A new partnership extends a solution for homelessness throughout Washington state.

In 2004, the Washington State Legislature established the Washington Families Fund (WFF), a public-private partnership to help fund "supportive housing," an innovative approach to solving homelessness that combines affordable housing and critical services such as job training and domestic-abuse counseling. In 2005, the WFF achieved immediate success, attracting 13 funders who contributed more than $3 million to the fund (on top of the legislature's initial $2 million allocation) and making grants totaling $2.64 million to 10 providers. These grants could reach as many as 5,000 Washington families over the next decade, helping them find a permanent place to live.

The Washington Families Fund was largely inspired by the Sound Families Initiative, a Gates Foundation-funded effort to triple the inventory of supportive housing in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties. Sound Families was launched in 2000, and a series of evaluations since then has measured the impact of the supportive housing approach. (For example, the most recent evaluation showed that about two-thirds of families who participated in the program went on to find permanent housing.) This evidence that supportive housing works was chiefly responsible for spurring the legislature to establish the WFF and adopt the approach long-term and statewide.

Administered by AIDS Housing of Washington, the WFF received 50 grant proposals for its first round of funding. Each of the 10 grants awarded will serve about 500 families over the next decade. They will pay for one-third of the cost of service-enriched housing programs; the remaining two-thirds will come from other funding sources, to ensure that housing and service providers remain invested in the supportive housing approach.

The second round of funding will be announced in the summer of 2006. With motivated funders and great demand for grants, the WFF is building momentum toward its goal of reducing family homelessness in Washington state.