Today, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay announced “Breaking the Cycle,” a comprehensive initiative to align the county’s housing, behavioral health, and justice systems around the needs of high-acuity populations who cycle between homelessness, emergency rooms, and incarceration. The initiative includes the launch of a cross-sector work group, a review of county organizational structures, partnership with cities and housing providers, and a process to explore dedicated revenue for affordable housing, including a potential Countywide Affordable Housing Levy that could go before voters as early as 2027.
Central to the initiative is a new Breaking the Cycle Work Group that will coordinate county departments, housing partners, the justice system, Harborview, behavioral health providers, and other cross-sector stakeholders. The work group will focus on aligning funding and services across interconnected treatment systems: mental health, substance use, permanent supportive housing, shelter, and respite beds.
On the revenue side, the initiative will explore pathways to scale dedicated funding for affordable housing, including a countywide affordable housing levy under RCW 84.52.105 and realignment of existing sources, such as the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy (VSHSL) and the MIDD behavioral health sales tax. The 2025 King County Housing Needs Assessment found the county needs approximately 172,000 additional homes affordable at less than 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) over the next 20 years, with over 120,000 of these homes needed at less than 30% of AMI. A countywide levy would complement the Seattle Housing Levy, extending dedicated revenue for affordable housing across the county for the first time.
“The housing crisis and the behavioral health crisis are deeply interconnected, and we cannot truly solve one without addressing the other,” said Patience Malaba, Executive Director of HDC. “Our members see this every day: people caught in a cycle between homelessness, emergency rooms, and jails because the housing and behavioral health supports they need simply don’t exist at the scale required. Breaking that cycle demands coordinated action across county departments, cities, courts, and providers, and it demands dedicated, countywide revenue to sustain it. HDC is ready to work alongside Executive Zahilay and leaders across King County to get this done.”
“The Eastside is the most expensive subregion in King County, but right now there is very limited local funding available to make affordable housing pencil here,” said Yi Zhao, President of Imagine Housing. “We see families every day who work in our communities but cannot afford to live in them. A countywide levy would change that equation, giving us the local dollars to pair with federal tax credits and close the financing gaps that keep affordable homes from getting built on the Eastside and across the county.”
“For the families we serve in South King County, affordable housing is the foundation that makes everything else possible: job stability, children succeeding in school, health and well-being,” said Amanda Santo, COO of Multi-Service Center. “Building a foundation for stable housing countywide makes all of our other work possible.”
“Supportive housing is an essential part of breaking the cycle of suffering for people experiencing homelessness while living with serious mental illness,” said Daniel Malone, Executive Director of DESC. “When closely aligned with behavioral health services, supportive housing successfully ends homelessness for highly vulnerable people who have been on the streets for years. Continuing and expanding this success depends on predictable and dedicated locally-controlled funding for the operations, maintenance, and services costs of supportive housing, which a countywide housing levy could ensure. The end result will be people off the street for good, a behavioral health system that is more effective when people have stable places to live, and better lives for so many of our community members.”
“Permanent supportive housing is a proven solution to homelessness, but it only works if we fund the ongoing operations, maintenance, and services that keep it viable,” said Karen Lee, CEO of Plymouth Housing. “Right now, federal funding uncertainty has put the supportive housing pipeline at risk and is straining our ability to serve our most vulnerable neighbors. We need a local revenue source that is predictable and dedicated to this work. A levy could provide the sustained operating funding needed to sustain and expand permanent supportive housing and bring people experiencing homelessness in King County into safe and supportive homes for the long term.”
Executive Zahilay has called on cities, providers, and community partners to participate in a collaborative, data-driven process to determine feasibility, priorities, and investment levels. Leadership of the broader effort will be facilitated by King County in partnership with HDC and regional leaders.