Every Wednesday, we’re hosting streaming events to provide our donors and community members with updates on what we’re learning, how we’re responding to the community’s needs and how people can help during the coronavirus pandemic.

This week, we’re going to discuss on our recently launched rental assistance effort to help King County residents who are impacted by the coronavirus. Save it to your calendar here:

Livestream: COVID-19 Rent Assistance in King County
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at Noon

The livestreamed discussion will feature Gordon McHenry, Jr., our President & CEO, and Ginger Kwan, Executive Director of Open Doors for Multicultural Families. They’ll go over last Friday’s launch of the Home Base Rental Assistance program, how it’s helping people in Seattle and King County, and other housing- and pandemic-related issues like racial inequities, access to help and more.  

A Q&A with Lauren McGowan, our Sr. Director of Ending Homelessness, will follow the streamed discussion.

About the Rental Assistance Program

Despite moratoriums on evictions during the pandemic, rent is still due for many throughout Seattle and King County. However, because of the economic fallout of the crisis, record-breaking numbers of people have been laid off or lost wages.

To ensure people don’t end up with mountains of debt in back rent, $5M was raised to help people cover their April rent. It was estimated that 2,000 families could be helped with the $5M amount. The first round of funds for the rental assistance effort were made possible by donors and community partners, like the City of Seattle and King County.

To ensure we can fully meet the needs of the community, we’re still fundraising to support rental assistance. Donate today so we can support more people during this crisis.

Of note: Q13 Fox, among many other media outlets, covered the rent assistance story over the weekend.