SEATTLE — On Wednesday, Gov. Jay Inslee was in Seattle touring the spot where a homeless camp used to be along Interstate 5 in the University District in Seattle.
This was the 32nd encampment cleared out by the state’s Right of Way Program, which clears encampments next to highways.
"There are about 38 people who were living here. We've gotten shelter and housing for 28 of them," said Inslee. "This has been a similar success that we've had up and down our freeway corridors."
He said the program approved in 2022 has connected 1,000 people to shelter and that 80% of those people are still housed and not back in encampments.
The governor said more funding is needed for the program. The program has used around $140 million so far and he is asking the state legislature to allocate $100 million more to be used for the program.
In the supplemental proposed capital budgets released by the House and Senate this week, that type of funding was not included.
“We think more needs to be done than what is in those two proposals,” said Inslee. “So I will be talking to legislators, urging them to find some additional funding.”
“Nobody should be living on these right of ways,” said Senator Mark Mullet. “It's not safe.”
Sen. Mark Mullet of Issaquah is one of the lawmakers involved in the Senate's Capital Budget proposal. The proposal does not include direct funding for the program but does fund housing options he says can help.
“We did $10 million in tiny homes in the Senate budget because we feel like that's a really cost-effective way to be able to create opportunities in a very short amount of time where you can provide options for people who might right now be living in the right of way,” said Mullet. “We also gave flexibility. So, the Washington State Department of Commerce, if they were to find something they wanted to purchase, they do have some flexibility to make that purchase. But we really were focused on tiny homes as kind of our solution for if you need an immediate place or someone to go in the next 6 to 9 months, we think that's still a good option.”
Some of the funding in the past for this program has been used to purchase hotels to house people, but Mullet said he feels the state has already bought up the most affordable hotels and he thinks tiny houses are a good option for the state to focus on.
“We bought several hotel properties up and down the I-5 corridor, and part of my anxiety is I don't want to spend $30 million buying something, if we can house the same out of people for $5 million,” said Mullet.
Inslee agreed that tiny houses are a good option.
“We look for all potential options,” said Inslee. “Buy a hotel that's empty, put in a tiny home village, look at multiple sites that can be consolidated. I think we should be open to all of these different versions because people have different needs as well.”