Homelessness In Seattle
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In the Seattle King County area, there were estimated to be 11,751
homeless people Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
living on the streets or in shelters. On January 24, 2020, the count of unsheltered homeless individuals was 5,578. The number of individuals without homes in emergency shelters was 4,085 and the number of homeless individuals in transitional housing was 2,088, for a total count of 11,751 unsheltered people. The percentages of individuals experiencing homelessness by race was: White 48%, African American 25%, Asian 2%, Native American 15%, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 4%, Multi-racial 6%. In a survey conducted in 2019, 84% of homeless people in Seattle/King County lived in Seattle/King County prior to losing their housing, 11% lived in another county in Washington prior to losing their housing, and 5% lived out of state prior to losing their housing. Homelessness in Seattle is considered to be a crisis. It has been proposed that to address the crisis Seattle needs more permanent supportive housing. A 2022 study found that differences in per capita homelessness rates across the country are not due to mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty, but to differences in the cost of housing, with West Coast cities like
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
having homelessness rates five times that of areas with much lower housing costs like
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,
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,
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, and
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
even though the latter locations have high burdens of opioid addiction and poverty.


History

The name "Skid Road" was in use in Seattle by the 1850s when the city's historic Pioneer Square neighborhood began to expand from its commercial core. The first homeless person in Seattle was a Massachusetts sailor named , who was found in a tent on the waterfront in 1854.


Measuring the growth of homelessness

Since 2017, the King County government with the help of many local organizations has organized the Point-In-Time Count of the number of people sleeping without adequate shelter in Seattle (around 70%) and the rest of King County. From 1980 until 2016, the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH) organized an Annual One Night Count of homeless people in ever-expanding areas of Seattle and King County. Since 2006, counts have occurred on one night of the last ten days of January as specified by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Recent street counts have involved over 1000 volunteers counting people sleeping outside, in a tent, in an abandoned building or in a vehicle (see Unsheltered in the table below). Due to the pandemic, the 2021 street count was cancelled. The counts are not precisely comparable because of changes in the area covered, the time of year, the weather conditions during the count and other factors over the years. When the original reports are missing and surviving records are inconsistent, one count and both citations are recorded in the table. On the same day as the street count, emergency and transitional housing shelters are surveyed to determine how many homeless people are sheltering there. The homeless total includes the unsheltered street count plus those in emergency and transitional shelter (see Total in the table below). From 2006 to 2020, King County population growth averaged 1.7% per year while homelessness grew twice as fast at 3.5% per year and unsheltered homelessness exploded nearly eight times as fast at 13.4% per year. The total and unsheltered homeless counts since 2006 when HUD compliant January counts began: In 2023, King County ranked in the top 3 in the United States in the category of the number of homeless people.


Problems faced by homeless people


Medical problems

Many homeless people have health problems.
Diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
is a common ailment. Many homeless people do not seek or cannot afford adequate healthcare. In 2003, 47% of homeless individuals had one chronic condition. Health conditions among homeless persons in the Seattle area have included a history of
alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
or
substance abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definition ...
; more than half had a
cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...
; and a quarter had a
mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
issue. Common causes of death among homeless people in the Seattle area include exposure, intoxication, cardiovascular disease, and
homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
. In 2003, the average age of death of a homeless person was 47. 697 homeless people died in King County between 2012 and 2017.


Harassment

In December 2007, the
Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-larg ...
unanimously passed a measure prohibiting malicious harassment of a homeless person and declaring the act a misdemeanor. This law makes it illegal to damage a homeless person's personal items as well.


Extreme weather conditions

According to a 2023 study in Seattle, people facing homelessness in Seattle have had to endure days of extreme weather with both high and freezing temperatures. Additionally, urbanization and fires have decreased the quality of the air homeless people in Seattle breathe. Climate change and a lack of proper emergency shelters have worsened these problems.


