SEATTLE -- After a week of sleeping in the cold in protest, dozens of area homeless people may finally have a warm place to stay again.
Homeless protesters have received word that some new funding is on the way to reopen their shelters. The protesters usually sleep in shelters with the SHARE organization, but federal spending cuts forced SHARE to close down 15 Seattle area shelters.
Many of the displaced homeless people have been sleeping outside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to send a message that they needed some help.
Cuts by FEMA forced the group out into the cold, but the local FEMA board, has decided to restore funding.
SHARE said the $44,000 will allow them to continue issuing bus tickets to the homeless so they can get to area church shelters. About 300 homeless people use the service.
The new funding is good news for the homeless people who have been bundled together outside the Gates Foundation for the past week. They've sent a letter to several local organizations for money, but had heard nothing. The latest development is welcome news for them.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $100 million to help end homelessness in the Puget Sound area.
The group of homeless protesters said they camped outside the foundation's building to send a broader message to the entire community that it needs funding.
The FEMA board will put the final stamp of approval on the new funding Wednesday. Even then, the money won't actually get to SHARE for another three weeks, so SHARE is searching for more money until then.
The protesters said they will continue to sleep outside the foundation building until the shelters are reopened.
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