1-day count shows Washington homeless situation improving
Jul 10, 2013, 7:42 AM | Updated: 9:57 am
The one-day count of Washington's homeless population has been conducted in January since 2006. (KIRO Radio Photo/File)
(KIRO Radio Photo/File)
Thousands of people, including hundreds of children woke up in Washington this morning in their cars, under overpasses and in shelters, but the state said that’s a big improvement over just a few years ago.
The one-day count in January found nearly 18,000 people living without a permanent home in Washington, but that’s more than 4,000 fewer people than were on the streets in the first year of the count in 2006.
More than 5,000 of those people had no shelter at all, but that’s still an improvement over seven years ago.
Homeless advocates look at the numbers and said they show the programs implemented over that time are starting to work, but they admit they have more to do.
The January count found 133 families with kids in the homeless population this year.
