Hi everyone,
The Seattle Times just posted an investigative story digging into the question of how many shelter spaces are vacant in King County on a year-round basis, and we would really benefit from seeing similar reporting here in Pierce County.
Here is the story: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/are-king-countys-homeless-shelters-full/
Here are some key graphics from the story:
As a reminder, although those working for outreach teams in Tacoma and Pierce County talk frequently about the inability to located shelter spaces for people they are working with on a daily basis, Pierce County staff in particular continue to insist that more than 20% of the shelter spaces in the county sit unused every day. Data provided to me on a nearly daily basis throughout much of this year - this stopped when the county shifted to the new HMIS data system last month - showed a roughly 5-8% vacancy rate for shelters that I was sent data about, even during the summer months.
The Seattle Times just posted an investigative story digging into the question of how many shelter spaces are vacant in King County on a year-round basis, and we would really benefit from seeing similar reporting here in Pierce County.
Here is the story: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/are-king-countys-homeless-shelters-full/
Here are some key graphics from the story:
As a reminder, although those working for outreach teams in Tacoma and Pierce County talk frequently about the inability to located shelter spaces for people they are working with on a daily basis, Pierce County staff in particular continue to insist that more than 20% of the shelter spaces in the county sit unused every day. Data provided to me on a nearly daily basis throughout much of this year - this stopped when the county shifted to the new HMIS data system last month - showed a roughly 5-8% vacancy rate for shelters that I was sent data about, even during the summer months.