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.
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.
The additional spending has gone toward improving homeless services, purchasing temporary shelters, building more affordable housing and providing rent assistance.
While it’s helped, affordable-housing construction is still not meeting the estimated need; rents remain too high for many tenants; and home ownership
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