Cuts devastating to needy families

The governor’s budget includes cuts that not only will be devastating to families struggling to afford safe, decent housing, but will worsen our economy at the worst possible time. As more people lose their jobs and their homes, the need for housing is becoming a crisis. Cutting the Housing Trust Fund in half is a short-sighted approach to balancing the budget.

There’s no painless way out of the budget crisis, but we need to protect essential public services. Just as important, we should be supporting investments that will help generate an economic recovery for Washington state. In addition to creating jobs in construction, every 1,000 units of affordable housing developed with help from the Housing Trust Fund generates $77 million in local revenue and $9 million in taxes and fees for local governments.

Cutting the Housing Trust Fund will make things worse in the long run. Our elected officials need to find a different approach to solving our budget problems.

Eileen Hinds

Major Gifts Manager