Responses

As of 2018, the estimated total cost of homelessness in the region was estimated at about one billion dollars per year, including medical, police, and all nonprofit and governmental efforts at all levels. This number is unverified. The City of Seattle 2020 budget directly allocated $80 million for the Division of Homeless Strategy and Investment. The City of Seattle, King County, and the United Way of King County are the participants in the Seattle and King County Coalition on Homelessness. In April 2021, the voter initiative Charter Amendment Measure 29, known as Compassion Seattle proposed to amend the Seattle
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
adding a clause which requires the municipal administration to allocate at least 12% of its general financial budget to human services. They are combining and coordinating efforts to respond to and end homelessness, while spending carefully. From 2010 to 2020 the King County added 67,000 units to the 112,000 lost due to the growth of rental canons which overcome the 80 percent of area median income (about $23,000 per year for a family of four in 2017). Share/Wheel is a self-help organization run by many homeless residents of Seattle. Share/Wheel has created 4
tent cities A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures. State governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house evacuees, refugees, or soldiers. UNICEF's Supply Division supplies expandable ten ...
through the years. The first Tent City set up in 1990 at the
Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...
. It later became a self-managed homeless shelter at a Metro bus barn. It eventually moved to the Aloha Inn and created a self-managed transitional housing program. Tent City 2 was established on Beacon Hill in what would later become known as
The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...
, against the objections of the City of Seattle. Eviction notices were posted on the tents on July 2. Four days later on July 6, while most of the residents met with City Council member Peter Steinbrueck (who was attempting to delay action against the settlement), the police bulldozed the camp site and private possessions. Tent City 3 was created on March 31, 2000, on private land. The police did not intervene, but the City of Seattle sued the host over unpaid permit fees. Share/Wheel and the City of Seattle settled out of court with a
consent decree A consent decree is an agreement or settlement that resolves a dispute between two parties without admission of guilt (in a criminal case) or liability (in a civil case). Most often it is such a type of settlement in the United States. The ...
after a
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
judge warned the City that it would lose the case. Tent City 3 moves from location to location every 60–90 days. Tent City 4 split from Tent City 3 and shifts from place to place on the East side of
Lake Washington Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...
. Tent cities shelter homeless persons who can not or do not wish to attend a public shelter for various reasons. The City of Seattle did not approve of these tent cities. There were other encampments in the Seattle area: *Nickelsville: formed in 2008 in protest over the policies of Mayor Nickels, who they believed was encouraging the police to assault, injure, and browbeat the homeless. It has no formal connection to Share/Wheel. * United We Stand: capacity 35 people, which split from Tent City 3 in late 2014. * Camp Unity Eastside: capacity 100 people, on the east side of Lake Washington in King County, which split from Tent City 4 in late 2012. In addition to sanctioned homeless encampments, Seattle philanthropists have also become involved with serving the disenfranchised. The Seattle Block Project builds tiny homes in volunteers' backyards to house a single vetted individual. The goal of the project is to give a person a second chance. The project offers the opportunity for stability and safety, while asking the community to be involved in both donating space and labor. Through housing an individual and asking others to participate in the project the return is twofold, a person gets a safe place to live, and a community comes together to help the homeless. The Aurora Commons is a private effort to provide services to the homeless on Aurora Avenue North. As of January 2020, more than 5,578 homeless people were living in the King County. In 2020 there were recorded 140 nominative deaths among them. In June 2021, the Seattle City Council approved a plan to use $49 million of the $128 million from federal COVID-19 relief funds to support the city's homeless population. The plan put money towards direct cash assistance and aid programs, housing resources, enhanced shelter and outreach services and small business recovery.


