King County Homeless County Drops

SEATTLE (AP) – Recent counts show King County’s homeless population dropped for the first time since 2012, but officials aren’t celebrating yet.

The Seattle Times reports about 11,200 people were counted as homeless, living in shelters or outdoors, in King County on one night in January, a drop of 8% from 2018.

There was an even more precipitous drop among people living outside, down 17 % from last year.

But officials say it doesn’t necessarily mean overall homelessness is decreasing because other data shows a growing number of people asking for aid.

All Home is the county’s coordinating agency for response to homelessness. The agency’s acting director, Kira Zylstra, says more than 11,000 people without a permanent place to be at night is still far too many, and unacceptable.

King County includes Seattle, Washington’s largest city.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com