By JASON JOHNSON

City of Kent

The need for housing and human services is rising in South King County. The system is stretched beyond its capacity. The tough economy and budget cuts to government-funded programs are hitting South County residents hard. Layoffs in King County increased in 2008, as did the number of people using food banks and the number of late-payment notices issued by Seattle City Light.  Meanwhile, new foreclosure filings are up countywide – and 47 percent of foreclosed properties are in South King County – a number disproportionately higher than the amount of housing stock.

At the Kent-based Multi-Service Center, which assists South King County residents in meeting basic needs, housing program director Tammy Money reports that demand for their services is way up. The multi-service center has 15 short-term units for families, but in 2008, the multi-service center received and had to turn down requests for shelter from more than 1,000 households from Burien, Federal Way, Kent, Renton and Tukwila. Staff at the multi-service center refer those people they cannot help to the Crisis Clinic. In 2008, the Crisis Clinic’s 211 telephone services received 37,481 calls from King County residents – a 15 percent increase over the previous year. Of these calls, more than 35 percent are housing-related, including requests for shelter and rental and utility payment assistance. The largest number of calls to 211 comes from South King County, followed by Seattle.

The Crisis Clinic attempts to connect all of its callers to an appropriate and available local agency or organization. Callers from Federal Way are often referred to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church. The society offers a food bank, food and gas vouchers and rent and utilities assistance, among other things, to local residents. Most of the funding and food bank items primarily come from St. Theresa’s church parishioner contributions, with additional money from the City of Federal Way for rent and utilities assistance. According to Joseph Roni, the chapter president, they assist around 400 households a year. When a person calls looking for help, a volunteer from the chapter will meet with him/her and the family to assess the situation and determine the best way they can help. During this growing economic crisis, Roni notes that demand for food assistance remains constant – “that’s always been high” – but one really noticeable trend is that more and more cash-strapped households are facing things like power shut-off and eviction.

Roni also suspects the number of homeless people has been increasing. This is confirmed by data from the One Night Count in January. Volunteers counted 2,827 unsheltered homeless people living on the streets in King County. This was a small increase county-wide from 2008. Perhaps more startling is the increase in South King County, where 498 homeless people were counted – a 68 percent increase from the 297 counted in 2008. Ninety of those homeless individuals were in Renton. The majority of those found living on the streets were sleeping in vehicles – including many families.

Jon Botten, executive director of Dynamic Family Services and vice chair of the Kent Housing and Human Services Commission said, “Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing a “perfect storm” in local human services. Caseloads are growing producing waiting lists longer than they have ever been in our 30 year history. Layoffs have left many of our referred families in greater need of scholarship assistance even as our federal, state, and county grants, and philanthropic donations have been dramatically reduced. And when parents are stressing over how they’re going to meet basic needs like food and housing, they are less able to focus on meeting the developmental needs of their children.”

Jason Johnson, housing and human services planner for the City of Kent, facilitates the South King County Forum on Homelessness and the coordinated effort to end homelessness in South King County. This commentary was developed and written by members of the forum, including Megan Horst of Communities Count, Tammy Money and Linda Maser of Seattle/King County Coalition for the Homeless, Bill Block of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County, Kelli O’Donnell of the City of Federal Way and Karen Bergsvik of the City of Renton.

HOW TO HELP

• For more information on how you can help, please contact a leader from the South King County Response to Homelessness at 253-856-5061. Also, check out the Committee to End Homelessness in King County.

• For more data about basic needs and local health trends, visit the United Way indicators or Communities Count regional health trends.