Summary

The City of Seattle and King County have been awarded $968,902 in new funds to support the operating costs for three homeless housing projects in Seattle, bringing the total amount awarded to our region for 2012 federal homeless assistance awards to well over $22 million. King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the local McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Awards following the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announcement of nationwide awards.

Story

King County and Seattle receive nearly $1 million more in federal homeless assistance grants

Funds will ensure onsite supportive services for more than 200 people leaving homelessness

The City of Seattle and King County have been awarded $968,902 in new funds to support the operating costs for three homeless housing projects in Seattle, bringing the total amount awarded to our region for 2012 federal homeless assistance awards to well over $22 million. King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the local McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Awards following the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announcement of nationwide awards.

"These new funds will create permanent housing for the homeless - two new six-story buildings in Northgate and South Lake Union - and expand supportive services," said King County Executive Dow Constantine, co-chair of the Committee to End Homelessness. "For the federal government to award this region more funds, on top of the grants it already renewed in December, validates the strength of our partnerships and our shared commitment to create affordable housing linked to needed services."

"These grants are crucial to the city's efforts to help prevent and end homelessness in our region," said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. "The combination of permanent housing with supportive services is a key strategy to help chronically homeless adults, including military veterans, find stable housing and rebuild their lives."

The new money is in addition to $21.8 million in renewal grants received by Seattle and King County from HUD that were announced in December 2011. That funding supported a total of 1,776 units of housing, including 754 units of transitional housing and 1,022 units of permanent housing for people with disabilities. Funding was also provided for the Safe Harbors Homeless Management Information System, which collects data on services provided to homeless people in programs throughout King County and is critical to successful grant applications to HUD.

The new assistance dollars will help to ensure that residents in these facilities receive the onsite services they need to achieve and maintain housing stability. Supportive housing has proven extremely effective in successfully housing people whose lives have been shattered by homelessness, mental illness and addiction, while saving millions of dollars in emergency services.

The three projects receiving federal funding are:

· Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) Aurora Supportive Housing - $473,253. Located on Aurora Avenue in the Northgate neighborhood, this project will create a new six-story building to provide permanent supportive housing for 87 homeless adults, with 24-hour onsite staffing and case management services. All of the units will be reserved for chronically homeless single men and women.

· Plymouth Housing Group (PHG) Williams Apartments - $473,254. The Williams Apartments will provide 81 studio apartments as permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals who are disabled by substance use or multiple co-occurring disorders. Half of the units will be reserved for homeless military veterans. Located in the Cascade neighborhood, the new six-story building will provide onsite case management.

· Archdiocesan Housing Authority (AHA) Ozanam House - $27,395. Located in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood, Ozanam provides 55 units of permanent supportive housing for homeless people over the age of 55 who have been chronically homeless and are disabled by chemical dependency or co-occurring mental health and chemical dependency. The new funds will expand the supportive services available onsite to add chemical dependency services and health care/nursing support for residents.

Every year, community-based organizations join with the City of Seattle and King County to submit a joint application for the McKinney funding that allows county and local governments and their many partners to provide essential housing and supportive services for homeless people. The funding is critical to the ongoing work of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County and the implementation of the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness.