Sharp decline seen for these ‘unsheltered’ Whatcom residents because of COVID aid

Homelessness in Bellingham and Whatcom County dropped slightly this year, but still remains at record levels, according to an annual survey of people without a place to live.

In addition, a separate report showed that Whatcom County is the seventh-most wealthy county in the state, adding to the divide between rich and poor as the cost of housing continues to rise in Western Washington.

Most significant in the Whatcom County “Point in Time” homelessness report released Friday morning, July 22, was a sharp decline among “unsheltered” residents, or those who are living outside — such as in a car, tent, or recreational vehicle.

“This is likely due to expanded support programs during the pandemic,” the Whatcom County Health Department said in its annual Point In Time report,

Overall homelessness dropped by 3% to 832 people in Whatcom County, according to the annual report, which was conducted on Feb. 24.

Homelessness in Whatcom County was at its highest level in more than a decade in 2021, when 859 people were homeless, the most since the nationwide count began in 2008.

“It is also worth noting that many housing support programs expanded in the last few years to provide additional units of permanent supportive housing, more rental assistance, and a huge increase in eviction prevention support,” said Chris D’Onofrio, housing specialist with Whatcom County Health Department, in a statement released with the 2022 report.

Agencies contributing to the 2022 report were the Whatcom County Health Department, the city of Bellingham, Whatcom County Coalition to End Homelessness, and the Opportunity Council’s Whatcom Homeless Service Center.

Annual homeless census

Every year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development chooses a date for a homeless census, usually in January.

This year’s count was delayed by a wintertime surge in COVID-19, the report said.

According to the full nationwide “Point in Time” report, it included people who were “sheltered homeless” in drop-in settings, transitional housing and motels rooms paid with a subsidy.

It also included “unsheltered homeless” camping in alleys, under bridges, on sidewalks, or in doorways, in vehicles, in RVs without hygiene and/or cooking facilities and other places not meant for human habitation, including abandoned buildings.

It didn’t include people who were “couch-surfing” with friends and family or were in jail, even if they were homeless when they were jailed.

Whatcom County homeless

Key findings of the 2022 local report showed that:

▪ 72% of homeless people were staying in emergency shelter or transitional housing such as Base Camp or using a hotel voucher.

▪ 28% were unsheltered, a 17% decrease in people living outside from 2021.

▪ Single adults remain the majority of homeless people and made up 84% of those counted in 2022.

▪ 13% of homeless households were families with children, a 15% drop from 2021.

▪ Median age was 39, with an age range of infant to 83 years.

Criticism of services

Melissa Wisener, a member of a grassroots homeless support group called Serenity Outreach Services, criticized the count itself as incomplete and the city of Bellingham for its repeated “sweeps” to remove homeless people camping on city streets, parks and other public spaces — a move she said worsens the problem.

Wisener said she herself isn’t counted as homeless because she is couch-surfing with friends, and said that the count fails to include those living farther away from urban areas.

“Many people have been chased so far out into the woods,” Wisener told The Bellingham Herald. “Any time they sweep a percent of them go farther into the woods.”

SOS helps chronically homeless people by providing food, water, supplies, empathy and camaraderie, and members encourage them to use government services when possible, Wisener said.

“They’ve fallen through the cracks at some point,” she said. “Everybody has been on wait lists for years.”

Racial disparities

“Race and ethnicity continue to be correlated with homelessness,” the report said.

Indigenous people and Alaska Natives account for about 5% of Whatcom County residents who live in poverty, but they make up 7% of the homeless population.

Further, homeless surveys were not conducted at Lummi Nation or the Nooksack Tribe, Whatcom County’s two Indigenous communities, because of the pandemic, the report said.

That suggests “an undercount of non-white individuals,” according to the report.

Rich-poor divide

Information about homelessness was published on the same day as SmartAsset Inc. released a report showing that Whatcom County is the seventh-richest in the state of Washington and ranks 155th in the nation on a measure of total wealth that includes the amount of investment income residents receive, total per capita income and the median home value.

Whatcom County’s per capita investment income was $14,164, its median home value was $520,145, and its per capita income was $52,787, resulting in a wealth index of 24.58.

Meanwhile, a 2021 survey that examined the pandemic’s effects on lower-income people from the United Way of Whatcom County showed that 42% of households were “struggling to get by.”

That report was an offshoot of the 2018 “Asset-Limited Income Constrained, Employed,” or ALICE report from the United Way of Whatcom County,

According to the 2018 ALICE report, some 15% of Whatcom County were living below the poverty line, and another 21% met the criteria for working poor.

Only 63% of Whatcom County residents weren’t struggling financially.