Homelessness Response Blog

Homelessness Response Blog

Homelessness Task Force progress reports

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Update: Cleaning up public spaces; removing trash and syringes

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The City of Seattle makes significant investments to clean up trash resulting from the homelessness crisis. The numbers below have been updated to reflect amounts collected during all of 2018.

Removing Trash from Unmanaged Encampments: In 2017, City removed 3,205 tons (6,410,000 pounds) of garbage and waste from unmanaged encampments. In 2018, the City has removed more than 1,184 tons (2,368,000 pounds).

Trash in the right-of-way: In May 2018, Seattle began a new Citywide effort to remove garbage and debris from roads, sidewalks, and the public right-of-way adjacent to RVs. Started initially as a pilot in November 2017 in SODO, this new coordinated effort is led by Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), SPD’s Community Police Team (CPT), Seattle Parks and Recreation (Parks), Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Finance and Administrative Services (FAS) in order to reduce negative impacts to public health and safety. The pilot is designed to engage RV occupants to voluntarily move their RVs, which allows City crews to clean and remove garbage, waste and immobile vehicles left behind. The City has collected 322,556 pounds of trash.

Encampment trash (Litter bag) pilot program: In January 2017, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) began a pilot program to collect trash from unsanctioned encampments and from areas where RV camping is frequent. Working with other City departments and community partners, SPU gives out litter bags and conducts regular and on-call pick-ups. The pilot has collected 718,350 pounds of trash – an average of about 31,233 pounds a month.

Syringes: In August 2016, SPU launched a program to collect syringes through complaints as well as special disposal boxes in City public rights-of-way and small bathroom units in City parks. The pilot has collected more than 145,916 syringes.

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Tiny House Village Update: Next Steps for Licton Springs

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Background

The City of Seattle’s permitted tiny house villages offer a place for unsheltered people to find stability and connect to housing resources. Each night, the villages provide more than 350 people a tiny house structure that locks, access to restrooms and showers, case management, a kitchen and a managed community.

Licton Springs Village has been in operation since 2017 under a two-year City permit on property owned by LIHI (Low Income Housing Institute). The village was created in response to the lack of system capacity to serve vulnerable unsheltered men and women encountered by the Navigation Team as they engaged people living unsheltered across Seattle. All residents of Licton Springs Village were referred to the village by the Navigation Team and is part of the City’s broader homelessness response emergency investments, which has seen a 35% increase in placements to housing in the first half of 2018.

The people living at Licton Springs Village are among the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness Seattle: 77%, are chronically homeless (which is believed to be a low estimate). In addition, 68% have experienced more than 12 months of being homeless over the last three years. Data from the Homeless Management Information System shows most residents suffer from either a disability, chronic health condition, mental health condition, or substance abuse issue.

Additionally, the program was designed to serve people for brief periods of time to provide the support, stability, and safety residents need to get help and ultimately find a path to housing. However, over the last two years, the City has learned that it takes much longer to serve such vulnerable residents; 39 of the 53 people have stayed at the village for longer than one year.

Next Steps

The two-year permit expires in March 2019. The City is not exploring the possibility of renewing the village’s permit at this location. Securing permanent housing for Licton Springs Village residents is the goal, and the City will do everything it can to ensure people are not returning to homelessness and are being placed in supportive housing or safe alternatives.

To help meet this goal over the next five months, the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) will be adding additional case management and partner agency expertise to assist clients and connect them to housing or safer shelter, including the City’s enhanced shelter beds, which have demonstrated success in moving people to permanent housing. Further, the City is incorporating the valuable lessons from the Licton Springs Village program and applying these improvements into existing and new tiny house villages, including additional case management services in next year’s proposed budget. These program enhancements include:

  • Guiding referrals of unsheltered people to programs that most effectively meet their needs;
  • Reflect case management ratios and other behavioral and medical health resources reflective of the needs of clients;
  • Case management and active housing search efforts should be required of people who enter the village programs; and
  • Onsite enrichment programming to support residents transiting from the streets.

With an unprecedented number of people living unsheltered, the City will continue to bring more shelter resources online in the coming months and will explore all options to create safe spaces for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness.

You can read more about the City’s permitted villages here.

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Navigation Team update: Myers Way unmanaged encampment outreach, removal, & activation

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Background

The unmanaged encampment in the Myers Way greenbelt is scheduled to be removed beginning September 24th, to reduce negative public health and safety impacts stemming from the encampment and to allow the City of Seattle to launch an effort to restore the forest and natural environment.

