Redmond staff on Tuesday unveiled a proposed integrated housing and human services framework intended to refresh the city’s Housing Action Plan and Human Services Strategic Plan and to guide budget and implementation decisions tied to the Redmond 2050 comprehensive plan.

“It feels like it’s been far too long,” said Ian Lefkore, principal planner, as he introduced a three‑pillar approach: build more housing faster; get people housed; and keep people housed. Lefkore said the presentation is the first of four briefings and that staff will return with deeper dives and specific implementation proposals next year.

The staff presentation included a live dashboard prototype that “now dynamically pulls all of our total housing units in service from our in‑house permitting software,” Lefkore said, noting a working headline number of about "37,000" total housing units and that the dashboard currently reports “over 1,000” affordable units that come from inclusionary zoning and the MFTE program. Staff said nonprofit‑owned affordable units are not yet reflected in the dashboard’s public counts.

Brooke Buckingham, human services manager, highlighted recent local projects and programs aimed at getting people into stable housing, citing a permanent supportive housing project in Overlake (Haven Heights) and targeted rental assistance pilots that helped tenants in one high‑need complex. “That project should be fully at capacity next year,” Buckingham said of Haven Heights.

Council members used the briefing to press for additional detail. Council President Kritzker asked staff to show nonprofit‑owned units in future dashboard builds and to add pipeline metrics showing how many units are expected to come online at various affordability levels. Councilmember Nueva Camino asked staff to identify contingency plans and funding pivots in light of federal funding cuts for some supportive housing programs and probed the justification for proposed ALPR retention windows (a separate agenda item).

Staff said the housing and human‑services plans predate recent state legislative changes and that an update will allow the city to align strategies to new statutory requirements and county projections. The presentation lists potential implementation topics including flexible zoning, MfTE and incentives, streamlining processes, and coordination with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

Next steps: staff will return with a series of deeper briefings in February, April and June that will include more detailed proposals, data on pipeline units and recommendations to inform the biennial budget. Council members asked staff to provide an index of action items showing which items are completed, in progress, or candidates for reevaluation.