Housing money to filter down to Grant County

The Housing Authority of Grant County will get a boost through federal funding and the American Rescue plan, an economic stimulus bill signed by President Joe Biden on May 11.

The bill, which Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., helped shepherd through the U.S. Senate, allowed the Department of Housing and Urban Development to allocate additional vouchers to public housing authorities this month.

This means $87,648 will go to the Housing Authority of Grant County through the Emergency Housing Voucher program. Statewide, it means $28 million for Washington housing authorities together, and $5 billion overall nationwide, to help people facing homelessness and housing insecurity.

Calls from the Herald to the Housing Authority of Grant County to inquire about the funds and plans for their use went unanswered.

Washington was already in a housing crisis before the pandemic, Murray said at a press conference Monday.

From 2019 to 2020, Washington saw the third largest increase in people experiencing homelessness in the country, of more than 1,300 people, she said.