One Night Count shows increase from 2015 | King County

King County saw a 19 percent increase of unsheltered homeless individuals between 2015 and 2016 during the One Night Count. The first year southwest King County participated in the count was 2015 and there was a total of 209 homeless individuals. This year 315 homeless individuals were recorded.

The One Night Count is an organization in King County that counts homeless individuals in the county. More than 1,000 volunteers spread out across the county to count the homeless who were sleeping outdoors without shelter between 2 and 5 a.m on Jan. 29.

The city of Covington has seen an increase of homeless individuals, more specifically, the youth, said Covington Senior Human Services Planner Victoria Throm.

“The reason for this could be because of the increase of heroin use by the youth and because of dysfunctional homes,” Throm said. “Some young individuals choose to leave their homes instead of staying in a dangerous environment.”

Karla Slate, Covington communication manger, noticed there is a definite problem in the community with homeless youth. The One Night Count statistics brought the problem into focus.

“Many students within the school district are homeless, and we are concentrating on helping them more,” Slate said.

While some of their ideas are still in the beginning stages, the city of Covington is taking steps, like making sure the police are informed. Most police officers have an idea of where the homeless youth hangout and try to bring resources, food and hygiene kits to them, Throm said.

One of the main reason for homelessness stems from domestic violence. Women take themselves and their children out of violent situations but don’t know where to go, so they opt for being homeless. A few programs and shelters can help house women and children for a few days, but it is not a long term solution, Throm said.

A major misconception people tend to have about homeless individuals is that they are on drugs or jobless. The truth is, a lot of them are working families who just can’t afford to live off what they make, Throm said. Or, they are involved in domestic violence situations. Family Housing Connections helps families get into permanent living situations, but the problem with the organization is that it is very back-logged. It may take a few months for a family to start the process of finding a new home through the organization because there are many individuals ahead of them.

“We want people to know we are making the homelessness issue a priority in Covington,” Throm said.

Homelessness and mental health issues are two priorities Maple Valley Mayor Sean P. Kelly is trying to concentrate on in the next two to three months. Kelly has personally seen an increase of homeless individuals in Maple Valley, he said.

Kelly wants to have a summit in the next few months to figure out what resources homeless individuals have and what more the city can do to help them. He wants to make sure homeless individuals are safe and have food.