The budget debate -- much like the cold weather here in Seattle -- seems to be dragging on and on. And unfortunately, the budget, much like inclement weather, seems to hit those without a home especially hard.

The Seattle Times recently pointed out that most of the difference between the latest GOP budget and the Democrat budget proposals is made up by cuts to three programs: $41 million from the complete elimination of Disability Lifeline; $155 million by taking all of the unexpended funds from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and then adding additional cuts, and then $54 million from the complete elimination of Housing and Essential Needs (HEN).

The choice presented to Washingtonians is a very stark one. On one hand, we can fund programs that protect the most vulnerable in our society. This approach leads to stories like this one:

“Thank you for this assistance, I am currently homeless, camping by the river in a tent. I have been since October 2011. Thanks to the HEN program I have been able to get the resources to look for housing and they put me in a motel so I don’t have to be in the cold. I was currently diagnosed with Hepatitis C and my health is very poor. I believe I can have a much better future with this program. It has made me more focused and determined to find housing because now I have hope, knowing I have this help. Thank you.”

Or, on the other hand, we can make deeper and deeper cuts to critical services. The result of that choice, we saw last week, was new data from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction showing the largest year-to-year increase in the number of identified homeless students since Columbia Legal Services started analyzing the data in 2007 -- a flabbergasting 19% increase. This means there are more than 26,000 homeless students in Washington, or close to 1 in every 40 students. 

I wish we could say this was surprising news, but our members have been telling us for quite awhile now that the fastest growing population of recipients of services has been single mothers, many of whom have never received services before. More than 13% of people in Washington struggle to survive with incomes at or below the poverty line, and among single women with young children that percentage jumps up to 47.9%. When the state made cuts to the safety-net last year, housing advocates across the state said that we were going to see more homeless families. 

On one hand, we have Senator Murray's Operating Budget, which reverses cuts and can lead to stories of people leaving homelessness and finding independence. On the other hand, we have the latest Republican budget, which will lead to more and more families falling through the holes in what was once our state's safety-net. This is why it is critically important that we keep letting our elected officials know that they need to stand strong through the special session and budget negotiations and make sure the ending budget protects these safety net programs. Please take a minute to let your legislators know that you support a budget that protects the most vulnerable.

Click here to send a message to your legislators to stand strong and protect safety-net programs.

Thank you for your advocacy,

--Ben