Washington's King County to divert $100M in coronavirus rescue money for homeless housing

Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars and taking hundreds of people off the streets and out of overnight shelters, the number of homeless people in Seattle seems to be growing. It’s estimated at around 12,000 people. Now, the King County executive finds himself flush with federal money to spend any way he wants on the homelessness problem.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, passed by Congressional Democrats and signed by President Biden, included $5 billion for homeless services with no limitations on how it is spent. King County plans on using roughly a quarter of the $437 million it expects to receive on homelessness, a problem that was considered a crisis long before the pandemic. Constantine has proposed a $102.5 million plan that includes $62.5 million to house at least 500 chronically homeless people and $40 million to create 400 temporary jobs for people experiencing homelessness. "The money that’s been spent on assisting people exiting homelessness has been well spent, it’s been successful, people have exited homelessness," said Dan Malone, director of the Downtown Emergency Services Center, which works with Seattle’s entrenched homeless. "The problem is more people have fallen into homelessness along the way."