KING COUNTY, Wash. — Several families could be displaced after an independent shelter program in King County has run out of money.
The office of King County Executive Dow Constantine said it was recently made aware that the Lived Experience Coalition is "unable to maintain its temporary hoteling program." The program is managed by the Lived Experience Coalition and not a program within the county's Health Through Housing initiative or King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
Despite the program not being part of the county's efforts to shelter people, the county executive's office said, "Public and private partners are concerned about the impact on individuals currently sheltered in hotels and are working together to identify possible solutions."
“It’s not like we are just asking for something for free, you know? People want to work, people want to get their life together,” said Chacion Mac, a participant in the hotel-motel program.
Mac said being housed in the temporary program was helping to do just that: get his life together.
“I thought, it’s finally happening,” said Mac.
Darius Maxie agreed.
“The services they were offering, I’ve seen a way out, I’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel, but now, I’m back to square one… Why are they kicking me out?”
Both Mac and Maxie were formerly homeless and were referred to LEC’s hotel-motel program.
“They took us from the tent, and came here,” said Mac.
Both men said they were promised free housing for up to one year because the program had funding from the government. But this week, they learned that changed.
“It went from getting housing for a year to getting put out on the streets with nothing,” said Mac.
Mac said he had only lived at the Comfort Inn in Federal Way for about a month before getting the news.
Now the two men are one of more than 100 people being kicked out.
The men said they were told the program ran out of funding, and that King County would be taking over. County workers, they said, asked them to leave their hotel rooms.
“I feel like they just threw cold water on me while I was asleep,” said Maxie.
A LEC spokesperson was unreachable for comment, but the King County Regional Homelessness Authority said the group was “unable to maintain its program,” and that the county has now moved into an “active emergency response” to find solutions.
That county rep told KING 5 she believes the LEC was given a grant from FEMA to fund the hotel-motel program. But how-- and when-- that money ran out, remains unclear.
“We didn’t ask to be homeless. People have certain situations and things happen, you know?” said Mac.
The Regional Homelessness Authority said it recognizes that a closure of any shelter program "has a significant impact on our communities and on the lives of the people given in these hotels." The Regional Homelessness Authority is an independent agency working to end homelessness.
The county, City of Seattle, We Are In and Regional Homeless Authority are now in emergency response to address the independent program.
"At this time, we have verified that there are a significant number of families with young children, seniors, and medically fragile individuals, and these groups are prioritized for placement in shelter and housing with appropriate care," the Regional Homeless Authority wrote in a statement.
According to the latest Point in Time Count, 13,368 individuals were experiencing homelessness in 2022. Of those, 57% were unsheltered while 43% were sheltered. The total number of people experiencing homelessness grew by 1,617 in 2020, according to the count.