How much has Washington state spent on housing in the past decade?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

For much of the past decade, the amount of money Washington lawmakers dedicated to housing and homelessness programs grew gradually, climbing from around $200 million to $400 million in each two-year budget between 2013 and 2021.

But in the last four years, this spending has surged, according to an analysis of state spending data provided by the Office of Financial Management.

These figures show that more than $4 billion – or around 80% – of the roughly $5 billion directed to expanding housing and preventing homelessness since 2013 has been packed into the past two state budgets.

Part of that spike is due to an infusion of federal pandemic aid. But it also reflects a growing acknowledgment among lawmakers that Washington has a housing problem, particularly a shortage of affordable homes.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/05/20/how-much-has-washington-state-spent-on-housing-in-the-past-decade/

[Aristus]

1. I can assert, if only anecdotally, that the program is working.

I ran into one of my old homeless patients a couple of weeks ago. He was relaxing on a bench outside his low-income apartment building, which is right across the street from my new clinic.

He called out to me, and we passed a pleasant twenty minutes or so in conversation. He was in a unit, off the streets, and living independently. And loving every minute of it.

I was overjoyed for him, and he had a number of embarrassingly kind things to say about me, as well. I told him that although I’m at a new clinic, I want him to come see me anytime he needs medical care. I’m right across the street.

It’s such a ridiculously simple solution. Angered by unsightly tent cities? Don’t “move along” the vulnerable people living there; build more affordable housing!