The encampment is large, covering over 20 acres of forest with multiple living structures and abandoned vehicles. At one point this year, the City of Seattle’s Navigation Team estimated there to be 50-100 people living unsheltered in Myers Way. The population has declined over the course of the year.

Impacts from the encampment have ranged from the presence of human waste and public safety issues, to garbage and illegal dumping impacting Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) drainage systems. A partial clean-up of the area occurred earlier this year to alleviate potential SR-509 flooding concerns.

Given the scale and logistical challenges presented by this encampment, this large-scale removal required months of planning and resource marshaling to clear this forested area. The Navigation Team and other outreach providers have been working over the last months to connect people living unsheltered to the resources and shelter required under City rules. Following the removal and clean-up of the encampment, Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks) will implement a multi-month activation process to restore the forest and encourage more regular recreational use of the greenbelt.

Outreach

The Navigation Team will make every effort to connect people living unsheltered to resources and shelter—which has been assisted greatly by Mayor Durkan’s recent investments to expand shelter capacity via tiny house villages and emergency shelter.

The Navigation Team has been conducting repeated outreach to people living unsheltered in the encampment since the beginning of the year. Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) trash bag pilot has also been active on site (SPU dispenses and collects trash bags from occupants), however participation from encampment residents has been inconsistent and deteriorated over the year.

The Navigation Team designed an intensive outreach effort ahead of the removal, focusing nearly all outreach and shelter resources to the encampment during the month of September to help people move to safer spaces prior to the clean-up. This outreach effort includes bringing in multiple partner agencies to complement and expand the team’s efforts.

The residents of this encampment have been difficult to reach and connect to services. To date, the team has made over 250 contacts to people living in Myers Way, connecting less than 10 people to shelter.

However, as part of the intensive outreach leading up to the clean-up, the team successfully referred a mother and her 2 children to a tiny house village last week (September 10).  Additionally, the team successfully moved a second young family out of Myers Way and into another tiny house village the week prior to the clean-up.

Written and verbal notice of the removal has been provided to all people living in the encampment. The encampment will received additional written notice 72 hours ahead of the clean-up, per City protocols.

Because of the advance outreach, some residents have voluntarily left the encampment to unknown destinations.

 Clean-Up

The City is working with multiple agencies to conduct the clean-up, including Parks, Seattle Department of Transportation, WSDOT, SPU, Finance and Administrative Services, Seattle Human Services, Seattle Police Department (SPD), and Seattle City Light (SCL).

Beginning September 24, the Navigation Team will lead initial clean-up efforts. The team will remove living structures and provide storage of belongings for encampment occupants. The team will continue to offer services and shelter during the clean-up. This effort will likely last the entire week. During the clean-up, other agencies will begin laying the groundwork for future activation by restoring access roads and preparing the property for work trailers.

Activation

Following the clean-up, Parks will implement a temporary multi-month activation effort to restore the forest and encourage more regular recreational use of the area.

This activation includes a daily staffing of the site, overseen by City staff, contractors, and volunteers. Workers will be on site every day to restore hillsides prone to landslides, removing brush and debris, and replanting appropriate plants and trees to the area. During this time, Parks will explore other uses of the site such as a dog park area and recreation trails.

With improved access and walking trails, SPD and Parks will be able to better monitor the area during the restoration process and beyond.  The activation phase is anticipated to last from 3-6 months.

Post Removal Update

The City completed the removal of the unmanaged encampment in the Myers Way greenbelt ahead of schedule the week of September 24. Seattle Parks and Recreation crews remain on site to continue rehabilitation work, which will proceed for the next 3-6 months.

Outreach Results: The team successfully referred 16 people to safer shelter during the encampment clean-up. This was the result

of weeks of engagement to build trust and identify needs of vulnerable people leading up to the start of the clean-up. This is an addition to 3 separate families that accepted offers of shelter within the City’s tiny house villages in the weeks prior to the encampment removal. Lastly, the team brought in additional outreach agencies to help compliment engagement efforts on the ground.

Clean-Up: Major clean-up efforts concluded on September 27. Parks crews remain on site to remove brush and undertake forest restoration activities. The City estimates that nearly 400 tons of garbage and debris were removed from the site during the clean-up.

 

 

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Housing Placements Up 35% for People Experiencing Homelessness in the First Six Months of 2018

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The City of Seattle’s Human Services Department (HSD) released the results of its homelessness funding for the first six months of 2018. These results represent activity from January 1 through June 30, 2018 and show agencies receiving city funds served 18,356 households and helped 4,459 households exit to permanent housing (2,644) or maintain their housing (1,815). The 2,644 households exiting to permanent housing represent an increase of 35% (692 households) over the same time in 2017. In all of 2017, city funds helped 5,456 households exit to permanent housing or maintain their housing, which the city is on track to surpass.

