Summary

Jay Inslee

Current Position: Governor since 2013
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 US Senator

Under his leadership, Washington is consistently the only state that ranks as the best place to work and the best place to do business. Washington has one of the nation’s highest minimum wages, paid sick leave for all workers, a best-in-the-nation paid family leave program, some of the nation’s most rigorous clean air and water standards, and one of the highest union membership rates in the U.S.

Since Jay became governor in 2013, Washington state has expanded voter rights, provided affordable health care to 800,000 more Washingtonians, passed the Reproductive Parity Act, stood up to the president’s Muslim ban, protected LGBTQI Americans from discrimination, raised the minimum wage, passed historic investments in public schools and infrastructure, and created one of the best clean-energy economies in America.

For more information, go to the Jay Inslee post.

Loren Culp

Current Position: Police Chief
Affiliation: Republican
Candidate: 2020 Governor

Washington is facing a rocky future if we don’t take action now.

Under Jay Inslee, our government works for special interests, not us. The homelessness and drug crisis is crippling our communities. New, big-government programs are threatening our God-given rights, leading to a less free society.

Loren Culp is a proven leader with the real-world leadership experience needed to take on Washington’s biggest challenges and restore hope.

For more information, go to the Loren Culp post.

Issues

Governance

Jay Inslee 

Efficient Government

Results Washington was established by Governor Jay Inslee in 2013 to strengthen performance management and continuous improvement throughout Washington state government. The agency collaborates closely with state agency partners around the Governor’s five key goal areas:

• World-class education
• A prosperous economy
• Sustainable energy and a clean environment
• Healthy, safe communities
• Efficient, effective and accountable government

Results Washington aims to foster continuous improvement and build a lasting culture of employee-led, customer-focused problem-solving and innovation throughout state government. Under Gov. Inslee, Washington has become a national leader in adapting proven private-sector principles to state government.

• Results Washington is refocusing its efforts toward partnering with state agencies on complex, cross-enterprise projects. Our goal is to develop a process that fosters partnership and focuses on the outcomes that matter to state agencies, the Governor, and ultimately the state of Washington. More information can be found here.
• Revisiting our vision, mission, and values to best align with expectations and where we are going.
• Moving the 9th Annual Washington State Lean Transformation Conference to a virtual setting, including thinking innovatively about the content and how it is delivered.
• Thinking ahead to the next phase of Lean and continuous improvement, we are evaluating and adjusting our approach in alignment with PDCA methodology.
• Defining Results Washington’s role in the Washington state government performance management space.

Budget

2020 supplemental budget highlights

Coronavirus

Lawmakers voted unanimously to approve House Bill 2965, which provides $200 million from state reserves to help the state, local governments and federally recognized tribes respond to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The funds will be used to slow the outbreak, test for the virus and help with treatment for more severe cases of respiratory illness. The emergency legislation includes $25 million for unemployment insurance to financially help employees who are temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

See post fore more info.

Loren Culp 

State Budget & Budget Process

Washington has three state budgets: Operating, Transportation and Capital Construction. The Operating Budget is the largest, accounting for about $55 billion every standard two-year budget cycle. The Transportation and Capital Construction are much smaller. Combined, they account for less than half the Operating Budget.

Right now, Olympia faces budget issues that it hasn’t faced since the 2008 “Great Recession.” As I’ve said previously, the state is facing a “cash deficiency” and overall budget shortfall because of the current Governor’s actions. His “lockdown” proclamations have pushed Washington’s economy into crisis.

As a result, we must trim state spending. Trim the state budgets. And these adjustments don’t have to be drastic—we can adjust to lower current tax receipts by trimming back to 2017 or 2016 spending levels.

Our state government was able to deliver basic education and essential services effectively at 2016 and 2017 levels. We should be able to maintain those core operations of government while returning to those recent spending levels.

Under state law, the current Governor has a few crude budget tools to respond to the economic downturn he’s created. One of those crude tools is implementing across-the-board budget cuts to state agencies. While this may sound like a simple solution, it’s really not the best way to trim our budget sails.

The best way to trim budgets is to use what policymakers call “programmatic” adjustments. This is the opposite of across-the-board cuts.

