In 2020 in the Seattle-King County area, an estimated 11751 people were experiencing homelessness. Of those, 5578 were unsheltered individuals, 4085 were in emergency shelters, and 2088 were in transitional housing.
A 2020 survey indicated that homelessness was experienced at different rates by race. Of those individuals experiencing homelessness: 48% were white, 25% were African American, 15% were Native American, 6% were multiracial, 2% were Asian, while Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander groups accounted for 4%.
According to a 2019 survey, 84% of homeless people in Seattle-King County lived in the county prior to losing their housing, 11% lived in another county in Washington, and 5% lived outside the state. The Seattle city government has described homelessness as a crisis. The Seattle city government has proposed ideas for more permanent supportive housing to address the issue.
A 2022 study found that differences in per capita homelessness rates across the country are due to differences in the cost of housing rather than other factors often attributed to causing homelessness: mental illness, drug addiction, and poverty.
West Coast cities, like Seattle, that have higher housing costs tend to have homelessness rates five times those of areas with much lower housing costs, like Arkansas, West Virginia, Detroit, and Chicago even though the latter locations have higher burdens of opioid addiction and poverty than their West Coast counterparts.
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 known homeless person in Seattle was a Massachusetts sailor named , who was found in a tent on the waterfront in 1854.
Causes
The root causes of homelessness are complex and multifaceted. According to a report issued by the mayor's office, these causes include mental health issues and struggles with 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 can contribute to the housing crisis. 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 the continuing crisis.
Some reasons for homelessness that are attributed to the cost of living in Seattle having significantly risen in the past decade, due to gentrification, a lack of publicly owned affordable housing, and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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 the book 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, 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 in the United States, yet Detroit's per capita homelessness rate is 20% of 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."
Problems faced by homeless people
Medical problems Many homeless people also struggle with health problems, like diabetes. Many homeless people do not seek or cannot afford adequate healthcare. In 2003, 47% of homeless individuals suffered from at least one chronic health condition. Such health conditions can frequently include a history of alcohol or substance abuse; more than half had cardiovascular disease; and a quarter struggled from mental illnesses. Common causes of death among homeless people in the Seattle area include exposure, intoxication, cardiovascular disease, and homicide. In 2003, the average age of death of a homeless person was 47.Painter, Alan. "The Greater Seattle Datasheet." City of Seattle. Net. Seattle.gov, December 16, 2004. Web. November 18, 2009. 697 homeless people died in King County between 2012 and 2017.
Harassment In December 2007, the Seattle City Council 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.Painter, Alan. "Ten Year plan to end Homelessness." Seattle. Gov. Seattle.gov, December 16, 2004. Web. November 18, 2009
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 air quality, which poses a respiratory risk to homeless individuals. 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 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 adding a clause that 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 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 through the years. The first Tent City was set up in 1990 at the Goodwill Games. 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, 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 campsite 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 decreeConsent Decree Consent DecreeTent City 3 Tent City 3 after a Superior Court 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. Tent cities shelter homeless persons who cannot or do not wish to attend a public shelter for various reasons. The City of Seattle did not approve of these tent cities.Gregory J, Nickels. "Housing first approach to Homelessness Brings hope to hard lives." City of Seattle 1. 9 (2008): N. web 10/11. 2009
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: a capacity of 35 people, which split from Tent City 3 in late 2014. United We Stand at Richmond Beach UCC United We Stand splits from Tent City 3 Camp Unity Eastside: a capacity of 100 people, on the east side of Lake Washington in King County, which split from Tent City 4 in late 2012. Camp Unite Eastside Tent City dispute
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 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.
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 it 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. Operation Sack Lunch saved Danette Smith discusses depriving homeless of meals 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 its own state-of-the-art kitchen. This organization was also quite impactful during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2020, OSL was serving 3,200 meals each day, and by April, per HSD partners request, OSL was producing more than 9,000 meals a day.
BLOCK Project