King County prepares for another increase in homelessness in latest count

King County’s homelessness authority is expecting to see another increase in the region’s homeless population this year, as volunteers complete the final surveys for the latest Point-in-Time Count, a federally required survey of homeless people that takes place every January throughout the country.

The last time the count was conducted, King County reported the largest number to date, with more than 16,000 people homeless across Seattle and the county. More than half of those were living on the street, in cars or in other places unfit for habitation.

William Towey, associate deputy of strategy at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, said the region has seen steady increases of 1,500 to 2,000 with each count over the last several years and he sees no reason why the trend would not continue, as people continue to struggle with limited services, federal benefits and a lack of affordable housing supply.

“The key drivers of unsheltered homelessness are unabated,” he said.

And soon, perhaps exacerbated. This year’s count comes in advance of likely seismic changes to funding for homeless services for King County. The Trump administration has said that it intends to move billions of dollars away from programs that prioritize getting people off the streets without first requiring treatment or counseling – a shift that advocates warn could increase the homeless population nationally by tens of thousands in future counts.

Traditionally Point-in-Time Counts take place over one night, with volunteers scattered throughout urban areas to tally up the number of homeless people they see. Since 2022, King County has switched to a sampling method that lasts 10 days.

Starting at the end of January, volunteers and outreach workers distributed coupons among homeless people throughout the county inviting them to visit a survey site.

When they completed the survey, they received $20 gift cards for their time and three coupons to share with any other homeless people they knew. Those people would bring the coupons to the survey site, take it and receive three coupons to distribute.

A “referral chain,” as the regional homelessness authority calls it, continues for the entire counting period.

For this year’s count, the county increased the number of survey sites from 17 to 25 and added some in rural areas, like Vashon Island.

Because of that, more homeless people are participating. The authority expects more than 2,000 completed surveys from this count – up from 1,600 in 2024. While that does not automatically translate to a higher number of people estimated to be homeless, Towey said more surveys improve the researchers’ estimate.

It also gives county officials a better understanding of who is homeless, he said.

“We have a pretty rich data set that comes in from that that helps us be much more informed about the lived experiences of those people who we’re engaging with,” Towey said.

At one survey site at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank in Georgetown, a long line was forming for groceries Thursday afternoon while people trickled in with their coupons to participate in the count. Volunteers passed out coffee, rolls and handwarmers and took each person participating into a private booth to answer about 15 minutes of questions.

While the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires regions to collect basic demographic information about participants, King County’s survey also includes questions to understand more about their lives and what they need from the homelessness services system. The volunteers ask where they last had stable housing, what led them to become homeless and what kind of shelter they would like to see in the county.

Sometimes the questions can make people emotional, according to Aundre Howard, a volunteer who was once homeless himself.

“I’ve had people in my interview sit down and just start crying,” he said. “You know, how they feel left behind, and how no one’s listening to them.”

Howard, 57, said he helps with the survey with the hope that it will improve the system. While he was able to navigate the services available, he said he still sees people with greater challenges fall through the cracks, unable to keep up on medication or stay in touch with their social worker. Those people often end up giving up, he said.

“We have the funding, we have the money, but I think it just needs to be fine tuned,” Howard said.

HUD requires the Point-in-Time Counts, in part, to help guide federal funding decisions. As cities and counties administer this year’s count, the Trump administration has already put forward a plan to transform funding for homelessness services.

White House officials have criticized the dominant strategy for ending homelessness, known as Housing First, despite evidence showing it succeeds at keeping people housed. The administration has said the approach does not hold people accountable or lead to self-sufficiency and called for the federal government to instead support programs that require substance use and mental health treatment.

In King County, where the entire system is built on Housing First strategies, that could put $41 million in federal dollars for homeless services at risk.

Two federal lawsuits, which include King County and Washington state as plaintiffs, have blocked HUD from applying any policy changes for now but the Trump administration may be allowed to move forward with the proposed funding shift in future years. Advocates say that could kick tens of thousands of people out of supportive housing units and onto the streets.

Meanwhile, as King County surveys its homeless population, there have been reports of homelessness decreasing in other parts of the country.

King County counts only the number of homeless people staying outside of shelters every other year. Most metro areas carry out full counts annually. In 2025, the last year that most regions counted their homeless populations, numbers dropped in cities like Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, according to a New York Times analysis. HUD has not released nationwide results from the 2025 Point-in-Time count.

Because Point-in-Time Counts are only rough estimates, with each metro area using a different number of volunteers, Towey said it can be hard to speak to year-to-year trends. He said King County officials would be happy to see homelessness drop but they are not optimistic.

The regional homelessness authority plans to release high-level results from the 2026 count in May.