Rapid COVID-19 Housing Grant information

The Department of Commerce is immediately making $30 million in funding accessible to every county under a formula grant. This funding will assist local governments in standing up the necessary housing for quarantine, isolation, and additional sanitation needed to address the COVID-19 outbreak.

There are opportunities and encouragements within this grant for counties to partner with cities and local public health jurisdictions to develop rapid capacity. We encourage you to quickly reach out to your county and public health officials if you have ideas and interest in participating.

The funding must address the quarantine and isolation needs for people experiencing homelessness and other people who lack the ability to isolate at home, and for whom placement at a health care facility is inappropriate in displacing scarce hospital resources from those most in need of medical care.

Each county will receive funds as provided in the formula. This initial tranche of funding will help every community take immediate steps.

Because Department of Commerce's understanding from the state Department of Health is that these beds need to be online by the beginning of April in order to address the outbreak, there are few up-front hurdles imposed in getting under contract to access these funds. Funding may be used for operations (such as a short-term lease of an existing facility) or for capital costs. Where a facility is being purchased, Commerce will address the necessary deed restrictions and covenants later.

Up front, the requirement is simple: Counties should coordinate with their local public health department and cities—and get going.

Commerce staff has already sent your county a contract for signature. The best contacts for questions are:

Kathy Kinard
kathy.kinard@commerce.wa.gov
Cell phone: 360.742.2118

Tedd Kelleher
tedd.kelleher@commerce.wa.gov
Cell phone: 360.528.7796

View Commerce's webpage for the grant announcement, guidelines, and award amount available for each county.

To help facilitate your coordination, these documents include the contact information for who in your county or local public health agency has also received this information from Commerce:

• WSAC member directory
• County contact information
• Grantee contact information
• Email message about new grant
• COVID-19 Housing grant announcement
• COVID-19 Housing grant amount to each county
• COVID-19 Housing grant guidelines

Background information from Kathy Kinard of Commerce on 3/16:
The COVID Housing Grant was sent to the CHG Lead Grantees that are county governments. We are also sending a notification about the grant to their public health officers, emergency management staff, and commissioners. It may not have reached everyone yet and it's not a perfect list so we hope people will forward as needed.

We also sent public health officers, emergency management staff, and commissioners information about the grant in counties where the CHG Lead Grantee is not a county government. These entities have until Thursday, March 19 at noon to opt in/out. If these entities opt out, the COVID Housing Grant will go to the CHG Lead Grantee in their service area.