What were you doing between 2 am and 5 am on January 23? Chances are you were fast asleep. Not so for a group of volunteers from Plymouth, who joined nearly 1,000 others in this year’s annual “One Night Count.”  

 

 

Story by Plymouth Housing Group staff Marlys Erickson (Director of Resource Development), Maggie Polzin (Development Associate), and Kelli Larsen (Director of Strategic Initiatives).

 

What is the “One Night Count?”

According to the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, King County has one of the nation’s best-established point-in-time counts of homeless people. The One Night Count remains the largest community-organized count in the United States. Since 1980, the Coalition and Operation Nightwatch have organized the One Night Count of people who are without shelter. The Coalition has expanded the count from its downtown Seattle origins to include parts of over a dozen suburban cities and unincorporated King County and Metro Night Owl buses.

The Count has two parts:

1. A survey of emergency shelter and transitional housing providers about who is staying in their programs or facilities on that night. Staff from the King County Community Services Division’s Homeless Housing Program coordinate the survey.
2. A street count of people who are homeless, without shelter and staying outside in vehicles or in makeshift shelters.

 

How Did Plymouth Help?

Plymouth’s four teams, including 25 staff members and one board member, took part in the street count. We were all saddened to learn that a total of 3,772 men, women and children were found surviving outside or in cars across King County. This is an increase of 21 percent over 2014.

 

So being up in the middle of the night with flashlights evokes thoughts of campouts and summer excursions…until your mind comes to a screeching halt and you remember that it’s the middle of winter, cold, and that these people living outside have absolutely no choice about where they sleep. It’s sobering. And hearing that the numbers went up by 21 percent over last year made me want to weep. But I am proud also…I work for an organization that has made a real difference in the lives of so many people. An organization who respects them as individuals with value. And although I am not able to commit much help financially, I get to use my talents to work towards the goal of ending homelessness someday, and that matters so much to me. It was awesome that everyone I worked with that night is just as committed. Everyone in that big room was there because they CARE…otherwise why would we be up at 2 am on a work night? When the enormity of the problem seems overwhelming, we do make a difference, one person…one precious human being… at a time.—Maggie Polzin, new Plymouth staff member

 

All of us were motivated to get up in the middle of the night because we know that documenting the need in King County is a critical step along the way toward securing enough safe, affordable housing in our own community.

We also know the best intervention for chronic homelessness is the “Housing First” model followed by Plymouth. Salt Lake City, New Orleans and Phoenix have all proven that. Each has ended homelessness for veterans in their communities by building an all-hands-on-deck approach, bringing together nonprofits, government agencies, and private landlords to remove barriers to housing and provide wraparound services – the Housing First model.

Learn more about this year’s One Night Count results, and how you can take action, by visiting Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness and the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.

 

MORE Advocacy News!

Last week in Olympia, the Fair Tenant Screening Act was heard in the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Brady Walkinshaw (43^rd Legislative District), a champion for affordable housing and for Plymouth (read his Plymouth luncheon quote here), presented important points about the Fair Tenant Screening Act. The Act would allow portable tenant screening reports and provide 18 months for the market to make changes before the law goes into effect. Rep. Steve Kirby (29^th Legislative District) also offered remarks about how many years people have been working to try to correct this, and expressed frustration over the lack of progress over the years.

Please email Rep. Walkinshaw and Rep. Kirby to thank them for their support of this important bill: brady.walkinshaw@leg.wa.gov  and steve.kirby@leg.wa.gov.

And stay tuned for the March e-newsletter, which will feature Plymouth’s role in the upcoming Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day in Olympia.