New homeless census provides an incomplete snapshot of Thurston County’s unhoused
New data from the annual homeless census shows that more than 1,100 people are experiencing homelessness in Thurston County — though the number is an undercount.
Preliminary results from the 2021 Point-in-Time count, undertaken the dim early morning hours of Jan. 29 and released by the county on Tuesday, located 639 people without shelter — some in tents (259), others in vehicles (126), homemade shacks (53), or simply on the streets (115). The remainder were in shelters or transitional housing.
While this number is an increase from the 541 unsheltered people counted in January 2020, county staff caution against comparing the numbers too directly, given the highly variable nature of what is, by definition, a measure of one discrete moment in time.
The count itself was conducted differently this year, too — a change prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and an announcement from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that made the nationwide count optional for local jurisdictions.
Past years’ counts gathered demographic data via interviews and surveys — with some 200 volunteers fanning out across the county in 2020 — along with various resource fairs and other events that helped draw unhoused participants.
By contrast, this year’s count relied on fewer volunteers, including some encampment residents, who simply observed the number of people in each encampment.
“It’s really difficult to compare the [2021] numbers because it was just people counting heads,” said Keylee Marineau, Thurston County’s homeless prevention and affordable housing coordinator.
The observational approach this year also means that volunteers did not need participants’ consent. 2020’s count reflected only people who agreed to the survey, excluding some 350 people who declined to be interviewed.
Geography also limits how comprehensive the count was. The most data comes from the city of Olympia, which has until recently spearheaded the count. The cities of Lacey, Tumwater, and Yelm also had volunteers go out and count encampments, though several known encampments in Lacey and Tumwater were not counted, Marineau said.
With the exception of ROOF (Rochester Organization of Families), which counted seven individuals who walked into their offices on Jan. 29, municipalities in South Thurston County did not participate in the Point-in-Time count this year, Marineau said.*
Other populations not measured by the Point-in-Time count include people who are doubled-up in apartments, couch-surfing or staying with family or friends, people in jails who lacked a permanent address when they entered, and — the largest group by far — homeless K-12 public school students, which numbered 1,736 in 2020.
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction tracks that data, which uses a much broader definition of “homelessness” set by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act that includes people sharing housing due to economic hardship. OSPI typically releases that data later in the year.
Thurston County will release a full PIT report later this year, after the state Department of Commerce reviews the data and removes duplication. Last year’s report notes that if all the above groups were included, the true number would be closer to 3,424.
Breaking down the numbers
In total, the count found 1,145 people experiencing homelessness in 2021, divided into three categories: unsheltered (639), sheltered (337), and transitional housing (169).
- The unsheltered number includes close to 100 people at Olympia’s tent Mitigation Site.
- The number of sheltered people, which also increased from 2020, includes 81 people who are currently staying in hotels through vouchers funded with federal pandemic relief funds distributed by Family Support Center.
- The number of people in transitional housing has remained largely stable over the past several years.
In addition to the unsheltered count, the report also pulls data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which emergency shelters and transitional housing providers report to regularly.
*Correction: This article previously stated that municipalities in South Thurston County have historically not participated in the Point-in-Time Count. Some have participated in past years, but with the exception of Rochester’s ROOF, none participated in 2020 or 2021.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
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