A bus ticket out of King County for the homeless who want one

King County will spend $100,000 to reunite people with family or friends in other states

King County officials declared an emergency over homelessness four years ago, and yet the number of people without housing remains at record levels.

To help some of those people, the county will start paying for bus passes to get them back with family.

The County Council approved the money and specified that it can go toward bus passes or other reunification tools in their 2019-2021 supplemental budget.

"If you were a person that is homeless on the streets of King County somewhere, and you could stabilize your life by going home... I think it makes sense to have a relatively small program that helps people to do that," said Councilmember Claudia Balducci from Bellevue.

She said the bus passes out of town could be one small part of the solution.

The bus pass idea is part of Councilmember Reagan Dunn's "Homeward Bound" proposal. He hoped for more money, but says this is a good start.

The $100,000 in funding is one piece of the county's supplemental budget, worth $450 million total.

It nearly triples the amount King County is spending on family reunification programs, geared toward people who are homeless.

The majority of people who are living without a home in King County are from Washington state. The bus basses will be prioritized for people who have family outside the region.