Seattle Navigation Team cleaned over 1,500 tons of trash to close out 2019
Feb 4, 2020, 8:25 AM
Seattle's Navigation Team contacts residents of a homeless encampment. The team offers services and housing to campers, and sometimes will order clean ups if the camps are unsafe. (Jason Rantz, KTTH)
(Jason Rantz, KTTH)
Seattle’s Navigation Team released data from the end of 2019, including details on its efforts to clear homeless encampments, shelter referrals, and more.
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In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Nav Team reported cleaning almost 1,600 tons of garbage, waste, and debris from public property, a 19 percent increase from Q1. It removed 833 “unsafe encampments” across the entire year.
Those increases are attributed to “higher operational capacity.”
Between Q1 and Q4, there was also a 10 percent increase in the “number of contacts with unique individuals,” an uptick credited to increased staffing.
“With the addition of System Navigators, the team’s outreach capacity has increased,” Seattle’s Human Services Department said in a news release. “System Navigators enter data in the NavApp and can transport people directly to shelter, which previously was the responsibility of the team’s contracted outreach operator.”
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Meanwhile, efforts to establish ongoing relationships with unsheltered individuals have acted as “an important first step … that will assist with an accepted offer of shelter.”
In terms of the total number of those who accept shelter assistance, HSD notes that its information is incomplete due to “privacy opt-outs and differing data entry.” That said, the Navigation team averaged roughly 215 “unique shelter referrals per quarter,” with around 973 total referrals in 2019 (not counting duplicate referrals for those offered shelter services more than once).
