By Alia Sinclair

At Tuesday night’s (Oct. 8, 2024) SeaTac City Council meeting, the council discussed securing funding to continue their partnership with South King Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP).

SKHHP is a group of eleven South King County jurisdictions that collaborate on sharing resources to create a coordinated, comprehensive, and equitable approach to increasing housing stability and reducing homelessness in South King County.  

The City of SeaTac joined SKHHP in March 2024. In so doing, the City committed to ongoing Operational fund support as well as ongoing annual Capital Trust Fund (CTF) contributions to SKHHP.

The committed operational funding for SKHHP is included in the current base budget for Community and Economic Development in SeaTac. However, the City Council has not yet determined how or where to secure funding for their CTF contribution. 

The options before the Council are:

  1. Fund from the General Fund 
  2. Fund from the 1.5% of General Fund expenditures for Human Services 
  3. Fund from Fund 112 (Affordable Housing Sales Tax)

All three options would pull current financial support from active programs helping SeaTac residents, including the City’s rental assistance program.

Discussion from the Council unanimously leaned toward finding alternative solutions to funding that did not require the reallocation of funds from current programs. 

“I believe in a regional approach to affordable housing and preventing homelessness,” Councilmember Senayet Negusse commented. “But […] if we don’t have enough funds, I would rather focus on meeting the urgent needs of our residents who are currently facing those challenges.”

In the end, it was agreed that alternative funding options would be explored and that the issue would be brought back to the council at a later date.