“HSD began 2018 with clear goals – invest in programs that work and help more people connect to housing from all points in the homeless services system,” said HSD Interim Director Jason Johnson. “Quarterly data helps us understand if the City’s investments are supporting people effectively and identify how we can improve. We’re encouraged by the increases in placing people in housing and grateful for the hard work human service providers have demonstrated in helping vulnerable people.”

In 2018, the City of Seattle has a budget of over $86 million across more than a dozen departments to invest in services for people experiencing homelessness and mitigate the impacts of people living unsheltered across the City. HSD oversees more than 157 contracts with programs throughout the city that provide services for people experiencing homelessness. Moving people into housing (exits to housing) and/or keeping them from becoming homeless is the primary measure of success for programs that received funding through the City’s investments at HSD.

Highlights of First Six Months of 2018

  • Programs have served 18,356 households in first six months 2018, an increase of 5.4% (946 households) over 2017.
  • 4,459 households exited to housing (2,644) or maintained that housing (1,815) through city investments. The 2,644 households exiting to housing represents a 35% (692) increase over the first six months of 2017.
  • Housing programs are moving people to permanent housing at an increased rate over 2017;
  • Native American/Alaska Native and Black/African American households– populations that experience homelessness disproportionately – are moving to housing at increased rates in comparison to the first six months of 2017. Specifically, programs receiving city funds have helped more NA/AN households connect to housing in the first six months of 2018 (284 households) than in the entire year of 2017 (273 households); and
  • In the first six months of 2018, 4,071 households were served by enhanced shelters and 691 exited to permanent housing, an increased rate of 7% of over the first six months of 2017.

The Homeless Services System

Seattle invests in three primary categories for homeless services:

  • prevention (keeping people housed),
  • emergency (shelters and connection to housing), and
  • housing (permanent housing that may or may not include subsidy and support services).

Together, these create the homeless services system. Click here to read definitions of homeless services terminology.

Housing Programs are Moving More People to Permanent Housing Over 2017

All housing programs increased the rate at which they are moving households into housing or helping them maintain housing over the first six months of 2017.

  • Diversion: Diversion primarily helps people avoid the emergency shelter system by offering one-time financial assistance and case management. Of the 593 households served in the first six months of 2018, 72% of households that left the program exited to permanent housing, a rate that is 11% higher than the first six months of 2017. In 2018, HSD increased funding for Diversion programs to $2 million from $1 million in 2017..
  • Rapid Rehousing: This national best-practice which combines temporary rental assistance and case management to help people eventually assume their own housing costs, moved people to housing at a rate that is 5% higher than the first six months of 2017, and had a success rate of 80% in Q2 2018. HSD increased investment in Rapid Rehousing programs from $4.3 million in 2017 to $7.2 million in 2018.
  • Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH):The most effective housing program for high-needs people experiencing homelessness, PSH offers ongoing housing and support services for people who need long-term assistance. PSH has a success rate of 97% in helping people maintain their housing or leave supportive housing to move to other kinds of permanent housing. The success rate in the first six months of 2017 was 95%. HSD increased investment in permanent supportive housing from $9.3 million to $13.2 million in 2018 in order to help people who need the highest level of services to successfully obtain and remain in housing.

Human Services Programs Help More Native American/Alaska Native and Black/African American Households Connect to Housing in 2018

Native American/Alaska Native (NA/AN) and Black/African American (B/AA) households experience homelessness disproportionately to their representation in the population of King County. These households are seven times and five times more likely to experience homelessness, respectively.

Programs receiving city funds have helped more NA/AN households connect to housing in the first six months of 2018 (284 households) than in the entire year of 2017 (273 households). In addition to serving more people, programs have increased their rate of success in connecting these clients to housing by 10% over 2017. 33% of NA/AN households exit homeless services to permanent housing in the first six months of 2018, up from 23% in the first six months of 2017.

In the first six months of 2018, there were 1,713 B/AA household exits to permanent housing from homeless services programs, an increase of 351 household exits over last year. 37.5% of B/AA households leaving homeless services entered permanent housing, an increase of 10% over the last year’s rate of 27.5%.

“During the 2018 funding process, HSD asked homeless services providers to join us in helping more Native American and Alaska Native households and more Black and African American households enter permanent housing from homeless services programs. We are pleased to see this progress and look forward to continued improvement,” said Jason Johnson.

