Snohomish County notes highest number of homeless counted since 2012

The latest point-in-time count in Snohomish County indicates a 26 percent increase in homelessness over last year, and the highest number of homeless counted since 2012.

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“What were seeing is while we’re able to serve more people, we also have a problem that is growing in the community,” said Snohomish County Human Services Representative Mary Jane Brell.

Officials say a chunk of the increase can be explained by a new methodology for counting, claiming that the previous method was prone to under-counting homeless families.

According to Brell, the original method has traditionally found that families account for around 2 to 3 percent of homeless. That number jumped to 21 percent under the new counting method.

“This new methodology allowed us to get a much better handle on how many people are out there,” said Brell.

The count of total 1,116 homeless individuals showed a higher number of young adults, women, people of color, and children, including 11 unaccompanied children on the streets.

The full total is up 34.6 percent from Snohomish County’s lowest ever count in 2015. Sheltered homeless remained unchanged from that time, while unsheltered homeless jumped up 92 percent.

The report from the county also noted that while the total number of people experiencing chronic homelessness increased, the proportion of those people actually decreased, with the county boasting a 37 percent increase over 2015 in households assisted in obtaining housing.

Snohomish County’s report runs counter to a recent point-in-time count from King County, that noted the latter’s first drop since 2012. In total, King County identified 11,199 people experiencing homelessness, an 8 percent decrease from 2018.

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