Media: Mayor's Announcement and Budget Address

As many of you all have heard, Mayor Nutter announced today that he is sparing shelter beds and transitional housing (and many other essential services) from being cut. All emergency and transitional housing beds will be maintained and the City’s commitment to the Mayor’s Homeless Strategy, providing 700 additional slots for the homeless, will continue. THIS IS GREAT NEWS! See the article below for more details.

I know we still have work to do, but we should be proud of how amazingly far we have come. The Mayor is clearly hearing us on protecting essential services. The work remains to find out how this will be paid for (he is proposing an increased sales tax) and what the impact will be in the community. The Coalition for Essential Services is committed to looking more deeply at the revenue issue and making sure that taxes and fees are fair; Vote for Homes will continue to look at this too.

Here are some recent articles about our actions:

Advocates Seek Protection For Homeless In City Budget Cuts
http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/13/news/local_state/doc49b9ef...

There have already been cuts to homeless shelters. And they hurt.

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2009/02/26/homeless-shelters-philadelphia

Admission fee to city jails to raise revenue?
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/city/20090219_Admission_fee_t...

small mention here: "Though the crowd was diverse, it was also heavily attended by activists (such as parks and homeless-services supporters) and city employees."

Breaking: City told homeless shelters to seek new, cheaper security guards
http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2009/02/19/breaking-city-told-homele...