Programmatic adjustments require the legislature—which, right now in the Fall of 2020, would need to be called into special session—to do hard work. Legislative budget writers review thousands of programs and projects, line by line, and make informed decisions about ranking each by importance. Then, those budget writers need to make another set of informed decisions about how much money (the technical term is “allotments”) to trim. Generally, they start from the bottom of the priority list and work up.

This strategy works. It worked recently, when the state’s Transportation Budget had to be adjusted by some $450 million to match the expected tax receipt drop, resulting from $30 car tabs initiative. Even though that initiative hasn’t taken effect yet, the legislative budget writers were able to make the necessary adjustments without cutting essential Transportation services.

We need to do the same thing with the Operating Budget. It’s much bigger and will require more hard work. But that’s the work Olympia should be doing. Not just calling press conferences!

The current Governor should have called the legislature into special session months ago—to focus on necessary budget adjustments. By playing politics and refusing to work with the legislature, he’s making the state’s “cash deficiency” problem worse. This is a shameful failure to solve our budget issues.

See post fore more info.

Civil Rights

Jay Inslee 

N/A

Loren Culp 

Protection of Citizen Rights

Attacks on religion, freedom of speech, due process and the 2nd Amendment are at an all-time high, while the State government ignores lawlessness in our major cities, invades our privacy and interferes in parenting.  This is unacceptable.  The government is accountable to and serves the people as directed by our Constitution—not the other way around. 

Loren’s Solutions

Principle-based Leadership.  I will not sign any bill into law that does not pass three specific key tests:

1. Is it Constitutional?  Does the bill on my desk violate the United States Constitution or the Washington State Constitution?  If it infringes on our basic rights, I won’t sign it.
2. Will it demonstrably benefit the citizens of Washington?  If a bill has no clear outcomes that benefit the citizens of Washington, I won’t sign it.
3. Can we afford it?  If a bill comes across my desk that requires the state to raise taxes and fees to pay for it, I won’t sign it.

Public Accountability.  Use town halls, events, and other public meetings to promote citizen involvement and awareness, and give the voice back to the citizens

Courage.  I will encourage our legislators, local leadership, and elected law-enforcement officers to challenge every initiative, bill, or law which clearly infringes on Federal or State Constitutional rights. 

Economy

Jay Inslee

Economy

Creating a thriving economic climate that spurs job growth in every industry sector is Gov. Inslee’s top priority. Since the governor took office, state GDP has grown to 3.1% and unemployment has been reduced to a record low of 4.7%. In 2019, the governor worked to sustain economic growth, broaden benefits across the state and build new pathways to opportunity. He managed a $4 million business retention and recruitment Strategic Reserve Fund that resulted in 3,400 jobs. He grew existing small and medium size businesses by building on proven economic development tools, led the development of a sustainable tourism strategy, and diversified in key sectors and subclusters, including:

• Aerospace: Cultivated new supply chain opportunities, launched the Governor’s New Market Aircraft council, grew innovation in the future of aerospace, like composite materials, clean fuels and space exploration.
• Clean Technology: Supported continued growth in the Governor’s Clean Energy Fund and recruited key advanced battery manufacturing and clean transportation companies.
• Information and Communication Technology: Nurtured innovation in blockchain, autonomous vehicles, quantum computing, the Cloud, AI, and internet of things.
• Life Sciences and Global Health: Supported cancer research and funding ,and helped address talent, capital and space needs.
• Maritime: Promoted sustainable development through the Governor’s Maritime Blue initiative, and led creation of a new Maritime Innovation Center.
• Military and Defense: Increased the reach of the Governor’s Procurement and Technical Assistance Center, and expanded focus on cybersecurity.
• Sustainable Forestry: Extended a timber tax break and expanded it to include cross laminate timber.

