‘Funding cliff’ ahead for Whatcom homeless services
Bellingham and Whatcom County housing providers are heading toward a “funding cliff” as homelessness keeps rising and dozens of low-income residents stand to lose rent support in the next weeks and months, County Council members learned this week.
Funding for several housing programs is running out this year, said Ann Beck, human services manager for the Whatcom County Department of Health and Community Services said in a presentation Tuesday, March 7.
“One of the things that we’re looking at is a funding cliff ahead. We wanted to give you a head’s up about what that looks like,” Beck told the council’s Committee of the Whole.
That comes amid dire predictions that the number of Whatcom County residents without permanent shelter continues to rise, she said.
Homelessness was up 11% from 2020 to 2022 in all of Washington state, and that increase was 17% for Whatcom County, she said.
Those without shelter rose from 707 people in 2020 to 832 people in 2022, according to the Point In Time Count, an annual nationwide homeless census, Beck said.
Figures from the 2023 count were incomplete, but “we are seeing an even larger increase this year as well,” she told the council.
Health and Community Services has seen a 70% increase in demand for assistance recently, Beck said.
In her presentation and in a statement posted at the Health and Community Services website, Beck said that financial support and grant funds go to local nonprofits for overnight shelter, day shelter, severe winter shelters, rent subsidies for low-income households, supportive services and mediation services between renters and landlords.
About 16% of the $13.2 million 2023 budget for housing services comes from pandemic-relief programs that will expire in June, said Chris D’Onofrio, housing supervisor for Health and Community Services.
“We will have (eviction) prevention funds, but it’s going to be a fraction of what we have and we’re going to be much more selective in how those go out to the community,” D’Onfrio said.
More cuts are likely from the state Commerce Department, which is providing 48% of the housing budget, he said.
In recent years, housing officials have been prioritizing housing for families with children and is spending $150,000 a month to keep about 60 of 200 families requesting services off the street by providing motel vouchers.
Pandemic relief funds were the primary source for motel stays for families with children, he said.
“We’re looking at those fading out as they’re being exhausted by the end of this year,” D’Onofrio said.
And the need for housing keeps exceeding capacity: In 2022, there were 1,071 eligible applications for housing and only 359 people who applied got funds, he said.
This story was originally published March 12, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: The number of families receiving motel vouchers for housing was corrected Monday, March 20, 2023.
