by Kami Harless, M.D.
Member, First United Methodist Church of Seattle, Church & Society/Social Justice Committee
Lead Physician, Mobile Medical Program
The Mobile Medical Program is a partnership between Healthcare for the Homeless Network and Public Health – Seattle & King County. The program provides walk-in medical care for individuals living homeless (or recently homeless). The program includes two mobile medical van teams and a street medicine team. The teams strive to build relationships with people experiencing homelessness by providing patient-led health and social services, meeting people where they are, and fostering health and well-being.
The experience of living homeless is a full-time job. Every day is a challenge. Every day is a new hurdle or obstacle to navigate. Finding somewhere to use the bathroom, wash your hands, obtain a warm meal, charge your cell phone, or secure a safe place to sleep for the night could easily consume your entire day, even before COVID-19 hit our region. The landscape for individuals and families experiencing homelessness shifted dramatically in March and continues to change and adapt.
Day Centers in our region have traditionally been a safe, warm, and dry place for individuals to spend their days. While some day centers provide hygiene and other social services, they traditionally functioned as a safe place to pass the day and socialize. With COVID-19 restrictions, most day centers now have limited capacity due to social distancing measures even if service hours and types of service are unchanged. About half of our county’s day centers have closed access for the general public and are only allowing people who are established clients to use the facilities.
The changes required to keep everyone safe as COVID-19 hit our region, have made access to restrooms, showers, and laundry services very hard to come by all over King County. Almost all public buildings where individuals might previously have accessed restrooms or showers are closed – libraries, community centers, gyms. Hygiene Centers, like Day Centers, are now operating at limited capacity to allow for proper social distancing and follow Public Health protocols. During the pandemic, programs have lost volunteers and staffing is limited. Many local businesses where people could previously sometimes use a bathroom, fill a water bottle, wash up, sit down, or plug in a phone have now closed or no longer provide public seating or restroom access.
In our county, there is functionally no shelter available on request for adults. Most programs are not accepting new referrals due to very limited client turnover. There are significant changes in the shelter system throughout King County given the concerns about the spread of COVID-19 in congregate settings. Programs located in a physical space that did not allow people to spread out enough or did not allow for reasonable air circulation have been moved to new locations or spread out to several locations. Shelter spaces have been transitioned to nontraditional locations including hotels/motels, community centers, administrative buildings, and exhibition halls.
The 2020 Point-in-Time Count for Seattle/King County found 11,751 people experiencing homelessness on one night in January, with 53 percent sheltered and 47 percent unsheltered. These numbers were obtained before the full force of the COVID-19 pandemic hit our region.
It is very likely that we will see an increase in homelessness as a result of the economic fallout caused by the pandemic. It also cannot go without saying that the majority of heads of households experiencing homelessness identify as people of color with the most dramatic disparities are observed among those that identify as Black or African American (28% of homeless population compared to 6% of King County’s general population) and American Indian or Alaskan Native (4% of homeless population compared to 1% of King County’s general population).
The public health crisis of homelessness in our region only becomes harsher in the midst of the uncertainty of a global pandemic. The safety nets in our community have tightened to fill the gaping holes that were once small gaps in basic necessity for those living unsheltered or with unstable housing. Countless organizations in King County adapted and shifted the very core of their services models to continue to serve those most in need swiftly and almost seamlessly despite economic uncertainty and true fear about safety in the early stages of the pandemic. The following list is just a brief snapshot of the many organizations in our community working tirelessly to keep our neighbors experiencing homelessness strong in the ever-changing landscape of 2020.
Compass Housing Alliance (includes Blaine Center): https://www.compasshousingalliance.org/
Downtown Emergency Service Center: https://www.desc.org/
Facing Homelessness: https://www.facinghomelessness.org/
FareStart: https://www.farestart.org/
Mary’s Place: https://www.marysplaceseattle.org/
Operation Night Watch: https://www.seattlenightwatch.org/
Operation Sack Lunch: https://www.oslserves.org/
Real Change: https://www.realchangenews.org/
Salvation Army: https://seattle.salvationarmy.org/
Union Gospel Mission: https://www.ugm.org/
Urban Rest Stop: https://urbanreststop.org/
References:
https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/data/homeless.aspx