Seattle reported a significant decrease in the number of homeless tents, with a reduction of 63% compared to the end of 2023.
Seattle’s recent quarterly assessment of homeless encampments shows a notable decrease in the number of tents throughout the city since the close of 2023.
In September, the Unified Care Team in Seattle recorded a total of 193 tents across the city. The most recent tally shows a significant drop of 63% from the 523 tents recorded at the close of 2023.
The city has now seen a decline in the tent count for the fourth straight quarter.
The Unified Care Team is also tracking the number of RVs present at homeless encampment locations. In the latest tally, there were 115 RVs recorded in September, reflecting a significant decrease of 49.3% from the 227 noted at the close of the previous year.
The number of individuals experiencing homelessness in the city has steadily decreased since the introduction of the Unified Care Team in 2022.
Callie Craighead, the press secretary for Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, emphasizes that the decline remained steady throughout the warmer months, a period when individuals experiencing homelessness often opt to stay outdoors.
“The latest updates to the Homelessness Action Plan indicate that the Unified Care Team is advancing efforts to shelter individuals and maintain public areas that are clean, open, and accessible for everyone,” Craighead emailed The Center Square.
The most recent figures clash with information indicating a deteriorating homelessness situation in the King County area. Recent data from the mandatory point-in-time count carried out in January reveals that King County is home to 16,385 individuals facing homelessness. The latest figures show a rise of 22.6% compared to the count from 2022.
The Seattle Unified Care Team serves as a central point for collaboration among city departments and partner organizations, including the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, to maintain safety and accessibility in public spaces, sidewalks, and streets for everyone.
The group operates from Harrell’s office, consisting of nine members tasked with overseeing citywide strategy, coordinating operations, and handling administrative duties.
The team is actively engaged in the removal of encampments and RVs, upholding a 72-hour parking regulation, maintaining cleanliness in public areas, and offering shelter referrals to those experiencing homelessness.
Five local teams within the Unified Care Team perform routine checks at ongoing encampment locations.
Field teams meticulously record site characteristics during inspections, including environmental and mobility effects, closeness to at-risk communities or school walking areas, and various public impact elements that could affect the prioritization of the site.
A thorough tally of tents and occupied vehicles is conducted during this period.
During the third quarter of this year, the Unified Care Team recorded 586 referrals to shelter that were accepted by individuals experiencing homelessness. The latest figures show a remarkable rise of 43% from 409 in the second quarter of 2024, marking the highest number of accepted referrals this year.
The recent count in the One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan revealed some statistics that were not encouraging. Gunfire related to homelessness rose from eight incidents in the second quarter to 15 in the third, even as the number of tents decreased.
The number of encampment fires rose from 177 in the second quarter to 202 in the third.
These figures indicate a decline compared to the previous quarter of 2023.
