Thrive 2025 update: Redmond reports housing placements, MIH growth and a new dashboard; county voucher uncertainty flagged

City staff briefed the Public Safety and Human Services Committee on Oct. 21 on the Thrive 2025 update, describing program successes, ongoing challenges and a new public dashboard that aggregates outreach and MIH data.

Highlights and metrics: staff said the homeless outreach program placed about 40 individuals into housing so far in the year (compared with 53 total the prior year) and reported serving roughly 175 community members to date. The city obtained a King County flexible-funding award of about $6,000 to support vehicle repairs and move-in expenses. Staff said they have added care coordinators to the outreach team to help with landlord-tenant issues and rental assistance and noted an uptick in domestic-violence cases in recent months.

Mobile Integrated Health (MIH): Diana Powell, MIH program lead, said MIH runs recurring community clinics — including blood-pressure monitoring with fire medic staff on the first and third Wednesday of each month — and provides soft-support services such as transportation to appointments, Narcan distribution and education, and warm handoffs to other providers. Powell described coordination with Yellow Cab (voucher transportation) and the importance of strengthening handoffs and round-trip service for clients.

Mental-health professional (MHP) and alternative response: Deputy Chief Brancos noted the department re-established a corresponding MHP after a two-year gap and introduced Mary O’Brien as Redmond’s new MHP. Staff described 95 dispatches by the regional mobile rapid-response crisis team (Mercat) through September, with referrals coming from law enforcement, self-referrals and friends/family/fire department calls. Council members asked whether Mercat includes co-response with officers; staff clarified Mercat is a civilian response team (peers, social workers and MHPs), not a model that embeds officers in the response vehicle.

Thrive dashboard: Planning staff demonstrated an initial public dashboard that merges Apricot client data and MIH records. Staff said the dashboard shows more than 2,400 clients have been touched across programs and includes tabs for referrals, interactions, and program-specific filters. Staff cautioned the dashboard represents an early phase and that MHP data was not yet fully integrated.

Challenges and outstanding items: staff flagged King County’s Emergency Housing Voucher program as moving toward early funding conclusion (King County Housing Authority estimates a mid-2026 funding end) and said the county is seeking options to preserve placements; the city is tracking updates and said several Redmond voucher holders were matched to project-based housing in King County. Staff also noted federal policy uncertainty (SNAP/Medicaid) and rent increases that strain local resources. For winter shelter capacity, staff said they are exploring a partnership to activate rooms at a WoodSpring Suites to increase shelter options.

Council questions and follow-up: council members asked for a deeper dive into the reported uptick in domestic violence to understand whether the change reflects more incidents or increased reporting; they also asked for clarification about program definitions shown on the dashboard (e.g., distinction between “housing navigation” and “housing stability”) and requested copies of any public-facing materials. Council Vice President Forsyth offered a reminder that the council has a small contingency fund that could be considered if Emergency Housing Voucher holders need local assistance. Staff said King County will present a crisis-levy update at the Nov. 3 meeting.

Why it matters: The Thrive programs coordinate emergency, health and housing supports that affect residents who are unstably housed, veterans, people with behavioral-health needs and neighbors seeking landlord-tenant assistance. The new dashboard aims to increase transparency and cross-jurisdictional coordination with Bellevue, Kirkland and Issaquah.

Next steps: staff will continue to share updates, integrate MHP data into the dashboard when available and return with additional analysis on domestic violence and voucher impacts.