King County loses federal homeless funding for not having enough poverty

King County is set to lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal government typically earmarked to combat homelessness.

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Reported by Crosscut and Real Change, the funding comes from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and is regularly given out based on poverty and unemployment rates. King County has received this FEMA money every year since 1991, but will now miss out on it entirely, thanks in large part to a lack of poverty (at least on paper).

Counties sitting at or above 4.9 percent for unemployment and with 15.6 percent for people living below the poverty line qualify for the federal funding. King County sits at 3.4 percent and 9.3 percent for those numbers respectively.

What it doesn’t take into account is King County and Seattle’s current homeless crisis, making this a sizable blow to many organizations and their ability to provide essential resources. In the past, grants from this program have ranged between $400,000 and $2.5 million a year.

In 2018, over $800,000 was divided among 20 total organizations, split down the middle between shelters and food banks. Crosscut cites data from United Way, which estimates that the 2018 grant covered almost 370,000 meals, over 27,000 nights in shelters, and over 1,000 nights in motels.

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Seattle-based shelter program SHARE stands to lose tens of thousands of dollars of its $1 million budget in 2019 with FEMA money no longer coming in.

It’s unclear at this time how these programs plan to make up for the shortfall.

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