Causes

The root causes of homelessness are complex and multifaceted. According to a report issued by the mayor's office, these causes include issues with mental health and addiction, economic disparities and poverty, lack of affordable housing, racial disparities, the criminal justice system, the decentralized response to a regional crisis, and lack of wrap around services for youth within and exiting the foster system. Additionally, medical debt and medical debt-related bankruptcy contribute to homelessness in Seattle. According to a 2020 study that took place in Seattle, medical debt adds on approximately two years of homelessness. Legal debts, partially caused by the criminalization of acts connected to homelessness such as sleeping in public, are also linked to continued homelessness. Some reasons for homelessness have been attributed to the cost of living in Seattle having significantly risen in the past decade due to
gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
, lack of publicly owned affordable housing, and the economic impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. These have all culminated in an increase in the homeless population. Another contributing factor to the rising price of housing has been Amazon establishing its headquarters in downtown Seattle and the subsequent influx of high-wage tech workers due to the tech boom, between 2010 and 2017 the median rental cost in Seattle rose 41.7%, while the national average was only a 17.6% increase.


Insufficient housing

In a book entitled "Homelessness is a Housing Problem", Clayton Page Aldern and Gregg Colburn studied per capita homelessness rates across the country along with what possible factors might be influencing the rates and found that high rates of homelessness are caused by shortages of affordable housing, not by mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty. They found that mental illness, drug addiction and poverty occur nationwide, but not all places have equally expensive housing costs. One example cited is that two states with high rates of opioid addiction, Arkansas and West Virginia, both have low per capita rates of homelessness, because of low housing prices. With respect to poverty, the city of Detroit is one of the poorest cities, yet Detroit's per capita homelessness rate is 20% that of West Coast cities like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. In an interview, Colburn stated: "To someone who says, “Will housing fix all of this? Or will there still be people on the street?,” we say that Seattle has five times the homelessness of Chicago. But there’s still homelessness, and there are people panhandling in Chicago. And so we aren’t suggesting that accommodating housing markets will end all homelessness. What we’re saying is, it doesn’t need to be five times what Chicago is."


Initiatives


OSL (formally known as Operation Sack Lunch)

OSL (formally known as Operation Sack Lunch) is the largest meal provider in Washington state, currently providing 7,000 no-cost, nutrient dense, culturally relevant meals a day. These meals are distributed to a wide range of organizations needing nutritional support including shelters, tiny house villages, permanent supportive housing units, and children’s programs. This program began in 1989, and they partnered with the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) in 1998. In 2012, there was some debate over the program's location, as Seattle Human Services Director Danette Smith said that because of poor conditions under the freeway, where they would distribute meals, it should close or move indoors. The program's operators said it could not continue at all if forced to move indoors. This issue seems to be solved, as of May 2024 the organization moved into their own state-of-the-art kitchen. This organization was also quite impactful during the COVID 19 pandemic. In January 2020, OSL was serving 3200 meals each day, and by April, per HSD partners request, OSL was producing more than 9000 meals a day.


BLOCK Project

The BLOCK project is another initiatives that aims to help homeless people in Seattle. This project builds small houses and places of shelter and coordinates with Seattle volunteers who are willing to offer areas of their backyards to place the houses. This is a sustainable, community-based way of addressing the problem of homelessness.


Shelters & services

Seattle has many shelters dedicated to providing support and housing to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Some of these shelters are the primary program carried out by the organization, while other non-profits run shelters as one of their many programs aimed at decreasing housing instability. The list below is not comprehensive of all the shelters in Seattle, however, they demonstrate the different types of shelters and services that exist.


ROOTS Young Adult Shelter

As the largest overnight shelter for youth ages 18-25 in Washington state, ROOTS aims to provide a safe space for young people experiencing housing instability. Located in the University District, ROOTS has a space for 45 young people each night, offering services like support with case management, housing navigation, and employment help. Additionally, youth do not need an ID on their first night.


