Homelessness in Washington

Washington

More than 770,000 people experienced homelessness in the United States in 2024. This number has increased 19% since 2007, with last year marking the largest population experiencing homelessness yet. The measure of homelessness includes those who are sheltered (people staying in transitional housing programs, safe havens or shelters) and those who are unsheltered (people staying in public or private places not normally designated for sleeping — in cars, public parks, abandoned buildings, bus or train stations, airports or camping grounds, or outside on the street). 

Households with housing instability are exposed to increased stress that affects physical and mental health.Families that struggle to afford housing may face eviction, foreclosure and homelessness. Homelessness increases the risk of infectious diseases as well as mental illness, diabetes, alcohol and substance use disorders and heart and lung disease.

According to the 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, men and boys are overrepresented in homelessness compared with women and girls. In addition, Black adults account for 32% of the population experiencing homelessness despite making up only 12% of the total U.S. population. People experiencing homelessness are more likely to be located in major cities compared with suburban and rural areas.

One solution for addressing homelessness is increasing access to affordable housing. Coordinated efforts across multiple sectors, such as health systems and community groups, are necessary to tailor solutions specifically to the needs of people experiencing homelessness. 

More research is needed on how to best address the needs of people experiencing homelessness, but some promising evidence-based efforts include: 

• Critical time interventions that help people transition from institutions such as prisons and hospitals back into the community. 
• Low-barrier care, which reduces barriers to health care by offering walk-in appointments, scheduling follow-ups at the same point of care and providing medications directly at discharge.
• Social needs screening, where health care providers screen patients for risk of housing instability, homelessness and other factors and offer resources on an as-needed basis.
• Medical respite, or recuperative care, provides dedicated long-term care for people who are experiencing homelessness but are too ill to live in shelters or other housing programs.

The Housing First model, which many successful programs have used to reduce homelessness. Housing First interventions provide permanent supportive housing without requiring people to complete substance use or behavioral health treatment before receiving housing. Studies have found that those receiving housing assistance on a Housing First basis report fewer psychiatric symptoms, use emergency departments less and primary care more, and are more likely to remain housed for longer. Evidence suggests that the economic benefits of these programs outweigh the costs.

Healthy People 2030 recognizes the role of safe housing as a social determinant of health and has an objective to reduce the proportion of families that spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

Community Preventive Services Task Force. Social Determinants of Health: Permanent Supportive Housing with Housing First (Housing First Programs). CPSTF Finding and Rationale Statement. The Community Guide. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 1, 2019. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc/168591.

de Sousa, Tanya, and Meghan Henry. The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, Part 1: Point-In-Time Estimates of Homelessness. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development, December 2024. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf.

Garcia, Cheyenne, Kelly Doran, and Margot Kushel. “Homelessness And Health: Factors, Evidence, Innovations That Work, And Policy Recommendations: An Overview of Factors and Policy Recommendations Pertaining to Homelessness and Health.” Health Affairs 43, no. 2 (February 1, 2024): 164–71. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.01049.

Gu, Kristine D., Katherine C. Faulkner, and Anne N. Thorndike. “Housing Instability and Cardiometabolic Health in the United States: A Narrative Review of the Literature.” BMC Public Health 23, no. 1 (May 23, 2023): 931. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15875-6.

Jacob, Verughese, Sajal K. Chattopadhyay, Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo, Yinan Peng, Robert A. Hahn, Ramona Finnie, Jamaicia Cobb, Alison E. Cuellar, Karen M. Emmons, and Patrick L. Remington. “Permanent Supportive Housing With Housing First: Findings From a Community Guide Systematic Economic Review.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 62, no. 3 (March 2022): e188–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2021.08.009.

Soucy, Daniel, Andrew Hall, and Joy Moses. State of Homelessness: 2025 Edition. National Alliance to End Homelessness, September 4, 2025.https://endhomelessness.org/state-of-homelessness/.