The following opinion piece by Solid Ground CEO Shalimar Gonzales was originally published in The Seattle Times on October 12, 2023.

In the slow and grueling work of ending homelessness in King County, it’s often the newest and flashiest things that get the most attention. Last year, it was Partnership for Zero, an initiative from Mayor Bruce Harrell and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority designed to eliminate nearly all visible homelessness in downtown Seattle. The plan would leverage $10 million in one-time private funding to help the nearly 1,000 people living downtown without shelter get into housing that meets their needs.

That program ended last month,¹ far short of its audacious goal, with just 230 people housed through the program over 19 months. While every human life spared the trauma of homelessness is a victory, the abrupt end of Partnership for Zero is a disappointment at best – for the people it was meant to help, for the outreach workers who are now without jobs, and for the residents and businesses that hoped to see a more vibrant downtown where no one is forced to seek shelter on a front stoop or under a tent.

“We absolutely can solve homelessness in King County – we have the means, the knowledge, and the people to do it – but we need sustained, ongoing funding that meets the scale of the crisis, not one-time commitments. And we need a regional administrative agency focused on coordinating and empowering organizations with proven records of success, not duplicating our efforts.” ~Shalimar Gonzales, Solid Ground CEO

But the shortcomings of this single experimental project must not be seen as an indictment of a larger regional system that works every day to keep thousands of people from falling into homelessness and helps thousands more out of it. As of this past June, more than 10,000 homeless families and individuals² in King County were receiving support from the network of nonprofits and government agencies that make up our homelessness response system. And every year, around 5,000 households leave the support of that network and move into permanent housing.

These are the individual human successes that don’t make headlines. And for good reason: We still have an estimated 40,000 people experiencing homelessness in King County each year. Our homeless response system fails so many, not because of lack of innovation but because it’s grossly underfunded.

We absolutely can solve homelessness in King County – we have the means, the knowledge, and the people to do it – but we need sustained, ongoing funding that meets the scale of the crisis, not one-time commitments. And we need a regional administrative agency focused on coordinating and empowering organizations with proven records of success, not duplicating our efforts.

I know this to be true because I see in my own agency, Solid Ground, how housing combined with ongoing, individualized support changes lives and disrupts cycles of homelessness and generational poverty.

“The basic approach behind Partnership for Zero was also correct: Quickly get people housing that meets their needs and provide ongoing support so they can build the stability they need to thrive. Nonprofit organizations are already employing this approach with great success – we just need adequate, sustained funding to reach more people and give proven solutions the chance to work.” ~Shalimar Gonzales

There are lessons to be learned from Partnership for Zero, which my finance staff helped support by managing payments to landlords and utility companies. For one, it paid its outreach workers living wages, recognizing the full value of their skill and their critical role in addressing this crisis. Sadly, most homeless service agencies, including mine, are unable to pay our own frontline staff the wages they deserve or fully staff critical services, because the philanthropic grants and government contracts we rely on don’t fund it. The mayor’s recent budget takes an important first step but only barely begins to address decades of pay inequity.

The basic approach behind Partnership for Zero was also correct: Quickly get people housing that meets their needs and provide ongoing support so they can build the stability they need to thrive. Nonprofit organizations are already employing this approach with great success – we just need adequate, sustained funding to reach more people and give proven solutions the chance to work.

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Sources:

1. The Seattle Times: Homelessness authority ends downtown Seattle initiative; layoffs to come

2. KCRHA: How Many Households is the King County Homeless Response System Serving?