King County funds program to bus homeless away from county -- including to Thurston

King County Council has approved $100,000 in funding for a program that would bus the homeless outside the county.

Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who championed the bus ticket funding, said the King County Executive’s Office also will work on the design of his proposed Homeward Bound program, which would combine the five programs that currently provide family reunification services.

It would also hand out bus tickets to the homeless for any destination that’s not in King County or an adjacent county. That means they won’t send them to Pierce County, but they could send them to Thurston.

KING-TV reports Council members earmarked the money as part of $450 million in supplemental funding for the 2019-2021 biennial budget.

Other items in the supplemental budget included money for more electric vehicle chargers, a campaign for human trafficking awareness, and extending a gender identity task force.

This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 1:57 PM.