United Way of King CountyUnited Way of King County Community Assessment - King County review of health and human services

 

Homelessness and Food Security

Vision

United Way of King County, in partnership with the King County Committee to End Homelessness, is actively working towards the goal of ending homelessness in our region. We aim to end homelessness in King County by 2014, while continuing to provide for the immediate, basic needs of those experiencing homelessness.

How Many People are Homeless?
  • In King County, at least 8,937 people are homeless on any given night.[1]
    • 6,178 were utilizing shelter or transitional housing services on January 28, 2009.
    • 2,759 were surviving outside without shelter on January 28, 2010.
  • In Washington State, 23,379 people are homeless on any given night.[2]
  • King County includes roughly one third of the total of homeless individuals in our state.

Two major sources of unduplicated data concerning homeless people are available locally.

  • The One Night Count: The Seattle-King County Coalition for the Homeless (SKCCH) coordinates service providers every year in conducting a one night survey of homeless in shelters and transitional housing, as well as a street count of homeless people.
  • Safe Harbors Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is a collaboration between King County, the City of Seattle Human Services Department and United Way of King County. The 20078 Safe Harbors report is coming soon.

(Read more about our homeless data sources)

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How Many Came Here from Other Places?

One Night Count, last place of residence:

  • 79% lived in King County,
  • 7% came from elsewhere in Washington State
  • 14% came from out of state.

Download Data |Source: 2009 One Night Count

Is Homelessness Increasing or Decreasing?

Each year, new geographical areas are added to Street Count.  However care is taken to be as consistent as possible in accounting for the numbers counted in same areas as the previous year to try to determine whether the number of people sleeping outside is increasing or decreasing. These are the results of that same-area analysis for the past four years.

  • 2007: very slight decrease over 2006
  • 2008: 15% increase over 2007
  • 2009: 2% increase over 2008
  • 2010: 5% decrease over 2009

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How Long do People Remain Homeless?
  • In a 2006 report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors,[3] the average length of homelessness for the 23 cities surveyed was 8 months.
  • In King County, 42% of shelter and transitional housing program residents were homeless for 6 months or less before January 28, 2010.[1]
  • 41% were homeless for 12 months or longer.

Nearly 60% of people who experience homelessness are homeless for less than one year. They may need temporary support and services such as case management, housing search assistance, a source of income that supports the cost of living, or a form of rental assistance or housing subsidy to get back into stable housing. Long-term housing sustainability is a key concern for this group, as the cost of living continues to increase. Affordable housing is a primary challenge in King County as housing costs continue to rise faster than incomes.

Chronic Homelessness
  • About 25% of all homeless and as many as 50% of those who are unsheltered are homeless for long periods of time, or cycle in and out of homelessness[4]. This situation is referred to as “chronic homelessness.”[5]

(Read more about chronically homeless people)

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Ages and Family Composition of Homeless People

With respect to the family circumstances of homeless people using services, single adults constitute the largest group followed by families with children, and unaccompanied youth.

Download Data  | Source: 2010 One Night Count

Single Adults

One Night Count:

  • 2051 single men
  •  696 single women

(Read more about single adult homeless people)

Older Adults

One Night Count:

  • 568 adults ages 55-64 years old
  • 135 adults ages 65 years and older

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Families with Children

One Night Count:

  • 3,388 members of homeless families with children

(Read more about homeless families)

Youth & Young Adults

Homeless Youth and Young Adults are between the ages of 12 and 24 who are “unaccompanied", meaning they are not part of a homeless family.

One Night Count:

  • 29 unaccompanied minors and 650 young adults in shelter/transitional housing
  • Youth and young adults are not distinguishable from other adults in the street count

(Read more about homeless youth and young adults)

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Contributing Factors

Poverty & Homelessness

Poverty and homelessness are strongly correlated. Not every individual who experiences poverty is homeless, but almost every homeless person experiences poverty. Income is the most significant demographic correlate with homelessness.

