Dozens of homeless campers at Tent City 3’s temporary stay on Capitol Hill (Image: CHS)
CHS joined DSA homeless outreach workers as they made rounds on Capitol Hill last winter. (Image: CHS)
With winter weather rolling in and City Hall divided over what to do with encampments, Seattle’s homeless state of emergency does not seem to be letting up.
A Capitol Hill forum Thursday night is aiming to highlight some of the challenges facing people on the street face and inform residents on what can be done now without waiting for answers from City Council.
Part of that response is supporting outreach workers from the Downtown Seattle Association who have been working on Capitol Hill since January and will be presenting at Spare the Change, a forum hoped to provide real-world, practical advice for helping Capitol Hill’s homeless.
Jackie St. Louis, who oversees the outreach program, said the outreach staff and a supporting Capitol Hill “multidisciplinary team” have made significant inroads in building relationships with the neighborhood’s homeless population. From January to August, outreach workers made 469 contacts with people on the streets of Capitol Hill plus 59 contacts by a mental health professional.
“A lot of folks have had adverse experiences with social services in the past,” he said. “We’re really concerned with the plight of the individuals. That in itself is therapeutic and creates a doorway to re-engage with services.”
By August, outreach workers helped five clients find permanent housing and helped 15 find jobs. But there is still plenty of progress to be made.
In that same time period, outreach workers had just ten clients enrolled in case management, with six referred to shelters, two referred to substance abuse treatment programs, and two receiving mental health counseling.
St. Louis said some of that is due to incomplete data collection, but also reflects the difficulty of engaging some of the city’s most chronically homeless residents. Having a place to meet with clients on Capitol Hill so they did not have to travel to Pioneer Square could also greatly improve the program’s client work, St. Louis said. In addition to connecting people with housing and treatment services, outreach workers assist people with getting food stamps, cell phones, and IDs.
The outreach workers and multidisciplinary team also present an opportunity for neighbors and business owners to help address issues surround chronic homelessness without directly involving police. That’s why Capitol Hill Community Council president Zachary DeWolf said having outreach workers talk about their work was crucial for Thursday’s forum.
“We have the power as neighbors to address this in a way that’s impactful and meaningful,” he said.
Spare the Change will take place in lieu of the October meeting of the Capitol Hill Community Council, which is sponsoring the eventing along with the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Capitol Hill Housing.
Spare the Change takes place Thursday night, October 20th, 6-8 PM at The Summit On Pike, 420 E Pike.
Great work, but so much more to be done. A lot of it is the challenge of collecting data. One of the biggest issues to solve is why homeless people refuse available rooms and other services. It would be powerful to collect the reason for which each contacted individual does or does not accept. What is commonly assumed is that services are refused because they require giving up drugs / alcohol, and many would prefer being on the street and be free to do as they please. Having data rather than observation could help address this. In those cases there needs to be stronger sticks and carrots to get those individuals off the streets and into treatment. As observed in the recent Seattle Time article it’s then not a homeless problem as much as it is a drugs problem.
In the past several months, the Union Gospel Mission has been working intensively in the “Jungle” to try and help people into housing….they had multiple contacts with each resident of that area. The result? Only 25% accepted offers of housing and other services, and the others were asked why they weren’t accepting help. Most said it was because they wanted to maintain their “freedom” on the streets, and a few were honest enough to say this meant they could drink and use drugs. I’m pessimistic that the results on Capitol Hill will be any different…….five people out of 469 contacted ended up in permanent housing….not a very impressive record.