SEATTLE — The rate of homelessness is rapidly rising across the country, in red and blue states, and for reasons that are as different as the geography.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the homelessness rate is up 11% across the country, and housing costs and evictions are prime factors, marking the biggest spike since the government started recording the data.
This is after millions of dollars have been spent on a federal, state and local level, and construction of affordable housing has boomed.
In King County, the executive’s office acknowledged it has received a little under $1 billion in federal funding for the Homeless, Housing, and Community Development Division since 2019. Yet the homeless rate went up 14% in the past year.
