Spokane County Commissioners approve $1 million grant for rent, utility and food assistance

Spokane County Commissioners unanimously approved spending a little over $1 million in federal grant funds on rent, utility and food assistance to help county residents struggling with the financial ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.

The majority of the funds, about $876,000, will go to the Spokane Workforce Council and the Spokane Resource Center, and will be used for rent and utility assistance for low- to moderate-income households. The remaining funds, about $214,000, will go to Spokane Valley Partners, a food and resource bank in Spokane Valley, to provide food assistance in Spokane Valley and the unincorporated areas of the county.

Only people living in unincorporated Spokane County or in Airway Heights, Deer Park, Cheney, Fairfield, Latah, Liberty Lake, Medical Lake, Millwood, Rockford, Spangle and Spokane Valley will be eligible to receive assistance through either of these programs.

More information about food assistance can be found at spokanevalleypartners.org, and information about rent and utility assistance can be found at spokaneresourcecenter.org/covid-19/housing.

The funds were one of several allocations of Community Development Block Grants, a program run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that has awarded local governments additional funding to respond to the pandemic.