s work in this area complements efforts detailed in the housing section of this Plan.

HS-7 Redmond shall provide assistance with housing rehabilitation for low- and moderate-income property owners in order to protect health and safety and to prevent neighborhood deterioration.

HS-8 Redmond shall help identify opportunities to develop affordable housing and shall oversee allocation of public funds to subsidize costs where appropriate.

HS-9 Redmond shall support temporary emergency shelter and transitional housing programs to address and strive to prevent homelessness in Redmond.

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