This year’s One Night Count showed an increased number of unsheltered individuals throughout South King County, a 19 percent increase from 2015. Renton saw its number more than double from 79 individuals in 2015 to 160 in 2016.

According to Rev. Dr. Linda Smith, director of the women and children’s shelter REACH Center of Hope, the spike in the numbers does not surprise her.

“There has definitely been an increase,” said Smith. “That’s the reason why I’m not surprised at the number of people they have found on the street… because there’s a number of people that we service.”

The number of people who have approached the Center of Hope has increased over the past year. In 2014, 1,704 residents had signed in at the shelter. In 2015, that number hit 5,558.

According to Smith, a large reason for the increased homeless individuals and families is the hike in rent prices.

“When I look at some of the reasons why people are homeless, the rise in apartment and rental property is astounding,” said Smith. “I’ve had several people come in and say that they pay $800 a month [for rent] and their mortgage doubled. There is no way they can remain in a home with that kind of increase. The most pressing thing is to find landlords who will rent at a cost that can accommodate the amount of money people are getting.”

A national study conducted by All Home, formerly Committee to End Homelessness, shows that when the average apartment rent increases by $100 per month, homelessness increases by 15 percent in urban areas and 39 percent in rural and suburban areas.

In King County, the average apartment rent has increased $115 per month in the last year. According to All Home, households experienced homelessness in 100 days before finding a permanent housing in 2014.

Karen Bergsvik, manager of Human Services and one of the leaders of Renton’s One Night Count, says that she also observed an increase in drug use this year.

“What surprised me in my pre-count was the number of needles we found which indicates drug use, typically heroin,” Bergsvik said. “It’s pretty much what the data for the county shows as well. Drug use, especially heroin, is going up. One of the things we’re working on in King county is chemical dependency services. We don’t have any drug rehabs or detox services in South King County. That’s part of what I’m working on.”

Thirty-two percent of the total Human Services allocation funds homelessness prevention and homeless programs, including REACH Center of Hope, Multi-service Center for Shelter and Transitional Housing, Auburn Youth Resources, and Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation. These services in turn provide data and measures to Human Services, which is how the city keeps tracks of how many people are being served.

Even with the many services that are available, Bergsvik feels as if a lot of resources are being under- utilized.

“There is a common misnomer that if you provide services, they will come. That’s not true at the county level,” said Bergsvik.

Seattle/King County Coalition on Homlessness is providing a Homelessness Advocacy 101 workshops on Feb. 24 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Seattle and on Feb. 27 at the Kent Library. Registration is required online.