• Results Washington. Results Washington, launched by Gov. Inslee in 2013, tracks progress on a range of issues including the state’s efforts to grow Washington’s economy and help working families thrive.
• Encourage business diversity. Gov. Inslee formed a subcabinet to find ways for small and diverse businesses to have access to contracting opportunities with state government agencies and higher education institutions.
• Career Connect Washington. The governor launched the Career Connect Washington initiative in May 2017 to help more students pursue good-paying careers after high school through education programs such as registered apprenticeships. Career Connect Washington’s goal is to connect 100,000 students during the next five years with career-connected learning opportunities that prepare them for high-demand, high-wage jobs.
• Ensure statewide broadband access. Many rural communities don’t have access to adequate broadband services which limits their ability to be part of emerging educational and economic opportunities or access modern-day medical and emergency management services. Gov. Inslee is working with legislators and local communities to expand broadband access to every corner of the state.
• Paid family and medical leave. Washington is preparing to launch its best-in-the-nation paid family and medical leave program, approved on a bipartisan basis by legislators in 2017. Employees can become eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid medical leave, and up to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for a new child or an ailing family member. Depending on their earnings, employees will receive up to 90 percent of their wages or up to $1,000 per week.
• Updating Washington’s decades-old overtime rules. Washington’s overtime rules haven’t changed in more than 40 years since they were last updated in 1976. Current state rules exempt any worker who makes more than $13,000 a year, meaning hundreds of thousands of Washington workers who should be receiving overtime pay and minimum wage protections are not. Inslee directed the Department of Labor & Industries to update the rule which could impact more than 250,000 workers by 2026.

Loren Culp 

Unions

When I’m talking with Washington voters, I get asked a lot of questions about my positions on union labor. The most frequent question is, “Do you support ‘Right to Work’ legislation?” Let me answer that question right away:

I will never sign any Right to Work legislation. That is my commitment to our wonderful union workers and their families.

I believe in the value and importance of collective bargaining and I believe an honest day’s work is worth an honest day’s wage. It’s the most important mechanism we have for determining the price and terms of different types of work in our economy. And in our society.

From a purely economic perspective, collective bargaining is a more effective way to determine these prices and terms of labor than any laws or regulations passed by politicians. Collective bargaining, at its best, is the free market speaking because a rising tide lifts all boats!

That said, I do have concerns about some government-employee union activity. These unions are very politically partisan—much more than private-sector unions.

When they get involved in politics, private-sector unions—electricians, carpenters, plumbers, pipefitters, metal workers, transportation workers, teamsters, longshoremen, etc.—tend to be open-minded and talk to policymakers from all sides. Government-employee unions tend to support politicians from just one side of the aisle. This is troubling.

And this isn’t a new thing. In the mid-1900s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt—who was a liberal Democrat—expressed concerns about government-employee unions becoming too partisan. So, he opposed their formation.

I don’t oppose government-employee unions like FDR did. However, I would like to see those groups broaden their approach and talk more regularly to policymakers from all sides of the political spectrum.

Education

Jay Inslee 

Education

Every child deserves a world-class education that prepares them for a healthy, productive future. Supporting the full continuum of education, from early learning through post-secondary and workforce training, ensures that students are prepared to pursue their goals and keep Washington’s world-class economy strong.

Gov. Inslee’s proposed 2019-21 budget invests heavily in teachers, special education and school counselors, nurses and social workers to support students. It supports local levy funding to enhance K-12 programs. It also fully funds the Washington College Promise, guaranteeing financial aid for all students and increases funding for Career Connect Washington to create pathways between high school and good paying jobs.

• Provide career training pathways and options for all Washington students. Gov. Inslee’s Career Connect Washington initiative is a partnership between business, labor, government and education leaders to provide all Washington students access to real-world training and education opportunities that connect them to high-demand, high-wage careers.
• Free college for qualifying students. The Workforce Education Investment Act provides an unprecedented expansion of free college and financial aid for students. The new program will allow students from families of incomes up to $50,000 a year to attend college tuition-free. It also expands eligibility for partial grants to students with incomes up to the state’s median family income (approximately $92,000 for a family of four). Students can use the scholarship to pay for higher education costs to obtain a certificate, associate or bachelor’s degree, or apprenticeship at one of Washington’s qualifying higher education institutions. Funding is provided through an agreed-upon surcharge for certain businesses in industries that have a demand for a highly-skilled workforce.
• Give our kids a strong early start. High-quality early learning is proven to help young students succeed. Gov. Inslee is dedicated to increasing access to early learning for more families and affordable, high-quality child care options.
• Promoting student health and safety. Students shouldn’t worry more about bullying or gun violence than they do about their algebra homework. Gov. Inslee is working with educators and students to make sure students have access to more social workers, counselors, psychologists and nurses in our schools.
• Results Washington. Gov. Inslee is measuring our progress in providing a world-class education to Washington students. Learn more about his Results Washington education goals.

