Federal Cuts & Uncertainty
Each day, your tax dollars through federal funding are at work in our community to help people and families remain stably housed and to help people end their homelessness. Our entire community wins when everyone has a safe place to call home.
What are the impacts of lost federal funding? Two examples below are at risk in Clark County.
- Programs providing rent assistance* to low-income households, including Section 8 vouchers:
- Total households served: 3,548
- Total federal funding: $48,523,020
* Each rent assistance payment is income for property
management companies and landlords.
- Programs providing services to people living outside, in their car and in emergency shelter:
- Total people served: 9,559
- Total federal funding: $741,127
Significant cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) are also anticipated. SNAP benefits to the average household will be reduced by about $56 per month. It also decreases the maximum allotment per household; a family of four would drop from $975 to $848.
In Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Clark County, an estimated 21,654 people will lose Medicaid coverage.
Families and people in our neighborhoods, our communities, who are living on tight budgets are going to be faced with extremely difficult decisions: Do I pay for my prescriptions, more healthy food for my growing kids or the rent?
At Share, we anticipate an increased need across all our programs, while facing the reality of hundreds of thousands in lost funding.
This message was brought to our doors with an executive order, signed on July 24, making it easier to arrest people for being unhoused and involuntarily committing them. Share is focused on treating all people with dignity and using proven methodologies to help people overcome barriers and move forward in their lives. As stated by Ann Olivia of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “Institutionalizing people with mental illness, including those experiencing homelessness, is not a dignified, safe, or evidence-based way to serve people’s needs.”
We maintain our commitment to our mission and hope you will join us in our efforts to help those in need in our community.
Sources: Council for the Homeless, Homeless Management Information System, City of Vancouver, Clark County, State of Washington/Office of the Governor, The Columbian.
