Homelessness Response Blog

As part of the recently approved 2021 budget, funding was included for a Human Services Department (HSD) led eight-person Homelessness Outreach and Provider Ecosystem (HOPE) Team. This new Team will be the City’s coordinating body for its response to homelessness in partnership with the contracted outreach providers and City departments.  This new collaborative approach to homelessness began before the 2021 budget was adopted, when funding was approved in late October for the remainder of 2020, after months of deliberations between the […]

As we enter this year’s winter season, the City of Seattle is in the midst of multiple crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic downturn. Maintaining COVID-19 health recommendations as part of the City and King County’s shelter system remains a challenge facing our homelessness response system. In the event of a major snowstorm […]

Blog post translations: Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Spanish, and Tagalog The City of Seattle’s Human Services Department (HSD) and King County’s Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) announce a new 24/7, enhanced deintensification shelter opening in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood. This new shelter will offer supportive services, housing navigation, and meets public health standards to protect clients and workers against the spread of COVID-19.   The shelter will begin operations in early November with the […]

Update on September 2, 2020 at 6 p.m. Today, the Navigation Team removed a safety hazard on and around the former Marion Street pedestrian walkway after, last week, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) declared the bridge to be structurally unsound and a danger to those living in an encampment on and below the structure.  There were ten tents and one structure inside the affected area at the start of today’s action. Navigation […]

The Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) has announced the temporary de-intensifying shelters at Garfield, Miller, and Southwest Teen Life (SWTLC) community centers have relocated to new spaces. These moves follow months of planning, community outreach, and partnership with service providers to ensure new and existing shelter programs are compliant with public health requirements to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Seattle’s shelter system.   Moving the temporary shelters […]