The overall rate of homelessness in Whatcom County has remained stable over the last year, according to a new report from Whatcom County Health and Community Services.
In 2023, 1,028 households sought support from the Coordinated Entry Housing Pool, up only slightly from last year’s number of 1,022 households. Referrals to rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing programs increased in that same time period, with 142 in 2022 and 220 in 2023.
“While our system is scaling up, the need within the community seems to be right at about the same pace,” Housing Program Supervisor Chris D’Onofrio said. “So we find ourselves not in too different of a position, despite the extended efforts and energy … We see that we’re kind of treading water here, despite those things.”
Health department communications specialist Marie Duckworth highlighted the increase in referrals as a win.
“We want to be able to celebrate that while at the same time recognizing that it’s not enough,” she said.
The report takes a more comprehensive look at homelessness than the previous year’s report, using data from Coordinated Entry, the annual Point-In-Time Count and the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, rather than focusing on just the Point-in-Time count. This year’s Point-in-Time count counted 846 people (671 households), with 206 unsheltered households and 465 sheltered households, a decrease from last year’s count of 1,049 people (850 households.)
However, D’Onofrio and health department officials have cautioned against seeing this as a decrease in homelessness — other data in the report indicates otherwise. For example, housing pool numbers from January 2024 included 328 unsheltered households.
Both the unsheltered and sheltered homelessness numbers only tell a partial story. The annual count is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and on Jan. 25, staff and volunteers attempted to survey all people across the county who were staying in a shelter or outside. For the unsheltered count, outreach teams reported challenges in both finding people and convincing them to take part in the survey.
As for sheltered homelessness, D’Onofrio said that in the last year, some providers have changed their emergency shelters to permanent supportive housing, potentially leading to a decrease in the sheltered homelessness numbers. That includes some YWCA units, Housing Specialist Ashley Geleynse said.
“They’re having a hard time getting folks to move out into appropriate, affordable units, and they just let them stay and say, ‘Hey, this is your home now,’” D’Onofrio said.
What the Point-in-Time Count can provide, D’Onofrio said, is insight into what people think has contributed to their homelessness: 47% of respondents said housing affordability, 37% said job loss/unemployment, 28% said mental illness and 22% said alcohol/substance use.
“I think the underlying and number one solution for ending homelessness is that we need more housing at all levels,” Geleynse said.
Affordable housing units have continued to be built and open, with specific reserved units for people who were homeless prior to entry.
Those include Mercy Housing Northwest’s Trailview Apartments, which opened with 16 reserved units in fall 2022 and Bellingham Housing Authority’s Samish Commons with 14 reserved units; as well as projects that opened this year including Millworks Apartments, Laurel Forest Apartments and the upcoming YWCA Garden Street Apartments.
“With each new affordable housing development, that takes a bite out of the problem,” D’Onofrio said.
Racial inequities are also present in both data sets: White people represent 74.4% of Whatcom County’s population, but only 58.5% of people in the housing pool in January 2024 were white. Indigenous people, Black people, Hispanic people and multiracial people are all overrepresented in the housing pool, with Indigenous people making up 8.9% of the housing pool in January, but only 1.7% of the Whatcom County population.
School data also provides another metric — although it’s based on a more inclusive definition of homelessness that includes paying for a motel or doubling up with another family. In the 2022-23 school year, 942 students were considered homeless. Mount Baker and Bellingham saw the highest percentage of homeless students, with 5.5% in Mount Baker and 4.3% in Bellingham.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
