Snohomish County’s homeless population drops for second straight year, but federal funding still in jeopardy

County leaders revealed the number of unhoused people in Snohomish dropped to just more than 1,100 this year.

That’s equivalent to a 1.8% decrease compared to last year, and an 11% decrease from 2023.

The numbers came from the county’s annual point-in-time count.

“The Point in Time Count is important to help us better understand homelessness in our county and the impact of local programs working to reduce homelessness,” Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said in a press release. “While there is still a lot of work to do, it is good news that this year’s count is slightly lower than last year, marking a decrease for the second year in a row.”

Point-in-time counts have been deemed a controversial method for measuring the amount of homelessness due to the methodology of the process — relying on volunteers to hand-count the number of people they observe living unsheltered on a single night, then calculating a rough estimate of people they believe they might have missed living in abandoned buildings.

According to Snohomish County, the latest point-in-time count had 340 volunteers tallying the homeless population.

Additional findings were that the number of people who were reportedly chronically homeless (homeless for at least 12 months over the past three years) decreased by 19%, while the number of homeless people in the age groups of 25–34 and 45–54 decreased by an average of 13%, The Everett Herald confirmed with the county.

Snohomish County suing the federal government

Despite the positive decrease in overall homeless populations across the county, local leaders are worried about losing key federal funding.

The federal government awarded Snohomish County $16.7 million in grant funding for homelessness assistance, but only if the county complies with federal executive orders, including those related to immigration status, healthcare, and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Without it, the county estimated that approximately 500 people could lose permanent housing and end up back on the streets.

In May, Snohomish County decided to join several other local governments, including both King and Pierce County, across the country in suing the Trump administration.

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