Snohomish County outreach teams see all the negative impacts of homelessness

As the region struggles to deal with a homeless and opioid crisis, cities and counties are finding new ways to get those living on the streets the help they need.

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The homeless numbers in Snohomish County aren’t quite as high as Seattle, but they’re still significant and Snohomish County Sheriff Sgt. Ian Huri says they’re seeing all the negative impacts that come with that.

“Rape. We’ve had homicides involving homeless people. Overdoses; that’s by far the most common cause of death that we see. I can think of three people specifically in the past four months that have passed away from either the overdose itself or the infection from shooting up and getting an abscess that wasn’t treated properly and they pass away.”

Part of the county’s solution is embedded social worker outreach teams. The sheriff’s office now has three, two-member teams made up of a deputy and a social worker who do outreach to those living in encampments or elsewhere on the street.

“That’s our everyday job — going out and engaging people,” Sgt. Huri said. “Finding out what they need and getting them connected to it. Giving them rides to and from appointments. Getting them into housing. Whatever resources out there that we can utilize we try to take advantage of.”

Snohomish County homeless report

Sgt. Huri is on one of the outreach teams, along with his social worker partner, Elisa Delgado.

“A lot of them are using heroin, a little bit of meth,” Delgado explained. “Occasionally there’s somebody out there that doesn’t really have the mental health or the chemical dependency. That’s rare though.”

Sgt. Huri says they find a few people who simply can’t afford housing, but most are dealing with addiction. And the county doesn’t think that means they belong in jail.

“Our main plan for most of the folks that are chemically dependent on the street right now is we get them an assessment to see what their treatment needs are. We get them into in-patient — typically about 30 days — then they qualify for a voucher program for up to six months of housing in a clean-and-sober home, which is contingent upon completion of intensive out-patient.”

Success is based on building relationships. The teams go out daily and talk to people on the street. They often encounter people they’ve run into before and tell them what they have to offer, including getting them into detox.

Sgt. Huri says a big key to success is follow up.

“We do not want any gaps between detox and treatment or treatment and housing. Some people choose not to take the housing up but for the people who want the housing, we don’t want them back on the street at all.”

Delgado says that means being there for them every step of the way. When a patient is finished with treatment, the teams begin looking for housing in a safe area that won’t be a “trigger.”

She says one of the biggest pieces of this program is the outreach teams being part of a person’s clean and sober network, even after they get into housing.

“Once they’re in housing, it isn’t, bye, see you later.”

And Sgt. Huri says they’re having success, placing more than 100 people in housing since the start of the program in late 2015.

“This year alone we’ve had over 100 people start the detox and treatment process,” he explained.

But they’re not all success stories.

“There are going to be people who no-show or leave detox the first hour they are there. Or they leave treatment a day before graduation. Those things happen…”

Huri admits this type of work wasn’t what he expected when he joined the sheriff’s office.

“If you had told me 10 years ago I would have said you’re crazy. But I’ve shared this with people, this is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done either professionally or personally.”

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s three embedded social worker teams cover unincorporated parts of the county, and cities such as Granite Falls and Darrington that don’t have their own police agencies. Everett Police are building a similar program. It’s catching on around the county, with Lynnwood and Arlington getting embedded social worker teams of heir own.

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