Seattle committee reviews Human Services Department budget, flags sustainability risks for wage increases, shelter expansion and downtown pilot

The Select Budget Committee met Oct. 17 to review the Human Services Department’s (HSD) proposed 2026 budget and to discuss several policy risks tied to ongoing costs.

Chair Dan Strauss opened the committee’s agenda item and the department and Council central staff delivered the briefing. Director Ben Noble, Human Services Department, and Council Central staff members Jennifer Lebreque and Jasmine Marwaha presented the budget overview and several central‑staff policy considerations.

The 2026 proposed budget for HSD was presented as an increase of 11.6% — roughly $45 million — compared with the 2026 endorsed budget. Central staff said the increase reflects new funding for homelessness, community safety, food and nutrition, public health, and increases to provider wages and contracts.

Central staff described personnel changes in the proposal: 11 new full‑time positions are included in the 2026 proposed budget. Nine of those positions, added in a mid‑year supplemental ordinance, are intended to support the state Washington Cares long‑term care program and are supported by state grant funds; two new case manager positions were described as additions to HSD’s post‑overdose team and would be supported by revenue from a proposed public safety sales tax.

Policy considerations: wage equity

Jennifer Lebreque, Council Central staff, told the committee the proposed budget provides an ongoing 2% human‑services provider wage equity increase, estimated at $5.1 million, in addition to a 2.6% inflationary adjustment required under the Seattle municipal code. Lebreque warned the council that sustaining that ongoing increase will be a decision point for the 2027 budget cycle because the city faces a…