Burien-based Sunrise Financial Services will be holding a community meeting on Thursday, June 3, 2021 for local business owners and residents about the proposed Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) supportive housing facility.

The meeting will be held at the company’s offices at 431 Ambaum Blvd. SW (map below), starting at 6 p.m., and will also be live streamed on The B-Town Blog’s Facebook Page, as well as recorded and posted here afterwards.

Organizers want to discuss alternative options they say “should be requested at an upcoming public hearing on June 14, 2021 (EDITOR’S NOTE: this date has been corrected from the company’s original letter). I encourage you all to do your own research and attend this meeting so we can create a counter proposal and approach DESC as a united community.”

Mayor Jimmy Matta has given DESC his support (read his announcement here), so a facility of some kind WILL be created in Burien, “but as a community we need to push back to create a plan that can actually benefit our city, not just undo the hard work many of you have done building it up over the years.”

“In speaking with council members and business owners, some of the counter proposal pieces or concerns to be addressed are as follows:

    • “Additional treatment or social emersion plan for these housed individuals (medical treatment, employment, etc)
    • “Loss of tax revenue with DESC and a plan to make up for it elsewhere
    • “Clear understanding of housing rules, eviction plan and post-eviction plan (will delinquent tenants be
      left on the streets of Burien?)
    • “Updating the housing plan to include units appropriate for a family, not just single individuals
    • “Prioritizing the Burien homeless community (this may be an issue due to Coordinated Entry regulations,
      see King County info here)
    • “Turning this facility into Burien specific emergency center and a resource for the local homeless and
      drug addicted
    • “Pushing for this facility to become a Regional Access Point into the Coordinated Entry program, see
      King county info here”

NOTE: This event will be live streamed on our Facebook Page – be sure to “Like” us here to get notification for when the video starts.

Here’s text of a letter that Sunrise sent out this week about this event:

Attention Burien Business Owners and Residents:

On behalf of local business owners, I have been asked to reach out to our community to address the continuing events regarding the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) and their proposal to develop a facility here in Downtown Burien.

The Mayor of Burien, Jimmy Matta, announced the decision last week to postpone an official vote on this proposal until June, but he has also made it clear that he does intend to support DESC in Burien in some capacity. However, he is suggesting that a dialogue be opened between the Burien Community and the DESC team to reach a plan that is beneficial to both parties. You can see his announcement here.

Sunrise Financial Services will be hosting a meeting at our office on Thursday, June 3rd at 6:00pm for all local business owners, residents and other concerned community members to discuss the alternative options that should be requested at an upcoming public hearing on June 14, 2021. I encourage you all to do your own research and attend this meeting so we can create a counter proposal and approach DESC as a united community.

In speaking with council members and business owners, some of the counter proposal pieces or concerns to be addressed are as follows:

    • Additional treatment or social emersion plan for these housed individuals (medical treatment, employment, etc)
    • Loss of tax revenue with DESC and a plan to make up for it elsewhere
    • Clear understanding of housing rules, eviction plan and post-eviction plan (will delinquent tenants be
      left on the streets of Burien?)
    • Updating the housing plan to include units appropriate for a family, not just single individuals
    • Prioritizing the Burien homeless community (this may be an issue due to Coordinated Entry regulations,
      see King County info here)
    • Turning this facility into Burien specific emergency center and a resource for the local homeless and
      drug addicted
    • Pushing for this facility to become a Regional Access Point into the Coordinated Entry program, see
      King county info here

We will discuss all of these items in detail on June 3 at 6 p.m., Burien council members will be present to help shed light on the issues. As mentioned above, the mayor has given DESC his support, so a facility of some kind WILL be created in Burien, but as a community we need to push back to create a plan that can actually benefit our city, not just undo the hard work many of you have done building it up over the years.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, I will do my best to provide information. I hope to see you all next Thursday, June 3rd at 6:00pm at Sunrise Financial Services: 431 SW Ambaum Blvd, Burien, WA. 98166. Please forward this information to any additional community members who wish to be involved.

Thank you.
Vanessa Potts
Director of Marketing & Events
Sunrise Financial Services
431 SW Ambaum Boulevard
Burien, WA. 98166
P: 206-420-8520
F: 206-374-2769

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