Our homelessness and basic needs expert Lauren McGowan takes a look at how Rapid Rehousing is taking shape in King County…

On any given night in King County there are more than one thousand families with children that are without permanent stable housing.  United Way of King County, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, King County and other community partners are working together to address this crisis. Like many communities around the country, Seattle and King County have embraced the concept of Rapid Re-Housing as a key strategy to reduce family homelessness. This strategy involves moving homeless households quickly from shelter into safe and stable permanent housing. Services are delivered primarily after the household is in housing, and are focused on maintaining housing stability.

The King County Rapid Re-Housing for Homeless Families (RRHF) project is a three year countywide demonstration project that began delivering services in January 2010 through Wellspring Family Services and Solid Ground. Designed to serve approximately 33 families per year, the project has already placed 13 families with children (39 individuals) in housing and another 8 families will be housed shortly.  These families, and more like them will receive up to 12 months of rental assistance, housing and employment case management services, and the opportunity to participate in workforce/educational training programs to increase their income earning potential through a partnership with the King County Work Training Program.

To be eligible for the program families must meet all of the following criteria:
1. Have an income of 50% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI);
2. Come from places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, and abandoned buildings or an emergency shelter located in King County outside of the City of Seattle;
3. Have no other housing options; and
4. Lack the financial resources and support networks needed to obtain immediate housing.

The goal of the project is to ensure that households with dependent children are in the homeless system for as brief a period of time as possible; by quickly placing them into permanent housing that they’ll be able to maintain at the end of the RRHF subsidy period – either independently or with a subsidy as appropriate.

Seattle and King County will benefit from the experience of other communities who have implemented similar projects.  The National Alliance to End Homelessness has compiled best practices from cities across the country.