While Sheltering at Home, Think of Those Who Can’t

Author: Jeremy Schifberg

Reading through the barrage of “our response to COVID-19” emails in my inbox from various businesses and listservs, one stood out. It was from the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), a Seattle-based organization which, since 1979, has been a nationwide leader in addressing homelessness. While Seattle, and other West Coast cities, are often pointed to as poster children for rising homelessness nationwide, DESC represents the other side of Seattle’s story — pioneering, innovative work to support the most vulnerable segments of our community’s homeless population, including many living with mental illness or substance use disorders.

DESC’s email referenced an update on their efforts in Seattle — a community among the harder hit by the current global pandemic. DESC does some of the most challenging work on behalf of some of our community’s most vulnerable neighbors, who, at a time when we are all being told to shelter in place for our and our community’s safety, do not have a house in which to shelter. So when I read the opening line — “There is no way to sugar coat this, things are very tough right now” — my heart sank.

But what followed has been lodged in my head ever since: “we have been able to successfully meet the CDC guidelines for social-distancing throughout our shelter programs”, “we’ve maintained the same daily availability of 508 beds”, “we relocated 150 beds to the Exhibition Hall at Seattle Center, and are purchasing motel stays for 20 clients”, “we’ve also opened all locations and expanded meal service to allow clients to stay safely inside 24/7,” “we are working to quickly scale up in-home meal options for our nearly 1,500 tenants in supportive housing, in order to limit their out-of-home trips to grocery stores, food banks and meal programs.” Despite immense disruption, they’ve found ways to continue addressing essential needs safely.

DESC is still in pressing need of volunteers and donations, thus that opening line (more on how to help below), and I can imagine that their work and capacity may understandably evolve over time just as this public health crisis evolves. Still, maintaining that level of essential services while managing the safety of staff and clients in spite of daunting obstacles — that is heroic work. And it’s reflective of the everyday heroism that defines the efforts of a long list of leading service providers assisting Seattle’s homeless population — Plymouth Housing, Pioneer Human Services, Chief Seattle Club, Compass Housing Alliance, Mary’s Place, to name just a few. It’s that portfolio of leading, innovative, compassionate organizations that tells the other side of Seattle’s story on homelessness.

Among other services, DESC provides supportive housing (as does Plymouth Housing, Compass Housing Alliance, and others). Supportive housing is an evidence-based, cost-effective housing solution that combines affordable housing assistance with healthcare, social, and other supportive services to address the needs of the chronic homeless population — folks who are both experiencing prolonged periods of homelessness and are living with a disabling condition such as a chronic health problem, psychiatric or emotional condition, or physical disability. Because the chronic homeless population is highly visible(1), costly when unhoused(2), and particularly vulnerable, it is often at the center of polarizing debates that can surround this issue. This division is frequently driven by common assumptions, often not backed up by the available data, surrounding substance abuse, mental health challenges, and the causes and symptoms of homelessness.

And it was in that context last year that our Seattle Global Shapers Hub committed to advancing work on homelessness in the community, at a time when argument over citywide Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) legislation (which the Seattle City Council ultimately passed) was at a fever pitch after a years-long, contentious history of public debate around housing affordability legislation(3). As we looked at the landscape of organizations at work in this space, we decided the most effective, near-term way we could help drive impact was to support the work of those organizations that have already been blazing the trail for decades. Hub members have been volunteering in a direct service capacity — including staffing the “Window of Kindness” at Facing Homelessness and partnering to host a Super Soul event in the community — as well as supporting systems-level work through designing an “ambassador” model on behalf of the Third Door Coalition, a group of business leaders, service providers, researchers, and other community leaders working to end chronic homelessness in King County.

But why, during this unprecedented public health crisis, come back to the issue of homelessness? For one, housing is unquestionably a health issue. And now, at a time when a frighteningly contagious virus reminds us viscerally of what has always been true — we all depend on each other in profound ways — it is clearer than ever that housing is health. So while the truth is that our neighbors experiencing homelessness, and the organizations that work to assist them, needed our support before this pandemic, and they’ll need it after, now IS a particularly crucial time to keep the most vulnerable among us in our hearts and minds.

COVID-19 has given us all reason to feel concern as we shelter in place. Let it also be a reason to think about those navigating this period who have no house within which to seek shelter, and to exhibit kindness and compassion to our vulnerable neighbors and the people who work to uplift them.

There is no shortage of worthy causes to support right now. If you’d like to learn more about ways to support those working on homelessness in and around Seattle (or more broadly), please consider:

• Looking into the organizations linked above — they are all doing incredible work and their websites have details explaining how you can help
• Checking out The Resolution to End Homelessness which aggregates opportunities to support Seattle-area organizations serving the homeless community
• Reviewing resources like this and this from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council
• Clicking this link to subscribe to the COVID Homelessness Response mailing list and receive up-to-date information related to King County’s Coronavirus response for people experiencing homelessness

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Footnotes

1. Note that what is often lost in dialogue on this issue is that homelessness among some subpopulations has shown encouraging declines over the past decade-plus, particularly veteran and family homelessness — see this resource for helpful data visualizations.
2. Due to emergency, medical, and legal system costs.
3. MHA “upzones” a number of neighborhoods across Seattle, enabling developers to increase density, while building in requirements for affordable housing — developers can choose to build affordable housing units on-site or support affordability efforts by paying into a city fund.