Supportive Services Result in Improved Housing Results

Enhanced shelters, which provide 24/7 or extended hours of services, storage for belongings, and case management, have continued to support more people in finding permanent housing. In the first six months of 2018, 4,071 households were served by enhanced shelters, and 691 exited to permanent housing, an increase rate of 7% of over the first six months of 2017. Enhanced shelters have a rate of moving clients to housing that is five times that of basic, overnight shelters.

The City’s basic shelters and permitted villages continue to be a critical component to the City’s emergency response to provide safer spaces for people experiencing homelessness. So far in 2018, they have served more than 3,750 households in the first six months of 2018. Seattle first invested in sanctioned encampments in 2015. Since this time, HSD has increased support for tiny houses, hygiene services, and case management. Residents often face many barriers to finding stable housing and are more likely to find that stability with more support services. In 2018, Seattle has expanded to support eight villages, with a ninth expected to open this fall, which provide spaces for more than 350 people per night. The City’s Villages are at capacity every night and have supported 17% of households who exit the program in finding permanent housing in the second quarter, a decrease of 5% over the same six-month period in 2017. In recognition that more services support improved housing outcomes, the City increased case management support at the Villages in the second quarter. HSD will continue to monitor the performance results of this program quarterly.

“City-funded homeless services programs are serving more than 18,356 households in 2018, an increase of over 5% from last year. This tracks with what our providers have seen – more and more people are experiencing housing instability in our rapidly growing region. Their needs are outpacing the City’s homelessness prevention, emergency and housing services capacity. HSD is pleased with the continued improvement in the system’s housing results, but a continued regional focus on creating more housing is key to helping people exit the homeless services system permanently,” said Johnson.

City Implements New Accountability and Performance Measures

In 2016, the City of Seattle, King County, and the United Way of King County adopted the same performance standards in a memorandum of understanding signed in 2016. In addition, the City of Seattle has established and implemented in 2018 new performance standards in City programs including diversion, prevention, outreach and engagement, basic day and hygiene centers, and villages. 2018 is the first year the City is implementing full accountability measures across all programs. Each of these programs have different targeted standards.

In 2018, HSD implemented performance pay for key areas of investments: emergency shelter and enhanced day centers, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing – this rewards programs with the full amount of their contracted award when they meet performance standards. While both HSD and King County use performance pay contracting based on the adopted performance standards, HSD pays programs based on the rate of exits to permanent housing standard and King County pays programs based on the utilization rate standard.

In Q2 2018, 65% of the programs subject to performance pay contracting met the standard for exits to permanent housing. 31 of 48 programs total subject to performance pay contracting are meeting standards.

HSD is partnering with the remaining programs to develop improvement plans and to ensure that the City’s contract policies are being operationalized to support the intended result – helping more people move from homeless services programs to permanent housing. HSD has an intensive process in place to partner with the remaining programs to increase the likelihood that they will receive full payment in future quarters. HSD is committed to using any funding that wasn’t paid out to support technical assistance and training designed to help programs move more people to permanent housing.

 

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Update: Navigation Team

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Launched in February of 2017, the City of Seattle’s Navigation Team is comprised of specially trained police officers, field coordinators, and outreach workers who work every day to connect vulnerable people living unsheltered to services and safer spaces as well as to remove encampments that pose serious public health and safety risks.

Since taking office, Mayor Jenny Durkan has made important investments to expand the team’s capacity and to create hundreds of new shelter spaces for people experiencing homelessness.  Earlier this year, Mayor Durkan announced “Path to 500” which will increase the City of Seattle’s bridge housing and shelter capacity by 25 percent. A number of these new investments have opened and many new shelter resources will be online in the coming months—these resources, in addition to the City’s tiny house villages, are critical to the Navigation Team’s work to connect people experiencing homelessness with more shelter resources.

Outreach

Through the Navigation Team’s ongoing outreach efforts, the team made over 7,300 contacts in 2017 to a total of 1,829 individuals. As part of their efforts, 1,179 individuals accepted some sort of service and 675 individuals were successfully referred to shelter. To learn more, please visit this site for additional materials regarding the Navigation Team’s outreach efforts in 2017.

Preliminary figures for 2018 show the team is on pace to surpass last year’s outreach outcomes, making over 7,000 contacts to people experiencing homelessness and 474 referrals to shelter through the end of July.

Given the team’s ongoing outreach efforts coupled with Mayor Durkan’s investments in team expansion and shelter capacity, it is reasonable to anticipate the Navigation Team will successfully move more people off Seattle’s streets and into safer spaces than ever before.

