We’ve made the point that first, housing is expensive and time consuming to build and especially in Seattle and King County. Also, we’ve pointed out that King County and Seattle are getting the biggest share of statewide resources. We’ve pointed out already that rural counties have lower Area Median Incomes (AMI) and lower wages. But what about poverty. Poverty is a bigger problem in rural counties. Here’s an updated table of the counties that got the fewest Housing Trust Fund (HTF) dollars with a some poverty data and a map.

So it’s pretty clear that HTF resources are being gobbled up by the most populous parts of the state, but it’s hard to argue that that consumption is based on need if need is defined by relative income and poverty. It’s time to reform the way the state allocates Housing Trust Funds.