Leaders urge WA to restore homeless program funding

Funding at risk for WA homelessness program

Funding is now at risk for a program that's been successfully addressing Washington's homeless crisis due to Olympia's multi-billion dollar budget shortage.

SEATTLE - Funding is now at risk for a groundbreaking, successful program that addresses Washington’s homelessness crisis. The Right of Way Encampment Resolution Program is funded by state dollars to pay for outreach and holistic services, including permanent housing.

However, with state legislators struggling to resolve a $12 billion deficit, money for Right of Way (ROW) is on the chopping block.

ROW was launched in 2022. Since then, more than 50 encampments located on a state right of way were successfully resolved through the statewide program. One site included the Myers Way encampment in Seattle, which made news headlines in 2023. It was one of 23 sites in King County that were cleaned up through ROW and got people the support they needed for a fresh start to life.

Darian Sharif is one person who received that fresh start through the support of ROW. Sharif said he had been experiencing homelessness for more than a year until he began building life-changing relationships with ROW advocates.

What they're saying:

"I’m a living example that this program does wonders. And every opportunity that was presented was done with relationships," said Sharif.

ROW has helped about 1,700 people in Washington get inside, which amounts to almost 80% of those initially outreached. In King County, 91% of people removed from encampments went into permanent housing and temporary lodging through the program.

Now, all that progress could come to a halt due to the state’s $12 billion budget deficit. City and county officials said if state legislators can’t find it in the budget to continue funding ROW, much of their efforts could end.

"I don’t want to stand up here and downplay the incredibly difficult decisions that our state lawmakers are being forced to make. King County itself is facing historic budget shortfalls, something that our budget directors said is the worst budget in King County history," said Girmay Zahilay, chair of King County Council. "But when we’re talking about one of the most effective solutions to one of the most complex, biggest, most intractable problems our state faces with respect to homelessness, we have to find a way together to prioritize what works."

"To take that away would be a shame because I wouldn’t be here without this opportunity," said Sharif. "There’s no other answer to this problem other than supporting this."

Washington's homelessness crisis

City and county officials, alongside community advocates, called on state legislators to consider their request to restore ROW’s $40 million in biennial funding in fiscal year 2025.

"The current budget proposals only maintain housing for people previously helped through this program. But let's be clear, they do not fund new outreach, shelter, or housing placements. And without restored funding, ROW program’s front door will close," said Alexis Mercedes Rinck, of Seattle City Council. "We cannot go back to a patchwork approach that simply ships people from one roadside to another, especially in times like this when the stakes are so high."

County leaders funding the program is an investment that saves the state money.

"It is cheaper to house people through the Right of Way encampment removal program, than it is to house people in jail, have a revolving door at the hospitals, and then try to catch people later when we’re moving them by sweeps from place to place," said Teresa Mosqueda of King County Council.

The councilmember also said it helps Washington defend itself from cuts at the federal level.

Big picture view:

"Disseminating the Housing and Urban Development program, cuts to section 8 vouchers, things that will actually help people stay housed is what is being cut at the federal level. So, at the local level, we need to double down on our investment of $40 million investment into Right of Way encampment removal. It’s smart, but it also needs to be coupled with additional revenue into safety net programs, upstream investments to prevent people from falling into homelessness, and to serve more people who are living outside," Mosqueda.

Ericka Frodsham is a housing specialist with CoLEAD, a community organization that supports ROW outreach. Frodsham is an advocate with her boots to the ground helping people who once stood in her position.

"I was once unhoused. I was unhoused in Seattle before all of these great programs that are being funded were around. And I remember being shuffled around and being told, ‘You can’t be here,’ but where do I go?" said Frodsham.

Those same questions Frodsham had back during her time experiencing homelessness are similar questions people beyond King County will have if money to pay for ROW is cut. Without those state dollars, Frodsham said she worries about what could happen next.

"I see us going back to a system where people are just shuffled along from place to place to place. If people don’t have a way to get in, they don’t have a way to get out of this," said Frodsham.

What's next:

This call to action comes as state lawmakers are in their last days of legislative session, tentatively voting on a budget by April 27. Community advocates and local leaders said if their request for $40 million biennial funding is not renewed, ROW won’t be able to respond to new encampments on a state right of way, starting in summer 2025.

"We just need to legislation to hear it and believe it and feel it," said Frodsham. "If there’s no way in, there’s not a way out. It’s just the same revolving door that we’ve seen not work. Right of Way works. We need the funding."

The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Franque Thompson.