The City of Seattle and King County have been awarded 2011-2012 federal homeless assistance funds totaling more than $21.5 million, providing renewal funding for 65 existing housing and supportive service programs helping people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the award on January 19, 2011 following the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announcement of $1.4 billion awarded nationwide. 

Community-based organizations joined with the City of Seattle and King County to submit the annual joint application for the McKinney funding that allows local governments and their many partners to provide essential housing and supportive services for homeless people. The funding is crucial to the ongoing work of the Committee to End Homelessness and the implementation of the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness.

The $21.5 million in McKinney grants that the Seattle/King County Continuum of Care received from HUD supports a total of 818 units of transitional housing, 849 units of permanent housing for homeless people with disabilities, and two Safe Haven facilities that offer supportive housing for severely mentally ill adults who have been homeless received continued funding. Also renewed was funding for the Safe Harbors Homeless Management Information System, which collects data on services provided to homeless people in programs throughout King County. 

Click here to see the news release and list of programs. For more information on the programs and projects funded by the McKinney grant funds, please contact Eileen Denham, City of Seattle McKinney Programs Coordinator, 206-684-0915 or Kate Speltz, King County Housing and Community Development Program, 206-263-9084.