Loren Culp 

Education (Primary, Vocational, and Post)

We’re a point of great change in how “basic education” is delivered to the children of Washington state.

The Washington State Constitution says clearly that delivering a consistent, high quality “basic education” to our kids is the “paramount duty” of the state government. And I agree with that.

The critical question is: What’s the best way to deliver that “basic education”?

For years, as series of lawsuits focused on how taxes are collected to pay for “basic education”—which most education professionals define as Kindergarten to High School graduation. (I agree with that definition.) The main lawsuit that drove those funding questions was the so-called “McCleary” case. While some fine points on those issues remain, Washington’s courts have generally agreed that the tax questions raised by the “McCleary” case have been resolved by the legislature.

While all that tax work was going on, the mechanics of how tax money—once collected—is spent on K-12 schools has been largely ignored. That’s a problem, because many smaller School Districts are suffering under the broken system of school spending that we have.

Right now, the main mechanism that Washington’s state government uses to send operating funds to School Districts is an excessively complicated budget formula called the “prototypical school” model.

Frankly, this budget model was developed by education bureaucrats from the Puget Sound area—and it favors larger school districts over smaller ones. It uses a silly formula that budgets teachers and non-teacher staff (counselors, teacher assistants, nurses, bus drivers, custodians, etc.) based on the number of kids attending school in each district. In many cases, it only budgets a fraction of a position—half a counselor, a third of a nurse—to smaller schools.

Most education professionals agree that the “prototypical school” budget model is outdated and doesn’t work. The debate is whether the model and can be reformed and improved—or needs to be thrown out entirely and replaced with a new budget system. I’m open to the reform arguments but, at this point, I lean more to the throw-it-out-and-replace-it side of the debate.

I think we should come up with a new school district budget model that provides a basic level of staff functions for every school district, no matter how small, and then adds money on a simple basis per each student enrolled in each district. Also, that simple “per student” amount could “follow the student” as he or she moves around the state…or changes the sort of education she or he is pursuing.

See post for more info.

Environment

Jay Inslee 

Energy & Environment

From the shores of Puget Sound to the majesty of the Palouse, we live in a magnificent state. Part of our responsibility as Washingtonians is to keep our state’s water and air clean for our families and our families’ families. The governor has pursued numerous policies that are speeding the transition away from fossil fuels and towards a clean energy economy.

Since he took office in 2013, the governor has:

• Powered a new path to Washington’s clean energy future by requesting and signing an unprecedented suite of clean energy legislation into law, ushering in aggressive timelines for decarbonizing  Washington’s economy and transforming the state’s energy landscape.
  • Reducing carbon pollution. Washington’s legislature has set a target to reduce emissions at least 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2035, and the Department of Ecology has recommended a more ambitious target of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2035.
  • Cleanest energy grid in the nation. Clean electricity is the foundation of Washington’s clean energy economy. Inslee’s legislation will put Washington on a pathway to carbon-neutral electricity by 2030 and 100 percent clean electricity by 2045.
  • A top state for electric vehicles. Thanks to our state’s clean electric grid, transitioning to EVs means big reductions in carbon pollution. Inslee’s proposal continues to promote electric vehicles and ferries and will ensure electric and zero-emission vehicle options are a more affordable and convenient option for consumers.
  • Energy efficient buildings and utilities. Retrofitting old buildings and updating standards for new ones is the fastest and cheapest way to cut carbon emissions. It yields tremendous cost-savings and creates good-paying jobs. Inslee’s plan also sets efficiency standards for natural gas to ensure utilities continue to meet conservation requirements.
  • Reducing super pollutants. Hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, are greenhouse gases that can be thousands of times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide. Climate-safe alternatives are available. The package supports legislation to phase out use of HFCs in Washington state.
• Protected Southern Resident orcas
  • Inslee signed five crucial orca recovery bills into law that protect the safety and livelihood of the Southern Resident orca. These unprecedented efforts — three of them governor-requested bills — focus on protecting orcas from vessel noise and traffic, improving the safety of oil transportation through the Salish Sea, and increasing fish forage habitat and Chinook salmon for the orca’s food source.
• Launched the state’s first-ever Clean Energy Fund to support research, and development and deployment in clean energy technologies, smart grid innovation and more. To date, the fund has provided more than $125 million to support transformative projects and create jobs around the state;
• Passed a historic 16-year, $16 billion transportation package – the largest and greenest in state history – that included authorization for an unprecedented expansion of transit and light rail options in the Seattle metro area;

See post for more info.

