According to The Seattle Times, some of Seattle's homeless population are getting stimulus checks but the money won't be enough to get them off the streets and into permanent housing. The Compass Center on Seattle’s waterfront provides a place where 13,000 homeless people without addresses can come come for mail and banking, which includes getting their stimulus checks from the government. Checks are expected at the beginning of May and the staff is getting prepared.
There’s a chance the beginning of May could be even busier, Kurtz-Glovas said: That’s when many of Compass Center’s clients could start receiving the $1,200 stimulus payment the federal government is distributing to citizens in an effort to lessen the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“A lot of people are about to have a lot of money, and they need a place to go that’s reliable,” Kurtz-Glovas said.
The funds primarily are being distributed through direct deposit and paper checks, and can also be deposited on bank-issued prepaid cards. The Internal Revenue Service is using bank account information it has on file to send the payments to people who file taxes or who receive government benefits like social security, while others may have to input their information on the IRS website.
As of April 1, among 13,026 households who have enrolled in the county’s Homeless Management Information System to request help for homelessness, 20% said they’d received social security benefits in the past.
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