Eviction protections extended, added vaccination support in $92M budget approved by King County Council
The King County Council on Tuesday approved a sixth round of supplemental funding in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The $92 million budget includes funds for eviction protection and rental assistance, vaccination efforts, PPE, community-based organizations and more.
“The Council’s unanimous approval of the 6th Covid Budget marks the year’s first big step forward in addressing the health and financial needs of our community as we face the continuing challenges of Covid together,” said Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles. “This budget addresses critical needs in public health and provides a massive amount of assistance to residents struggling to pay rent. We also apply the lessons learned over this last difficult year and created many improvements to our systems, adding a hub-and-spoke model to work with community-based organizations and an advisory committee to the rental assistance program and an accounting system that will allow small organizations without deep reserves to receive assistance when they cannot wait for reimbursement.”
While this budget largely represents efforts to maintain existing support and programs responding to COVID-19, it still makes large investments in several key areas:
- $45.2 million for rental assistance funded by Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, a $900 billion supplement to CARES Act
- $29 million for public health response and county operations funded by reappropriation of unspent Coronavirus Relief Funds
- $11.2 million for vaccination efforts for 60 days funded by state grants
- $5 million to establish a revolving fund to provide upfront payment for grants to community-based organizations that cannot wait for reimbursement$1.9 million to extend the JustCARE and Co-LEAD programs to end of March.