Addressing Unsanctioned Encampments

Over last 20 months, the Navigation Team has learned how to best utilize outreach and removal resources to balance the needs of people experiencing homelessness and the surrounding community as allowed by the City’s published and approved protocols. The Navigations Team’s focus is on negative public health and safety impacts. With an estimated 400 unmanaged encampments throughout Seattle, the Navigation Team prioritizes encampments for removal based on the totality of the conditions within and around an encampment including removing encampments on public property.

These rules are designed to balance the rights of people living unsheltered with the City’s responsibility to maintain public health and safety. These protocols require the team to have shelter space available for all people being asked to leave an encampment that is being removed. The rules also require the team to provide written notice of removal at least 72 hours in advance, coupled with repeated offers of shelter, service, and storage of appropriate possessions. The City will remove an encampment without advanced written notice or offers of service and shelter if the encampment presents an immediate obstruction to public use of property, or the right-of-way, or presents a safety and health hazard.

Since launching in February of 2017, the Navigation Team has removed a total of 411 unsanctioned encampments. Of these encampments, 273 were given advance notice with repeated outreach including offers of service, storage of possessions, and shelter. 138 of the total encampments removed either posed an obstruction to public use, were located within the City’s designated emphasis areas, or were considered especially hazardous to public health and safety.

Below is a breakdown of the Navigation Team since February of 2017:

72 Hour Notice Obstruction/Hazards/Emphasis Area
2017 142 49
2018  (thru July) 131 89
Total: 273 138

 

To better maintain public health and safety, the team has focused on removing smaller encampments, under the City’s protocols, which pose obstructions and/or hazards to ensure sidewalks, roadways, and public spaces remain safe and open for all residents, businesses, and visitors to utilize. While this work to remove smaller encampments that pose obstructions and hazards to the public is ongoing, the team also continues to conduct intensive outreach and removals of larger-scale encampments throughout Seattle.

 

 

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Frequently Asked Questions: True Hope Village at 18th and Yesler

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New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Truevine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church and the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) are sponsoring a new permitted tiny house village at 18th and Yesler in Seattle’s Central District. This village will provide safer spaces to live for unsheltered people experiencing homelessness. The City of Seattle is supporting case management services and operations at the village.

At community meetings on May 22nd and June 12th, neighbors had the opportunity to engage with the sponsors and ask questions. We have posted answers to the questions that we heard most frequently below.

What is the official name of this village?

The official name of the tiny house village located at 18th and Yesler is True Hope Village.

How was this property selected?

The City is currently supporting six permitted tiny house villages. In an effort to distribute villages across Seattle, the City Council requested that District 3 be considered as well. The location was one of several sites in the Central Area and Capitol Hill that was considered.

Who is sponsoring this village?

True Hope Village is sponsored by New Hope Missionary Baptist Church and Truevine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church.

Does this village meet the threshold for religious permitting as outlined in Code Section 23.42.054?

Yes. The Estate of Chris Demopolis (18th and Yesler, LLC) signed a lease agreement with the LIHI, which in turn assigned the lease to the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church for use in their community ministry to people experiencing homelessness. The churches will use space in a community tent on the site to outreach to the residents.

How will the physical design of the site meet the needs of the 18th and Yesler neighborhood?

True Hope Village will install a 6’ cedar privacy fence around its perimeter to be visually appealing from the exterior. Tiny homes will be attractively designed and set back 25’ from the nearest neighbors. The village’s restroom and shower facilities will be connected to City utilities and will receive regular trash and recycling service. The site will be subject to drop-in inspections by Seattle-King County Public Health, Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) and the Fire Department to ensure that all health and safety regulations are being followed.

Did the community have the opportunity to provide input on this project as it was being developed?

Yes. Two community meetings were held to share information with community members and receive their feedback. The first meeting was held on May 22nd. The second meeting was held on the evening of June 12th at Ernestine Anderson Place. Both events were well attended. Comments and questions from both meetings were collected by LIHI, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Truevine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church, and multiple City of Seattle departments. Community members also reached out to each of those entities by email, phone calls, and face to face meetings to ask questions, express concerns, and offer feedback. Community feedback informed the project design and will continue to influence the project going forward.

How can the community provide ongoing input about this village?

True Hope Village will establish a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) that will provide advisory input on operations. Members of the CAC will include businesses, community leaders, immediate neighbors, service providers and others. The Committee of seven stakeholders will meet monthly and meeting notes will be posted on the City of Seattle’s Homeless Response website (www.seattle.gov/homelessness). If you would like to serve on the CAC. Please contact Josh Castle at jcastle@lihi.org or Tom Van Bronkhorst at tom.vanBronkhorst3@seattle.gov. Community members may also provide feedback to the City of Seattle via email at homelessness@seattle.gov.

What is the City of Seattle’s role in this project?

