(The Center Square) – The latest count of the number of homeless people living in Seattle’s city limits revealed a fluctuating number of tents, but a steady decrease in homeless RVs.
The latest report from the city’s unified care team shows that there were 523 documented tents and 227 documented RVs located throughout the city at the end of 2023.
The 523 tents represent a 24% decrease from the beginning of 2023 with 687 in January. However, the latest count is a 26% increase from the March count of 414 tents.
While the number of verified tents in the city continues to fluctuate, the number of RVs is continuing on a downward trajectory. The 227 RVs represent a 51% reduction from the 460 counted in January 2023.
The latest count is also a 29% drop from the 320 counted in March.
Seattle is dedicating $165.9 million toward responding to homelessness in 2024. This includes $109.3 million being allocated to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. That is a continued increase in funding from last year when the city allocated $153.7 million for its homelessness response, with $96.9 million going to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s strategy to curb homelessness in the city included the Seattle Unified Care Team, which formed in 2022. The team fully launched five neighborhood teams in the fourth quarter of 2023 in order to better implement strategies.
The Seattle Unified Care Team’s approach to homelessness is based on coordinated, strategic and data-driven action. The team has a shared goal of ensuring Seattle’s public spaces, sidewalks and streets remain open and accessible to all.
The team successfully saw 2,204 accepted shelter referrals in 2023, which is up from 1,831 in 2022 and 1,203 in 2021.
The total number of verified shelter enrollments in 2023 was 970, which is up from 746 in 2022 and 576 in 2021, according to a press release from the city.
In the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, the Seattle Unified Care Team extended a total of 1,228 offers of shelter to unsheltered individuals from which 462 offers were accepted and resulted in a referral to shelter.
These referrals were made in collaboration with 17 outreach providers, from 138 unique encampment sites, and partially based on 853 shelter recommendations from outreach and service providers.
“The 2023 decrease in tents and RV’s show [the Unified Care Team] is making progress over time in ensuring public spaces are open and accessible across Seattle,” Harrell’s spokesperson told The Center Square in an email. “We expect quarterly trends will be similar throughout the year, with warmer months consistently being times when individuals choose to live outside and more tents are seen.”
“With the implementation of [the Unified Care Team’s] Neighborhood model and continued learning from the data we are gathering, we are well positioned to continue making declines in the number of tents and RVs in 2024 as we work to keep public spaces open and accessible, in addition to bringing more people inside and on a pathway to stability,” the spokesperson concluded.
