Bellevue Hires City's First Homelessness Coordinator

BELLEVUE, WA — As part of an evolving response to a regional crisis, the City of Bellevue has hired its first homelessness outreach coordinator. Announcing the hire of Stephanie Martinez on Tuesday, the city pointed to the latest Count Us In report showing 337 unsheltered people living in East King County. Martinez is tasked with developing a unified approach to homelessness across city departments and establishing metrics to determine what things are working - and what's not.

The city says Martinez most recently worked in California, measuring how effective the state's Domestic Violence Housing First program was performing. She has also worked as a community-based housing advocate for Bellevue's LifeWire and as part of Tacoma PD's homeless outreach team.

Bellevue operates a seasonal men's shelter, running at temporary sites for more than a decade, and recently established a year-round "bridge" shelter that will eventually be on Eastgate Way.