The City of Seattle’s Fire Department, SCDI, and Seattle-King County Public Health will perform periodic, unannounced inspections of the site to ensure all safety codes are being met. Additionally, the City of Seattle Human Services Department will contract with LIHI to provide onsite case management and operations of this village.

How long will this village stay at its current location?

Under the current ordinance, permitted villages on private or public land can operate for 12- months with an option for an additional 12-month extension. This site is sponsored by religious organizations–under the Seattle Land Use Code there is no time limit. The lease on the site is for two years with six-month extensions thereafter. Anticipated opening is mid-July.

Who will live in this village?

Residents will include homeless families, couples, singles, students, seniors and veterans. Homeless students will include those participating in the Seattle Vocational Institute’s (SVI) pre-apprenticeship training program and the Urban League’s Career Bridge program. Homeless families and singles will be referred by the New Hope Baptist Church, Urban League, Seattle Indian Center, the Navigation Team and others.

How can I help?

Neighbors and businesses have generously supported other tiny house villages through donations of hot meals, blankets and clothing. Please contact Josh Castle at jcastle@lihi.org for information about how you can support True Hope Village.

What is the staffing plan?

A LIHI staff person will be on duty 24/7 to monitor activities and respond to inquiries from both residents and community members. The staff will perform regular perimeter checks, organize trash cleanups, and respond to neighbors. LIHI will also provide an onsite case manager to support residents’ housing search and help connect them to other community supports as needed.

Will drug or alcohol use be permitted at this village?

No. True Hope Village will be drug and alcohol free.

Are there environmental concerns with this piece of property?

Several decades ago the site housed a dry-cleaning business that disposed of chemicals onto the ground. An environmental assessment has revealed no health hazard to people living at the site provided that sleeping structures are elevated off the ground to provide constant air flow. All sleeping structures will meet this requirement. The barrels on the site were left-over from the soil assessment and are scheduled to be removed.

Is it possible for me to tour the village?

Yes. True Hope Village will welcome neighbors and provided tours.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about how we are responding to the crisis of homelessness in Seattle

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Human Services Department releases 2018 first quarter results from investments

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Figures for first quarter of 2018 indicate City investments are housing more people 

The City of Seattle’s Human Services Department (HSD) released the results of its homelessness funding for the first quarter (Q1) of 2018. There were 3,030 households who moved into permanent housing or maintained their housing through city investments in homeless services system in Q1 2018. This is an increase of 1,241 households over Q1 2017. In 2018, the department has a budget of $71 million to oversee more than 155 contracts with 39 agencies throughout the city who provide services for people experiencing homelessness.

“We are working with agencies every day to oversee the city’s public investments to help people experiencing homelessness. We compile quarterly data to help us understand how our investments are performing as part of a system of support for people.” said HSD Interim Director Jason Johnson. “We’re encouraged by the increases in placing people in housing and in the investments to enhance shelters with more services.”

Moving people into housing (exits to housing) and/or keeping them from becoming homeless is the primary measure of success for programs that received funding through HSD’s 2018 funding process.

Highlights of Q1 2018 Results

  • 3,030 households were housed through city investments;
  • Housing programs are moving people to permanent housing at an increased rate over 2017; and
  • Both enhanced shelters and housing programs that include supportive services such as case management help more people move into housing

The Homeless Services System

Seattle invests in three primary categories for homeless services: prevention (keeping people housed), emergency (shelters and connection to housing), and housing (permanent housing that may or may not include subsidy and support services). Together, these create the homeless services system. (click here to view homeless services system definitions).

Housing Programs are Moving People to Permanent Housing at Increased Rates Over 2017

All housing programs increased the rate at which they are moving households into housing or helping them maintain housing over Q1 2017. (click here for descriptions of these programs).

  • Rapid Rehousing: This national best-practice of short-term rental assistance until people can assume their own housing costs, moved 10% more people to permanent housing over Q1 2017, and had a success rate of 83% in Q1 2018. In 2018, HSD increased funding for this program to $7.2 million from $4.3 million in 2017.
  • Diversion: The Diversion housing program, which primarily helps people avoid the emergency shelter system, moved 19% more people into housing over Q1 2017 and had a success rate of 80.5%. In 2018, HSD increased funding for Diversion programs to $2 million from $1 million in 2017.
  • Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH): The most effective housing program for chronically homeless people, PSH offers ongoing housing subsidy and support services. Because these units are so heavily subsidized, there is has a success rate of 99% in helping people maintain their housing or leave supportive housing to move to other kinds of permanent housing. The success rate in Q1 2017 was 98%. HSD increased investment in permanent supportive housing from $9.3 million to $13.2 million in 2018 in order to help people who need ongoing assistance from falling into homelessness.

