Renton is a really lovely place to live and it’s really convenient for people because there are a lot of job opportunities and lots of housing. Also people like Renton for the outside activities like parks, and lakes. Even though Renton is a bit cheaper than Seattle, there is still a high homeless rate in Renton. Even though Seattle is known for having one of the highest rates of homelessness there are many homeless people getting kicked out of where they are staying so lots of people come to Renton. The mayor of Renton has been trying to help with this problem by purchasing hotels. In 2020 they bought the Red Lion hotel which was helping more than 200 homeless people.

Why has Renton have a high homeless rate? Renton right now has a homeless crisis after the pandemic, something else that has been affecting this is the city of Renton was switching to different hotels in 2020 during the pandemic. What has the city of Renton done since then? In 2021 King County Executive Dow Constantine and Renton Mayor Armondo Pavone announced the purchase of the Extended Stay hotel as part of Health Through Housing. Health Through housing  is a program that helps homeless people with shelter. When they bought the extented hotel they, said, “ the county paid roughly $28.6 million for the property.”

What is the Health Through Housing? Health Through Housing is helping the homeless with affordable housing. This process started in 2020 when they were making plans on how they wanted things to work out. In 2021 The City of Renton received a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce to create a Housing Action Plan. They don’t only help here in Renton but they help all throughout Washington. With the purchase of the extended stay hotel they could helpmore than 100 homeless people and the environment was great because it balanced between the homeless and staff in the hotel.

In conclusion, Renton is doing a great job of trying to help the homeless with the program Health Through Housing helping with housing. I’m going to leave here information on how you can contact or where to go for help. Families experiencing homelessness can Call the Family Emergency Shelter Access Line at 206-245-1026, For individuals, you can call 2-1-1.

Photo of king county executive Dow Constantine and Renton Mayor
Armondo Pavone in front of the Extended Stay hotel that is part of
the Health Through Housing.

Sources:

https://www.rentonwa.gov/news/current_news/mayor_s_update_-_supportive_housing

https://www.kentreporter.com/news/county-purchases-renton-hotel-to-serve-as-homeless-
shelter/

https://komonews.com/news/local/king-county-buys-renton-hotel-to-take-in-the-unsheltered-and-
city-leaders-like-the-plan

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/renton-considers-vacating-red-lion-hotel-sheltering-
200-homeless-people/281-eb44e1f5-fb26-4d8a-84a2-0b9ac1e8b7df

Image: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/king-county-buys-renton-hotel-for-
homeless-shelter-as-local-leaders-unite-on-strategy/