85% of people counted in the shelter/transitional housing survey during the January 2010 One Night Count provided information about their household incomes.  Nearly 100% of homeless households who provided income information had very low income.

Housing Affordability and Homelessness

NEW! Click here for data on recent trends in requests for rent assistance and forclosures

For people with low incomes, the high cost of housing is critical.

Four out of five households with incomes below half of the median income pay more than 30% of their income for housing. This puts them at high risk for homelessness.

The proportion of King County households in this low income bracket is increasing, while housing costs continue to increase. These trends, combined with other cost of living expenses, further increase the risk of homelessness for King County residents.

The price of housing, both for sale and for rent, is one of the most critical issues related to homelessness. The general lack of affordable housing contributes to more people becoming homeless. For those who have the lowest incomes, affordability of housing is a determinant of where they will live, how they access their jobs, childcare, and what service opportunities are available.
(Read more about housing affordability)

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Racial Equity and Homelessness

According to the 2009 One Night Count of Homeless Persons in King County, people of color represent 65% of the homeless population receiving services although they make up only 29% of county residents.

If we are truly committed to ending homelessness in King County, we need to examine the factors contributing to specific groups in our community experiencing this phenomenon at disproportionate rates.  (Read an analysis of racial equity and homelessness)

Download Data | Source: 2010 One Night Count Survey Report

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The Homeless Service System

Like many health and human service systems, the homelessness service system operates on a formal basis with public, private, and non-profit organizations as the providers. It also operates on an informal basis through family, friends, and neighbors. It will take both broad public intention and focused political will to do all that is necessary to end homelessness in King County.

The county has adopted a ‘Homeless Continuum of Care Plan’ to ensure a comprehensive approach to homelessness. The Plan aims to support people who are currently homeless, people transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing, and people who need help maintaining housing. The continuum of care includes

  • emergency shelter
  • transitional housing
  • permanent housing
  • day centers and hygiene facilities
  • a range of supportive services for homeless people
  • prevention services

Public funding is clearly the catalyst for continuance of the homeless service system. The amount of public funding is dependent upon the general public and political will to allocate funds through a variety of programs toward supportive services for homeless people.

Moving from caring for homeless people to ending homelessness

The service system must change to go beyond providing services for homeless people if our goal is to end homeless. That will require moving homeless people into permanent housing more directly, creating more affordable housing and expanding prevention funding, as well as continuing support services in varying levels of intensity.

Prevention

For example, eviction prevention programs identify people who are about to lose their housing, and provide rental assistance, case management, legal services, or mediation with landlords. Another example of prevention is discharge planning with jails, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, chemical dependency facilities, or the foster care system. Discharge planning involves working out viable living circumstances in advance for those being discharged from these systems. Without discharge planning, many youth and adults are turned out to the street with nowhere to go, or with such limited resources that they cannot afford housing.

Housing First

The housing-first approach places homeless people in permanent housing immediately. It provides supportive services, usually on site, first, to address issues that placed them at risk for homelessness and also to insure people’s success in maintaining housing. To be most successful, supportive services must be available until the time people exiting homelessness are able to sustain their new living circumstances.

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Food Security

NEW! Click here for data on recent trends in food bank usage and food stamp program

Having a dependable, safe source of food is a fundamental need. Most households are classified as “food secure” meaning they have the financial resources to feed their families throughout the month. For many of us, this primal necessity has become an abstract concept rather than a fundamental day-to-day struggle. Unfortunately 49.1 million people lived in households considered to be food insecure in 2008. This represented "32.4 million adults and 16.7 million children [6]  These households utilize the retail market for their food but periodically rely on the emergency food system to get by.  Read Definitions of Food Security, Food Insecurity

Sharp increases noted in Early 2008

In 2007, food insecurity and demand for food assistance had declined from previous years.  But in the early months of 2008, anecdotal word from local providers was showing a sharp increase in demand for service at the same time donations and costs were escalating. In late 2009, UWKC began tracing indicators of the effect of the recession on people's access to basic needs.  The charts below show three indicators of changes in demand for food during the recession.