Enhanced Shelters Help Five Times More People Move to Permanent Housing

Enhanced shelters, which provide such services as extended hours and case management with social workers, connect people with permanent housing at five times the rate of basic mat shelters.

Enhanced Shelters have increased their rate of moving people into permanent housing by 3.7 % over the first quarter of 2017. Basic shelters have an exit rate of 3.8% to permanent housing in Q1 2018, while enhanced shelters have a success rate of 20.5%.

In 2018, HSD supports 1773 shelter beds, 67% of which provide enhanced services.

City-permitted Villages provide tiny house structures and amenities for unsheltered people. Seattle supports seven villages, which provide spaces for more than 300 people per night. The City’s Villages are at capacity every night and have supported 17% of households in finding housing in the first quarter, a slight decrease of 1% over Q1 2017. However, HSD has been the investing in the management of these Villages to include enhanced services like case management in 2018 and should see this number increase in the year ahead.

“More and more people are experiencing housing instability in our rapidly growing region and their needs outpace the City’s homelessness prevention, emergency and housing services capacity. Continued focus on improving access to supportive services in shelters, villages and housing programs, while also focusing regionally on creating more housing is key to helping people exit the homeless services system permanently,” said Johnson.

HSD will continue to monitor the homeless response agencies it funds and drive towards results. Specifically, HSD is interested in improving the rate of exits to permanent housing for prevention projects, which decreased from a 94% rate of keeping people housed in 2017 to an 89% in Q1 2018. “HSD is working with several new programs that were ramping up in the first part of 2018, so we are looking for that area to improve,” said Johnson. Additionally, programs have 90 days to offer support through prevention programs, so clients who were successful at the end of the first quarter won’t be captured in the data until the second quarter.

NOTE: The City-funded agencies’ first quarter results will be combined with King County’s and made available on the All Home King County website http://allhomekc.org/ by June 11th, 2018

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Efforts to clean-up trash and syringes

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As the City moves more people living unsheltered into safer places, we are also working to restores spaces that were previously homeless encampments into safe, clean spaces. City makes significant investments to clean up trash and waste resulting from the homelessness crisis:

  • Removing trash from unmanaged encampments: In 2017, City removed 3,205 tons (6,410,000 pounds) of garbage and waste from unmanaged encampments. In 2018, the City has removed 260 tons (294,000 pounds).
  • Trash in the right-of-way: In May 2018, Seattle began a new Citywide effort to remove garbage and debris from roads, sidewalks, and the public right-of-way adjacent to RVs. Started initially as a pilot in November 2017 in SODO, this new coordinated effort is led by Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), SPD’s Community Police Team (CPT), Seattle Parks and Recreation (Parks), Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Finance and Administrative Services (FAS) in order to reduce negative impacts to public health and safety. The pilot is designed to engage RV occupants to voluntarily move their RVs, which allows City crews to clean and remove garbage, waste and immobile vehicles left behind. In the first month, the City has collected nearly 34,270 pounds of trash.
  • Litter bag pilot program: In January 2017, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) began a pilot program to collect trash from unsanctioned encampments and from areas where RV camping is frequent. Working with other City departments and community partners, SPU gives out litter bags and conducts regular and on-call pick-ups. Since the pilot began, SPU has collected nearly 500,000 pounds of trash – approximately 27,800 pounds a month.
  • Syringe collection program: In August 2016, SPU launched a program to collect syringes through complaints as well as special disposal boxes in City public rights-of-way and small bathroom units in City parks. Since it launched in August 2016, SPU has collected 70,934 syringes.
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Mayor Durkan to increase Seattle’s Bridge Housing and shelter capacity by 25 percent to bring more people inside

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To help people experiencing homelessness get into safer places where they are more likely to access services, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan today announced a new plan to increase the number of bridge housing and shelter units in the next 90 days by 25% to serve an additional 522 people every night.

“People rightfully say: we are and must be a better city than this. Thousands of people are living outside of our system and unsheltered. We all see some of the worst imaginable conditions – people are living among rats, needles, human waste, and garbage. And every three days, someone without a home dies in this City. We must act to move people off the streets and into safer, more stable places where they can more easily access the services they need,” said Mayor Durkan.