Loren Culp 

Fish & Wildlife

I grew up fishing and hunting. And I still do both, when I can.

And, when I was young, fishing and hunting wasn’t just sporty recreation. We did it to eat. It was one of the great things about living in Washington. Families could live—and live pretty well—off of the land.

Has any state agency screwed up worse than WA Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)? Its failure to manage its portfolio of fish and game resources is just sickening.

The Director of WDFW is not appointed directly by the Governor but by a Board of Commissioners selected by the Governor. So, the Governor’s control over the Department is indirect. Frankly, the Commission structure hasn’t worked very well. As Governor, I will support reforming that set-up.

In recent years, the legislature has considered several different proposals for restructuring the WDFW Commission. None has gotten much traction. Some of those proposals would eliminate the Commission and return authority back to the Governor directly; others would go the opposite direction and expand the Commission to include more voices. Frankly, either approach would be an improvement over what we have now.

As Governor, I will measure WDFW’s performance by a simple set of questions: Are there fish in the water? Are there deer and elk on the land? Are sport hunters content? Are commercial fishermen content?

If the answer to any of these four questions is “No.” Then WDFW isn’t doing its job.

One final thought: The trouble that WDFW has had managing our system of state-run fish hatcheries is inexcusable. It’s an unforced error. We need to increase hatchery production immediately—no excuses! We have the mechanisms to do this. And general agreement from fish scientists at both the federal and state levels that we can increase hatchery production without disturbing the natural balance among different species.

We simply have to do this.

See post for more info.

Health Care

Jay Inslee 

Health Care & Human Services

Washington state is a national leader in the delivery of high-quality, lower-cost health care. Washington is one of the top 10 states for health care access thanks to full implementation of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion. The state achieved a record-low uninsured rate with nearly 800,000 thousand Washingtonians gaining access to health insurance, and 30,000 Washingtonians gaining access to opioid treatments and behavioral health services.

Protecting and expanding access to reproductive health care through policies such as Washington’s Reproductive Parity Act requires health insurers that cover maternity services to also cover the entire range of reproductive health services

The governor has also launched initiatives to tackle complex issues related to payment reform, mental health, opioid addiction, homelessness and services for at-risk children and families.

Infrastructure

Jay Inslee 

Transportation

In 2015, Gov. Inslee led the effort to secure the largest single transportation investment in state history. This $16 billion bipartisan package addresses critical maintenance and safety needs around the state, provides more than 200,000 jobs and funds projects that relieve congestion, improve freight mobility and provide more clean transportation choices.

• Results Washington. Sustainable Transportation
• Autonomous Vehicles: Washington state is already a leader in autonomous vehicle technology. These vehicles could help save countless lives, reclaim time spent in traffic, improve mobility and be an important tool in our efforts to combat climate change. In June 2017, Governor Inslee signed an executive order to create the Governor’s AV Working Group and further support the safe testing and operation of autonomous vehicles. Read more about the Governor’s AV Workgroup.
• Move Washington forward with a transportation investment package. Gov. Inslee signed the biggest transportation investment in state history into law in July 2015. The package creates jobs, improves road safety, invests in transit, ensures project accountability and funds a historic level of clean transportation projects.
• Electrification of Washington’s roadways. Gov. Inslee set a goal of 50,000 electric vehicles on Washington’s roads by 2020. To support the growing trend of more drivers choosing to purchase EVs, Gov. Inslee is working to expand the availability of high-speed charging stations, increase incentives and build out our EV infrastructure.
• Keep our roads safe. Gov. Inslee and the Washington State Patrol are working to reduce highway deaths to zero by 2030 as part of the Target Zero strategic plan.

Loren Culp 

Transportation & Infrastructure

Anyone who’s driven near or through King County knows that automobile traffic congestion is a major issue in this state. Unfortunately, the current leadership at the WA State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)—political partisans, appointed by the current Governor—have stated plainly that relieving traffic congestion is NOT an agency priority. Instead, that leadership is chasing hare-brained schemes for European-style “mass transit” that do nothing but waste taxpayers’ dollars.

