15 indoor homeless shelters set to close; group plans rally downtown

Roughly 300 of Seattle's homeless population might have it just a little tougher Thursday night.

The Seattle Housing and Resource Effort, or SHARE, is planning to close its 15 indoor shelters Thursday. The non-profit says it is too far behind on bills and can't keep the shelters open any longer without a boost in funding.

King County provided a portion of the group's funding (the city of Seattle also contracts with SHARE to help fund its three tent cities and indoor shelters) until last year, after the organization lost out in the 2014 competitive funding process, according to Sherry Hamilton, communications manager for the King County Department of Community and Human Services.

To try and push the county into reinstating that funding, SHARE is calling for a rally at the King County Courthouse on Thursday.

"I think there's a good potential that (the rally) will result in a change," Trey Nezum, a bookkeeper with Tent City 4.

But the effort may well be in vain, as the organization simply failed to make a strong enough proposal for funding in 2014, Hamilton said.

Funding from Hamilton's agency is handed out every two years in a competitive process, and in 2014, it received proposals asking for more than $11 million -- the office only had $4 million to give out.

"SHARE was one of those agencies," Hamilton said. "They didn't have the most competitive proposal."

Homelessness in Seattle has been a top issue in recent months, with more people than ever living on the streets across King County, according to the 2016 One Night Count, which found 4,505 people homeless -- a 19 percent increase over 2015.

And that count came on the heels of a Jan. 26 shooting in the "Jungle" homeless encampment that left two dead and three injured. Last November, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray declared a civil state of emergency over the city's homelessness, and the city eventually pledged an added $7 million to address the crisis.

King County Executive Dow Constantine joined Murray in the declaration, and the county added 100 beds in downtown Seattle and then more outside the city.

Community and Human Services asked for proposals to add beds outside the city and SHARE was among those that responded again, Hamilton said. But the group offered beds inside the city, so the proposal was rejected, she said.

In a post on SHARE's website, the organization explained that it's $75,000 in debt and running a $10,000-per-month deficit. The post claimed that King County "cut" the group's funding.

"Last year, we were shocked when King County government completely cut our funding ($20,000 per year) out of an (request for proposal) process where we asked for an increase (to $75,000 per year)," the post read.

Nezum explained that while the tent cities would be able to stay open, the indoor shelters would have to close because, without more funding, the group couldn't meet specific obligations for those shelters, which are largely housed in churches or on church property.

He's hoping the 300 people who will be out of a place to sleep will show up for the 1 p.m. rally Thursday, he said.

"The goal would be to have all 300 show up at the county and have the county see how many people this is affecting and engage in immediate action," he said.

King County currently funds almost 2,000 shelter beds throughout the county, Hamilton said.

Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, business and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.