Dear Real Change,
I am writing to thank you for the very fine article and thoughtful editorial about the 2007 One Night Count of unsheltered homeless people in King County (Feb. 1). The Seattle-King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH) has, for the past 27 years, organized a count of people spending the night without shelter. This year we tried something new -- counting people who ride late night Metro buses for warmth, security, and a place to sit down, perhaps to sleep. One hundred twenty-four people with nowhere else to go were counted on various buses between 2.00 a.m. and 5.00 a.m. this past Jan. 26. Rosette Royale’s writing and Joel Turner’s photography illuminated this sad reality with respect for the privacy and dignity of the riders.
Those 124 were among 2,159 men, women, and children counted trying to survive without shelter on sidewalks, down alleys, in parks, and under bridges on the same night. Hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life returned from counting in Seattle, Kent, Shoreline, Bellevue, Federal Way, White Center, Renton, and Woodinville, many shocked by what they had seen. Two thousand one hundred and fifty-nine is a terribly big number when you count it by ones and twos. Even more sobering is the realizaton that many more homeless people were not counted: either they were too well hidden, or they were in places where there are no counters.
Real Change Executive Director Tim Harris is right that the most hopeful part of this year’s count was another big increase in community volunteers. The 735 warm-hearted people who came out to count can multiply one night’s efforts a thousand-fold by urging elected representatives and officials at the city, county, state, and federal levels to dramatically increase support for affordable housing and services to prevent and end homelessness.
A full report of the 2007 One Night Count, including numbers from emergency shelter and transitional housing providers, information collected by the 2-1-1 Community Information Line, and surveys with people using emergency meal programs, will be available this spring on the SKCCH web site: www.homelessinfo.org.
Finally, thank you to the Real Change count team members who help make the One Night Count happen each year.
Alison Eisinger | Executive Director
Real Change welcomes letters to the editor of up to 250 words in length. Please include name, address, phone number, and email for author verification. Letters should be addressed to Editor at Real Change, 2129 2nd Ave., Seattle, WA, 98121, or emailed to [email protected].
For copy of actual issue, go to https://www.realchangenews.org/2007/03/07/mar-7-2007-entire-issue