Source: Food Lifeline | Download Data

Source: Washington State Department of Social and Health Services | Download Data

 

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Western Washington Publications

The following figures are based on the publication Hunger in America 2010 Local Report Prepared for Food Lifeline. This publication included agency and client surveys for Food Lifeline which is estimated to provide food items to 80% of the local emergency food system in western Washington including nearly every provider in King County as the local affiliate of America's Second Harvest (A2H).

Food Lifeline Service Area

Western Washington Region (including King County)
  • Approximately 79,700 different people are served on any given week
  • 28% of the members of households served by Food Lifeline are children under 18 years old
  • 12% of the members of households are children age 0 to 5 years
  • 6% of the members of households are elderly
  • About 58% of clients are non-Hispanic white, 14% are non-Hispanic black, 19% are Hispanic
  • 38% of households include at least one employed adult
  • 65% have incomes below the official federal poverty level during the previous month
  • 9% are homeless

A complete copy of Hunger in America 2010:  Local Report Prepared for Food Lifeline can be found at  http://www.foodlifeline.org/hunger/resources/index.html#HungerStudy2010

King County Data
  • Total unduplicated number of King County food bank recipients for the period (July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007): 241,524[7]
  • 34% of the above were infants and children
  • 17% of the above were older adults.
  • The average food bank recipient participates 7.4 times in a year. 

A survey of King County Adults Age 18+ were asked to respond to the following statement:
"The food that we bought just didn't last, and we didn't have money to get more.” The corresponding results include responses of “Sometimes” and Often”
 

  

 Download Data | Source:  Communities Count 2008

 Emergency Food Delivery System

Without attempting to be exhaustive, some of the key components of the emergency food system include:

  • Food banks, which are regional organizations that obtain food in bulk and then distribute it to local providers
  • Food rescue organizations play a key role similar to food banks, but they focus on obtaining perishable foods such as contributions and gleanings from farmers and surplus foods from restaurants and other commercial food service operations.
  • Federal programs include such programs as the Department of Agriculture Emergency Food Program, which provides millions of tons of food, the Food Stamp Program, and the National School Lunch Program.
  • Emergency kitchens provide cooked and sometimes sandwich only food at little or no cost, and often occupy a space next to other support services.
  • Food pantries distribute groceries and other basic supplies for off-site use, usually for preparation in a recipient’s residence.

There are also organizations designated by states as official distributors for USDA commodities received by the state, and these are sometimes called emergency food organizations.

 Other programs like Meals on Wheels for seniors; WIC for women, infants and children; and free or low-cost school lunch programs, are also part of the food assistance system.

Free and Reduced Lunch

 The USDA Child Nutrition Program,  popularly known as the Free and Reduced Lunch Program distributes nutritious meals to eligibly school age children.  Using the 4 person household which is standard for many publications Free meal eligibility is for households with an annual income of no greater than $26,845 for the 2007-2008 academic term and 27,560 for the 2008-2009 term.  Reduced price meals are for families making no more than $38,203 in 2007 and 39,220 in 2009..  The following chart shows the October 2007 results at the regional level.  For further details review the Education subsection under Key Data and Demographics.

Public School District Total Enrollment Free Reduced Total Program Participation Total As Percent of Enrollment
North King County Total 28,713 2,846 1,245 4,091 14.2%
East King County Total 66,573 5,719 2,347 8,066 12.1%
South King County Total 111,544 35,763 11,130 46,893 42.0%
Seattle Total 44,450 13,883 3,856 17,739 39.9%
King County Total 251,450 58,211 18,578 76,789 30.6%

 Download Data | Source: OSPI (The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction)

The Consequences of Hunger:

The following consequences of hunger highlighted by America's Second Harvest in their publication, Hunger in America 2006.

*Undernourished pregnant women tend to have low birth weight babies. Low birth weight babies suffer from more physical illness, as well as impaired growth and development. Undernourished infants are at greater risk of dying within their first year of life.

