King County shares national drop in homeless

A dozen women held a vigil in downtown Seattle at noon Wednesday, hoping to bring attention to the death of a homeless woman who had been in and out of emergency shelters.

At nearly the same time, federal officials in Washington, D.C., announced that the number of chronically homeless people in the country had fallen 11.5 percent from 2005 to 2006.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said more than 1,500 communities reported a decrease among those living on the streets or in emergency shelters.

Among them was King County, where the number of chronically homeless people dropped 4 percent.

HUD said a chronically homeless person is an "unaccompanied" individual with a disability who has been continuously homeless for at least a year or who has four or more "episodes" of homelessness in the past three years.

Those living on the streets or in shelters are considered chronically homeless; those in transitional housing are not. Homeless couples or families also are not regarded as chronically homeless.

For those reasons, the chronically homeless represent only a subset of the overall problem.

Still, King County's results are encouraging when viewed over the past several years, in which the number of chronically homeless has fallen 20 percent, said Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates federal efforts with the private sector.

In 2005 and 2006, King County added a total of 216 housing units targeted to the chronically homeless, said Kate Speltz, project manager with the county's homelessness and housing programs.

She said the reasons individuals remain homeless include unaffordable housing, mental health problems, drug and alcohol abuse, and lack of connection with treatment programs.

"I have a hard time believing that anyone wants to be homeless," Speltz said.

Nationally and locally, the chronically homeless account for about 20 percent of all homeless people.

HUD's analysis found 155,623 chronically homeless people in 2006, a decrease of more than 20,000 from the previous year. The chronically homeless in King County totaled 1,569 in 2006, down from 1,635 the previous year.

Bill Block, director of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County, said HUD's focus on chronic homelessness "leaves out a substantial number of people."

Mangano said the chronically homeless are a priority because "they are most vulnerable. These are the people who literally die on our streets."

HUD awarded $286 million to 1,100 local programs that exclusively serve the chronically homeless, and $9 billion overall since 2001 on housing and service programs for the homeless.

In another announcement, a report to be released Thursday says that veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population.

The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.

MEETINGS

United to End Homelessness, a collaboration between private and public agencies in King County, will offer four events:

Tuesday: Community Resource Exchange, an event to provide social services for the homeless and to educate the public about causes of homelessness. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, 305 Harrison St. Information: 206-461-6973.

Nov. 15: Repeat of Tuesday program, 2 to 7 p.m., Spirit of Washington Event Center, 233 Burnett Ave. S., Renton.

Nov. 17: It All Starts at Home, a faith community and service organization symposium, 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. N.E. Free. Lunch provided. Information: 206-525-1213, ext. 3035. Registration: www.thechurchcouncil.org/AllStartsatHome.html

Nov. 18: Repeat of Nov. 17 program, 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Temple B'nai Torah, 15727 N.E. Fourth St., Bellevue.