Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will donate $30 million to provide housing for homeless families in Seattle.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced Wednesday that Allen will partner with the city to build an affordable housing complex to house about 100 homeless families. The city of Seattle will contribute $5 million toward the effort.
A site has not yet been chosen for the facility, and a timeline was not given, although Bill Rumpf of Mercy Housing Northwest, which will run the facility, said it could take about two years, The Seattle Times reported.
Paul Butler of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation said the foundation would like to see the facility built where there would be access to public transit and other services, the Times reported.
King County, where Seattle is located, declared a state of emergency because of homelessness in 2015 and would like to use a .1 percent county sales tax toward reducing homelessness. There were an estimated 3,000 homeless children attending Seattle public schools in 2016, CNN reported.
Allen’s foundation serves the entire Pacific Northwestern region of the U.S. with programs in science, education and the arts.
Twitter was generally supportive of Allen’s efforts to help Seattle's homeless popylation, while pointing out that giving people homes may not always work without other support and help.
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