The Washington state Legislature has proposed budgets that would cut $30 million from the state’s signature homelessness program, which would largely halt work to remove encampments on state property next to highways. Advocates say that’s just one of many cuts homelessness programs could be facing.
In 2022, the state innovated a new model for removing encampments — creating subsidized housing and providing it to people living outside in areas that officials wanted to clear. Until then, people whose tents were cleared in encampment removals had to compete against everyone else trying to access scarce housing resources.
Since then, Washington has closed more than 50 encampments in five counties, bringing nearly 80% of people from them — almost 1,500 people — inside. That is a significant improvement from how cities normally clear encampments, which, for the most part, moves people from one location outside to another.
However, it’s more expensive to house people than to move them around. The state has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the Encampment Resolution Program, most of that on creating new housing. State officials said they heard criticism from cities that questioned whether it made sense to spend that much on a specific sliver of homelessness: people living in encampments on state property next to highways.
With pandemic relief funding drying up and the state facing immense budget challenges, the state House and Senate proposed budgets this week that would reduce the program’s funding from $75 million to $45 million annually.
Gov. Bob Ferguson responded to questions about cuts to the program by pointing out the tough overall budget environment — an estimated $16 billion budget shortfall over the next four years.
“We’ve got serious challenges ahead,” Ferguson said in a statement, noting potentially drastic changes in federal funding under the new presidential administration.
State lawmakers said the program had been successful at demonstrating a new way to resolve encampments without displacing people, but that they had many important priorities.
“I think there’s very strong support for the approach. I think the challenge is the limited resources,” said Rep. Nicole Macri, D-Seattle, in an interview last fall.
The state Department of Commerce, which oversees the program, said its primary goal now is to maintain the housing currently funded through the Encampment Resolution Program, and addressing new encampments would be limited to beds opening up from people leaving.
Some service providers fear encampment removals will continue but without using the new model of bringing people inside.
“If we can’t resolve encampments in the right way, there will be enormous pressure to remove them through just displacement,” said Lisa Daugaard, co-executive director of Purpose Dignity Action, one of the organizations partnering with the state’s Encampment Resolution Program.
Alison Eisinger, executive director of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, said she supported the state’s model, but that there were broader concerns with a number of homelessness programs facing cuts.
“The point isn’t that this effective program is not going to be able to continue to bring new people in. The point is that multiple effective, good programs are not going to be able to bring new people in, and may lose the ability to maintain stability for the people they’re currently serving,” Eisinger said.
State lawmakers must approve a final budget by April 27, the last day of session.