Seattle – Today, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell released the updated data sets from the first quarter of 2023 for the City’s One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan and public-facing dashboard. The release also includes new year-over-year comparisons for unauthorized encampment site removals and referrals to shelter that detail meaningful progress as COVID restrictions eased and new systems and partners ramped up operations in 2022.
The launch of the City’s Unified Care Team (UCT), along with new partnership with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), drove improvements in resolving encampment sites and referring people experiencing homelessness to shelter. The Unified Care Team completed an estimated 800 encampment site resolutions between mid-February and December of 2022, roughly equivalent to the pace of site clean-ups completed in 2019 before significant slowdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the help of KCRHA and 30 outreach providers, the UCT facilitated 1,831 referrals to enhanced shelters and tiny house villages in 2022—nearly double the number of referrals made in 2019.
The number of verified tents and RVs at encampment sites throughout the City is also down substantially compared to 2022, and the number of shots-fired incidents related to homelessness have steadily trended down since the launch of the action plan and dashboard website in May 2022.
The Unified Care Team’s efforts reflect Mayor Harrell’s One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan priorities – leading with compassion and urgency in the City’s response to the homelessness crisis, delivering outreach to help people move indoors on a path to recovery, keeping public spaces open and accessible, as well as prioritizing focus on encampment sites with increased risk and impact on both housed and un-housed communities.
2019-2022 Data Sets:
- 2019:
- 825 encampment removals
- 973 total shelter referrals accepted
- 741 individuals accepted referrals
- 2020:
- 284 encampment removals
- 922 total shelter referrals accepted
- 815 individuals accepted referrals
- 2021:
- 72 encampment removals
- 1,203 total shelter referrals accepted
- 1,072 individuals accepted referrals
- 2022:
- *Approximately 800 encampment removals (data collection began mid-February)
- 1,831 total shelter referrals accepted
- 1,490 individuals accepted referrals
Highlights from Q1 data updates include:
- New Snapshot Data:
- March verified tents: 414 (712 in Dec. 2022—a 42% reduction)
- March verified encampment RVs: 320 (449 in Dec. 2022—a 29% reduction)
- New Outreach Data:
- 600+ referrals to shelter accepted in Q1
- New Public Safety Data:
- Total Q1 emergency medical response calls: 3,143 (slight increase to an average of 35 calls per day, compared to Q4 2022)
- Total Q1 fires at tent/RV encampments: 412 (holding steady at an average of 4.5 fires per day)
- Total Q1 shots fired or shooting incidents connected to homelessness: 13 (decrease from an average of two per week in Q4 2022 to one per week in Q1 2023)
Driven by data, the One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan will continue to showcase the City’s priorities and actions to make progress on our objectives to get people indoors, create places for people to live, and develop innovative and collaborative solutions to ensure sustainable progress.
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