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Looking at the state's plan to clear encampments along highways
In roughly a year, the King County Regional Homeless Authority and the state say they habe cleared around 300 people from highway encampments.
SEATTLE - A little more than one year into the "Right of Way Safety Initiative" and King County has moved 292 people out of homeless encampments and into some form of housing.
During a recent meeting with Seattle City Council members, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) noted that the 292 people were moved while the state funded the county at a cost of $49.2 million. A spokesperson for KCRHA told FOX 13 that they have not spent all the money.
While the initial return on investment is small, nearly half was spent to acquire new construction housing.
The bigger concern moving forward is that it’s unclear whether there is funding for King County to maintain its current permanent housing.
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During a meeting, KCHRA’s Jeff Simms told the Public Assets and Homelessness Committee that it would cost $16.6 million annually. He noted that there are one-time funding opportunities coming up, but that the money that will come available, but that it won’t be for ongoing operational funding.
"That could have an impact on our plans for when we need to ramp down our sheltering, and field teams to a level that’s sustainable," said Simms.
Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold told Simms she had concerns, saying: "It is actually the only approach that is truly effective, and the fact that this funding may not be available in the future suggests to me that we may not in the future have support for the only effective approach."
Statewide, the Right of Way Safety Initiative has led to work at 30 different encampment sites around Washington.
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The program takes a "housing-first" approach, ensuring that an encampment on state-owned rights of way will only be cleared when there is a safe housing opportunity, with an emphasis on permanent housing.
A late-2022 report indicated that more than 2,000 encampments exist across the state alongside highways, and interstates. By these numbers, the efforts so far have removed less than 1% of encampments on state-owned rights of way.