Homeless count increases by over 20 percent in King County

If it seems like there are far more homeless on the streets of Seattle, you’re not imagining it. A one night count of homeless across King County found the numbers soared 21 percent over last year.

Teams from the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness found 3,772 people on the streets in the early hours of Friday morning, says coalition director Alison Eisigner.

“Our state has really dis-invested and undermined many important pieces of our infrastructure including help for people with disabilities and people with mental illness,” she says.

The numbers of homeless counted is far lower than the actual number, as many people remain out of sight during the count.

Hundreds of volunteers helping with the count found people sleeping in doorways, beneath overpasses, in their vehicles, in alleys, or walking around in the communities of Auburn, Bellevue, Bothell, Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Kent, Kenmore, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, Seattle, Shoreline, Skyway, Vashon Island, White Center and Woodinville, according to Eisinger.

The count tallied 993 men and 230 women across the county, with the gender of over 2,000 more un-determinable. The vast majority were observed in vehicles, with 1,138 counted.

Eisinger says the reasons for increase vary widely, but include lack of affordable housing, poverty, unemployment, untreated mental illness or addiction, and domestic violence.