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#A comprehensive report on King County’s homeless population reveals job loss is the leading driver of homelessness in the region.
#The report is based on data from King County’s 2024 Point in Time (PIT) count, which revealed that the majority of homeless people in the region (45%) cited job loss as the cause of their current homelessness, followed by eviction from their last stable home (9%).
#Only 5% of unhoused people cited mental health issues for why they became unhoused and 47% reported that they abuse substances.
#Last year’s PIT count had the highest recorded number of homeless people in King County with 16,385. The 2024 tally represents a 22.6% increase in the total number of homeless people in King County between 2022 and 2024.
#KCRHA Communications Director Lisa Edge told The Center Square that the agency’s findings are supported by other research that shows economic conditions drive homelessness rates.
#Not only are people losing housing due to job loss and evictions – most of them were stably housed in King County beforehand. According to a supplemental survey in the report, 490 out of 821 respondents (59.7%) reported that they were last stably housed in King County.
#Seattle-based public policy think tank Discovery Institute painted a different picture with its data. According to the institute’s 2024 survey of people living in both temporary shelters and transitional housing in Seattle, 49.7% of people first began experiencing homelessness outside of Seattle or King County and 86.6% were born outside of the region.
#The Center Square reached out to Caitlyn McKenney, research fellow and program coordinator for Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth and Poverty, who co-authored the report for comment on the PIT comprehensive report, but did not receive a response before publication.
#The comprehensive report’s data supports KCRHA’s housing-first approach to end homelessness, which prioritizes building more units of affordable housing.
#KCRHA has previously stated that a plan to increase housing capacity in King County to needed levels could potentially cost $450 million to $1.1 billion per year.
#According to the latest PIT report, for every shelter bed in King County, more than two people are waiting.