Compass Housing Alliance

The organization Compass Housing Alliance has emergency housing programs, along with services that focus on helping individuals and families find permanent housing. Their emergency overnight shelters follow an “enhanced non-congregate shelter model.” This means their overnight shelter has 24/7 on-site intensive case management and other support services to remove common barriers to access services. Their shelters include Blaine Veterans Center Enhanced Shelter (downtown Seattle), Otto’s Place Men’s Shelter (downtown Seattle), and Jan & Peter’s Place Women’s Shelter (Rainier).


Solid Ground

The nonprofit Solid Ground provides multiple housing options– emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing, as well as housing services and advocacy efforts to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless. Their temporary housing programs include Broadview: For Domestic Violence (DV) Survivors and Family Shelter. These are not drop-in, rather, families and individuals must contact 2.1.1. for screening eligibility. Solid Ground follows a
Housing First Housing First is a policy that offers unconditional, permanent housing as quickly as possible to homeless people, and other supportive services afterward. It was first discussed in the 1990s, and in the following decades became government policy ...
philosophy, as their goal is to help people in temporary housing find permanent housing as quickly as possible. They do this by providing additional case management and housing search assistance at each of their shelter locations.


Income sources

Real Change news is a newspaper sold by homeless street vendors; they buy the paper for 60 cents and sell it for 2 dollars. The Real Change has increased in sales by 41% since 2007. An increase in vendors was also recorded, growing from approximately 230 to 350 vendors in one month. In 2009, income resources used by homeless persons included: 558 homeless persons who received
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF ) is a federal assistance program of the United States. It began on July 1, 1997, and succeeded the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, providing cash assistance to indigent Ame ...
(TANF), 481 receive
Supplemental Security Income Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a means-tested program that provides cash payments to disabled children, disabled adults, and individuals aged 65 or older who are citizens or nationals of the United States. SSI was created by the Social S ...
(SSI), 355 received general assistance (GAU), 233 had other sources of income, 142 were on general assistance (GAX), 49 received unemployment compensation, 21 received income through the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Act (ADATSA), and 590 homeless persons had an unknown source of income.


''Seattle is Dying'' documentary

In 2019
KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue-licensed The CW, CW affiliate ...
aired the hour-long documentary ''Seattle Is Dying'' written and reported by Eric Johnson, exploring homelessness in Seattle; Portland sister station KATU also carried the special, which also has issues with a transient population. Johnson said local authorities did not provide effective responses to the problems as he identified them, and said some law enforcement officials were not helping to address what Johnson said were ongoing issues. Several competing media outlets in the city and homelessness advocates criticized KOMO-TV and Johnson for what they said was an inaccurate and biased picture of the issues, and that the contents of the documentary were motivated by the right-wing agenda of the nationwide
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
, which has little interest in local Seattle politics but benefits from
sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...
of local issues to both maintain newscast ratings and to portray a negative and alternate view of the city's politics. Tim Harris of '' Real Change'' called it " misery porn". The documentary states there is a homelessness crisis in Seattle and claims the causes include a lack of an urban
social policy Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to MD a ...
and the rampant drug use. Johnson advocated for a set of solutions, and claimed local officials failed to engage with what he said were documented problems. KOMO TV said their documentary was effective in influencing Seattle officials. Sinclair station KRCR-TV also carried the special, stating that
Shasta County, California Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a County (United States), county located in the Northern California, northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from t ...
officials were taking measures to combat similar issues they face in their region based on the special. Some advocates for the homeless have argued that the documentary focuses too heavily on issues such as drug use, countering that the high cost of living and lack of affordable housing are at the core of homelessness. Pete Holmes, the Seattle City Attorney, criticized the documentary, defending the city's efforts on drug crimes and homelessness.


References


External links


2018 Point in Time Count, by the Numbers ''Infographic''

7 Big Takeaways from This Year's Homeless Count

Seattle Homeless Needs Assessment 2009

The Downtown Emergency Service Center





Seattle Housing and Resource Effort / Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League

Leaves of Remembrance: The Homeless Remembrance Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Homelessness In Seattle Culture of Seattle Homelessness in Washington (state)