Homeless outreach numbers are in for Seattle, and here's what they tell us Oct 08, 2019 at 11:58 am

The vast majority of homeless people who receive shelter referrals from Seattle’s Navigation Team aren’t showing up at those shelters. That’s according to newly released data from the city of Seattle.

The Navigation Team is part of the city’s front line response to visible homelessness. It does outreach to and removal of unauthorized encampments. In the first three months of this year, the team contacted 731 individuals, according to data reported to the City Council. Of those, 203 individuals accepted offers of shelter and were referred to a shelter. The city’s data shows 53 of them definitely went to the shelter within 48 hours after the team referred them. That means just over a quarter of people who accepted shelter ended up going inside.

And overall, that means about 7 percent of the people contacted by the team went into shelter. During the April-June period, those numbers went up slightly. City officials say there are caveats on the new numbers. They say there’s a difference between a “contact” by the team and a “shelter referral.” They say a contact could be short and informal, whereas referrals are the result of relationship building. They warn that makes those 7 percent and 9 percent figures in the table below misleading.

Shelter referrals from Seattle's Navigation Team

People "contacted" by Navigation Team Number referred to shelter Number who arrived at shelter within 48 hours of referral Percent of all "contacted" who entered shelter within 48 hours 1/2019 - 3/2019 731 203 (28%) 53 (26%) 7% 4/2019 - 6/2019 852 224 (26%) 75 (33%) 9%



“We don’t draw the relationship back to total contacts, because so many folks are not at a space and not in a place where they are ready to accept a referral, let alone enrollment into shelter,” said Tess Colby, senior adviser on homelessness in Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office. Also, if someone doesn’t allow their information to be shared among databases, they won’t show up in the tallies. They also might not be counted if they go to a different shelter than the one they were referred to, or use a different name.

Colby said the office is pleased with the increase in the outcomes they’re seeing in the first half of this year. “What we’re seeing is more folks going into shelter. And that’s exactly what we want to be seeing,” Colby said. But the officials said they want to see continued improvement. Durkan is seeking $8.4 million for the team in her 2020 budget. City Councilmember Lisa Herbold said she’s been asking to see this new data for months. She said other outreach providers contracted by the city are required to refer 60 percent of the people they contact to shelters.

Herbold added a proviso to the budget last year, tying some funding for the team to quarterly reports. She said she’ll push for continued improvement. The Navigation Team’s work has been controversial in Seattle. It has expanded this year and shifted focus to clearing more small encampments. In the first six months of 2019, the team cleared more than 200 unauthorized encampments around the city. The vast majority were smaller camps considered “obstructions” or “hazards.” Unlike larger camps, the rules don’t require a 72-hour notice period for those removals. A provider called REACH used to work closely with the Navigation Team. But after the switch in focus, REACH has distanced itself, working less with the team and focusing more on outreach in neighborhoods.