Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

HUD Will Fund More Housing Vouchers For Homeless Veterans In Seattle And King County

Diueine Monteiro
/
Flickr

About 240 more homeless veterans in Washington state will soon have an option for permanent housing.

The federal government has teamed up with local officials across the country, including Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine, to tackle veteran homelessness. Julian Castro, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, spelled out their ambitious goal at a press conference in Seattle.

"We’re going to continue to work with communities like Seattle and King County to ensure we reach the day in the United States where not one person who has served in our armed forces is homeless," Castro said.

Castro announced $65 million in funding for housing vouchers for about 9,300 veterans across the country. The vouchers cover part of their rent.

Seattle and King County will get $900,000 of the fund to help about 125 local homeless veterans find a place to live. The balance of the federal funding will help homeless veterans across Washington.

But that’s not enough to meet the entire need, said Mayor Ed Murray. Murray said it’s estimated that about 1,100 veterans in King County will experience homelessness in 2015.

In July 2017, Ashley Gross became KNKX's youth and education reporter after years of covering the business and labor beat. She joined the station in May 2012 and previously worked five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.