Specific actions include call for 18,000 additional emergency housing beds, service provider workforce supports, increased coordination between systems
OLYMPIA, WA — With homelessness on the rise and communities throughout Washington state feeling the impact, the Washington State Department of Commerce recently released a new five-year Homeless Housing Strategic Plan. Commerce developed the plan in consultation with people who have experienced homelessness and housing instability, tribal representatives, local governments and service providers from across the state. It gives specific actions to strengthen the homeless crisis response system by pursuing resources necessary for immediate assistance, temporary housing, and the 1.1 million additional new permanent housing units needed at all income levels over the next 20 years.
“Meaningful, long-term reductions in homelessness and housing instability demand broad collaboration and data-driven solutions coming at this from every angle,” said Commerce Director Mike Fong.
Over the next five years, Fong said Commerce will increase support for strategies that reduce homelessness rates through efforts to prevent people at risk of losing their housing from becoming homeless. The plan also focuses on the growth, retention and working conditions for frontline homeless service provider workers identifying and addressing the needs of homeless households.
Fong emphasized the need to ensure the statewide homeless crisis response system is high performing, accountable, and transparent, including:
- Improvements to contracted performance requirements, and expanded technical assistance for lower performing counties and organizations.
- Continued publication of spending and outcomes by county and program.
- Improve the quality and effectiveness of program by incorporating people with lived experience of homelessness or housing instability into program design and governance.
- Support the workforce to attract, train, and retain the staff needed to provide high effectives quality services; addressing the high turnover and high vacancies rates that make providing effective services difficult.
“This plan also pursues the affordable housing investments needed to meet the challenges of a growing state with a vibrant economy in which everyone can afford to live near job opportunities and vital services,” Fong said. Steps in the plan include:
- Pursue state and federal funding for the subsidized portion of the projected 1.1 million new permanent housing units needed over the next 20 years (including 200,000 needed in the next four years).
- Pursue state and federal funding for 90,000 non-congregate emergency housing beds needed (18,000 in the next four years) to provide people living outside with a meaningful offer to move inside, instead of forcing them out with no useful offer.
Another key area of the plan proposes to expand connections and coordination between systems – homeless crisis response, behavioral health, jails, prisons, and youth services. This work includes:
- Support accessible local coordinated entry processes and connections to public benefits for populations exiting institutional living situations, including jails, prisons, foster care, and youth services.
- Integrate health and behavioral health services directly into housing, reducing the burden on housing providers while improving housing stability by providing more intensive services to recipients.
According to Commerce’s July 2023 “Snapshot of Homelessness in Washington” report, over 200,000 Washingtonians currently experience homelessness or housing instability, a record high rate. The new comprehensive plan centers around five objectives to address the state’s homelessness crisis:
- Objective 1: Promote an equitable, accountable and transparent homeless crisis response system
- Objective 2: Strengthen the homeless service provider workforce
- Objective 3: Prevent episodes of homelessness whenever possible
- Objective 4: Prioritize those with the most significant barriers to housing stability and the greatest risk of harm
- Objective 5: Seek to house everyone in a stable setting that meets their needs
In addition, the plan continues Washington state’s efforts to increase equity, transparency and accountability within the homeless crisis response system. This means advancing the understanding that homelessness disproportionately harms historically marginalized communities, especially Black and African-American households, Native American households, people who identify as LGBTQ2S+, youth, and young adults. This knowledge supports the development of programs and supports that bring all people experiencing homelessness inside.
Reducing barriers to housing access and increasing the variety of housing options are key to reducing homelessness over the next five years.
“The ongoing disproportionality of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) experiencing homelessness requires our state to dismantle system that do not work for marginalized communities,” said Sheila Babb Anderson, Interim Chair, State Advisory Council on Homelessness. “We commend Commerce for elevating the need to empower By and For organizations working in communities closest to the issue, building their capacity and creating programs that eliminate the barriers many communities face when accessing housing.”
Beginning this year, Commerce will work with counties across the state to develop their five-year homeless housing plans for 2025-2030. The process will emphasize the importance of crisis response systems that match the local context while aligning with statewide goals.
To learn more and follow Commerce’s work to reduce homelessness, visit Commerce.wa.gov/Homelessness-Response/.