“I support the Mayor’s efforts to provide more immediate shelter, and King County is working in partnership with its cities to add more shelter and housing capacity throughout the county so people experiencing homelessness have a safe and secure place to rebuild their lives. Providing alternatives to tents and RVs is an important step to tackling homelessness, and we must also continue to focus on root causes to truly make a difference in our communities,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

Pending final approval by City Council, Mayor Durkan’s proposal would increase the number of bridge housing and shelter units in the next 90 days by 25%. Her plan would serve an additional 522 people every night by:

  • Expanding enhanced shelter capacity to serve an additional 180 people;
  • Creating bridge housing at Haddon Hall serve 100 people through a master lease;
  • Expanding City Hall’s basic shelter serving 120 people each night;
  • Supporting of Whittier Heights Women’s Village, a tiny home village serving 19 chronically homeless women; and
  • Opening 54 tiny homes in South Lake Union and 30 new tiny homes at 18th and Yesler following community engagement and site approval. These tiny homes would serve approximately 103 people.

In addition, Durkan’s plan will provide funding for 163 basic shelter beds set to close at the end of May. Currently, the City of Seattle operates 2,032 shelter beds. This includes 1,185 enhanced shelter beds, 259 units in tiny home villages, and 588 basic shelter beds. However, the City-funded shelters and sanctioned encampments are at or near capacity; they are at least 93% full every night.

In January 2018, Mayor Durkan proposed her “Building a Bridge to Housing for All” legislation to create additional bridge housing and shelter options as well as affordable housing. Passed unanimously by City Council in February and signed by the Mayor, it called for a Bridge Housing Investment Strategy to increase our capacity to quickly and cost-effectively move people experiencing homelessness to safety through new bridge housing and shelter.

Mayor Durkan is proposing to create new resources to bring people off the streets and into safer places through a variety of strategies. Because enhanced shelters are more successful at exiting more people to permanent housing, Mayor Durkan’s proposed investments are focused on building more capacity at enhanced shelters.  Mayor Durkan’s plan would also provide dedicated beds to serve individuals living unsheltered referred by the City’s Navigation team as well as approximately 120 families and children. Providing more capacity for people living unsheltered to move into safer places like enhanced shelters and tiny home villages will also make it easier for them to access services including substance use treatment, mental health care, food, employment support, and case management professionals.

“Mayor Durkan recognizes that ‘we’re all better off when we’re all better off,’” said Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, District 7 – Pioneer Square to Magnolia. “I am grateful for her understanding of the desperate needs of our neighbors who we see every day sleeping in tents and cardboard on our City’s streets and knowing that there’s a better way to care for people and improve lives in our city. Today’s announcement responds both to the needs of people on the street as well as to demands of our housed neighbors. This is a big step toward the regional response we seek.”

“We must be unrelenting in our efforts to expand temporary and long-term housing options for individuals and families experiencing homelessness,” said Councilmember M. Lorena González, Pos. 9 – Citywide. “This expansion of shelter options is a demonstration of the City’s commitment to the need to invest across the spectrum of homeless services and housing that will make a measurable impact on reducing the amount of human suffering people experience on our streets every single day and night. This short-term strategy, coupled with investments in the creation of deeply subsidized affordable housing, is part of the solution to addressing homelessness. I continue to welcome a partnership with Mayor Durkan, my colleagues, regional leaders and service providers to effectively chart our path out of the current homelessness crisis in Seattle and the region.”

“To simultaneously address the crises of rising rents, opioid addiction, and an underfunded mental health system, we need both short- and long-term solutions,” said Councilmember Mike O’Brien, District 6 – Northwest Seattle. “I believe that the Mayor’s effort is a step in the right direction towards the large-scale effort this City needs to meet the emergency shelter needs of community members. In addition to today’s steps, we will simultaneously need to increase our production of affordable housing units to permanently house people.”

“It’s immoral that in Seattle thousands of people are living outside. We must act with urgency and compassion to create the shelter and supportive housing needed now. Until we build significantly more affordable housing, expand shelters, and reduce the number of people entering homelessness, people will continue to suffer needlessly and die on Seattle’s streets,” said Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, Pos. 8 – Citywide. “Today is a small but important piece of the puzzle to provide shelter to those without homes in our city.”

Under Mayor Durkan, the City of Seattle is also continuing their investments in preventing homelessness. Earlier this year, Mayor Durkan launched the Seattle Rental Housing Assistance Pilot Program, which will serve approximately 1,000 low-income households to provide a range of critical resources, including rental assistance and utility discounts as applicable.

“Helping people experiencing homelessness takes a full range of options—from keeping people in the housing they have to helping people living on the streets get the support and services they need to move back in to housing,” said Jason Johnson, Interim Director of the City’s Human Services Department. “I am thankful that through Mayor Durkan’s leadership we can focus on increasing access to safer spaces that match people with the best support options for their individual needs.”