 *Chronic hunger in adults weakens bones and muscles, increases the risk of illness, worsens existing health problems, and contributes to depression and lack of energy. Hunger in adults also produces nervousness, irritability, and difficulty in concentration.

*Children who are hungry may be less attentive, independent, and curious. Many hungry children have difficulty concentrating; therefore their reading ability and verbal and motor skills suffer. Children who are hungry also often experience headaches, fatigue, frequent colds, and other illnesses that may cause them to be less physically active.

*Hunger can have a devastating emotional impact; it may diminish self-confidence and self-esteem. In a culture that encourages self-reliance, individuals who need food assistance may hesitate to seek help. They may experience feelings of shame or embarrassment due to circumstances that are out of their control.

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Best and Promising Practices in Homelessness

Go to the index to best and promising practices

Resources

FOOD LINK
America's Second Harvest www.secondharvest.org
CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), Washington State Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics www.doh.wa.gov/EHSPHL/CHS/CHS-Data/brfss/brfss_homepage.htm 
Committee To End Homelessness, King County http://www.cehkc.org
Food Lifeline www.foodlifeline.org
Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) www.frac.org
Northwest Harvest www.northwestharvest.org
U.S. Department of Agriculture Research www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr35
   
HOMELESSNESS  
Committee to End Homelessness in King County www.cehkc.org
Corporation for Supportive Housing www.csh.org
Housing Development Consortium of Seattle - King County  www.housingconsortium.org
National Alliance to End Homeless www.naeh.org 
National Coalition for the Homeless www.nationalhomeless.org 
National Alliance to End Homelessness http://www.endhomelessness.org
National Low Income Housing Coalition www.nlihc.org
US Department of Housing and Urban Development www.hud.gov 
SAMHSA Homeless Resource Center http://homeless.samhsa.gov/About.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
US Conference of Mayors www.usmayors.org 
   
LOCAL POLICY PAPERS AND REPORTS  
King County Benchmark Report www.metrokc.gov/budget/benchmrk/
The 2008 One Night Count of persons who are homeless in King County http://www.homelessinfo.org/onc.html
Out of Reach 2007-2008, National Low Income Housing Institute http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008/

Footnotes

[1] King County Department of Community and Human Services. 2009 One Night Count Survey Data. Downloaded 08/06/2009 from http://www.kingcounty.gov/socialservices/Housing/PlansAndReports/HCD_Reports.aspx.
[2] National Alliance to End Homelessness.  2007.  Homelessness Counts
[3] The United States Conference of Mayors.  Hunger and Homelessness Survey: A Status on Hunger and Homelessness Report in America’s Cities:  A 23-City Survey.  December 2006
[4]United Way of King County,  Blueprint to End Chronic Homelessness downloaded from
http://www.uwkc.org/nonprofit/rfp/blueprintendchronichomelessness.doc on August 6, 2008.

[5]According to HUD, a person who is “chronically homeless” is an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.  In order to be considered chronically homeless, a person must have been sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation, (e.g., living on the streets) and/or in an emergency homeless shelter.  A disabling condition is defined as a diagnosable substance abuse disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, including the co-occurrence of two or more of these conditions.  A disabling condition limits an individual’s ability to work or perform one or more activities of daily living.

[6] Hunger and Poverty Statistics Feeding America.org

[7]Beck, Kelsey, Public Policy Advocate, Food Lifeline,  Interview - December 6, 2007

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Updated 5/26/2010


Quick Facts

8,937 people are homeless in King County 

2,759 people are surviving outside without shelter

3,401 students were engaged with homeless liaisons through public school districts in King County during the 2007-08 school year.

25% of the  homeless are "chronically" homeless.

33% of the people staying in shelter and transitional housing were children.

The percentage of people paying more than 30% for housing has steadily increased since 1990.

The number of people using food banks increased by 26% from 2007 to 2009. 

Updated 5/26/1010