This will change!

State transportation policy—and WSDOT’s marching orders—need to focus clearly on two priorities:

• allowing Washington’s people to move quickly and comfortably from where they live to where the work, shop or run essential errands;
• allowing Washington’s businesses to move their workers, goods and services efficiently and cost-effectively around the state, around the nation or around the globe—as they choose.

That’s really it. We don’t need to clog WSDOT’s mission statement with gobbledygook about global politics and “social justice.” (Right now, WSDOT offers that stuff as its top priorities. See for yourself at the agency’s web site: wsdot.wa.gov.)

As I’ve mentioned before, the state’s Transportation Budget has seen some good, bipartisan reforms in recent years. This is a hopeful sign—for its particular needs and for Olympia budget-writing, in general.

Faced with a projected $450 million shortfall in its regular two-year budget during the 2020-2021 cycle, legislators on the Senate and House Transportation Committees were able to use “programmatic” budget adjustments to make up the shortfall. These adjustments were more tightly focused and targeted than crude “across-the-board” cuts. The legislative budget writers did the hard work for reviewing thousands of line items in the Transportation Budget, ranking them by type and importance, and making adjustments according to that ranking.

Doing that hard work, the Transportation Committee legislators were able to undo the damaging “freeze” that the current Governor had placed on ALL state Transportation infrastructure projects.

See post for more info.

Safety

Jay Inslee

Safe Communities

Part of our role as public servants is to keep Washingtonians safe. Our state already leads the nation in innovative and effective criminal and juvenile justice policy, but we work hard to continue to improve public safety in our communities while also ensuring that we have a fair and equitable system of justice.

Current Work

• Reducing gun violence. Thousands of families across Washington have experienced the tragedy of gun violence. Gov. Inslee is working to pass additional common sense measures to keep our schools and communities safe, and to keep firearms away from people experiencing a mental health crisis. Washington is one of the top 10 states for gun laws that include a first-in-the-nation initiative requiring universal background checks, and additional measures to help prevent suicide, protection orders that keep guns out of the hands of those in crisis, and a ban on bump stocks.
• Protecting immigrant and refugee families. Gov. Inslee is standing up against the Trump administration’s discriminatory and cruel immigration policies, pledging that Washington will remain a state that welcomes people of all faiths, nationalities and orientations.
• Results Washington. Gov. Inslee’s goal for decreasing violent infractions in prison met its 2017 target.
• Emergency preparedness. Gov. Inslee is taking steps to protect lives and help communities in the aftermath of a large-scale earthquake or tsunami. Washington’s proximity to the Cascadia Subduction Zone — a major fault line off the Pacific Coast of North America — puts the region at significant risk for major earthquakes and tsunamis. The Resilient Washington Subcabinet convenes regularly to better prepare our state for earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, drought, storms and flooding.

Loren Culp 

Homelessness, Drug Addiction & Crime

Homelessness, drug abuse and mental health

As I’ve said many times, Washington doesn’t have a homelessness problem. It has an addiction and mental health problem.

People who deny this plain truth are usually pushing self-interested agendas.

Government policy on homelessness should be to help troubled people resolve the core issues that cause their troubles. It should NOT be to enable people who are caught in downward spirals of addiction or other self-destructive behaviors. Enabling the afflicted isn’t compassionate—it’s callous and brutal. Washington’s current Governor has enabled such behaviors—and we see every day the bad results. People living on our streets in third world inhumane conditions.

We need to help our neighbors who are down-and-out. In fact, we have a moral obligation to our communities to do so. While government shouldn’t be the only method for providing this help, it does have a role to play. I see that role primarily as a support—or “force multiplier”—to private, charitable activities. I believe in Washington citizens. We some of the most generous, compassionate and socially mindful citizens in our country. Your state government should magnify that goodness.

There are great examples of this approach working in several parts of Washington. One is in Longview, where the organizations Community House and CORE Health work cooperatively to get people off the streets. Permanently. To be clear, Community House’s programs aren’t just a no-strings handout. They require people to commit to getting better, living better lives—and, once people make that commitment, Community House and CORE Health provide the space and basic services to help them. It’s not luxury…it’s not always pretty…but it works. Not only does it work, it produces much better results than so-called “no barrier” or “wet” homeless housing schemes do.