Many Homeless People Decline Shelter Offers by City of Seattle, New Report Finds
New data shows that more than half of all homeless people who were offered shelter by the city of Seattle last year did not accept the offers, according to a report by PubliCola.
According to the report and data presented during a meeting of the Seattle City Council’s Committee on Public Assets & Homelessness last week, the city’s Homelessness Outreach and Provider Ecosystem, or HOPE, team referred 1,072 people to a shelter in 2021.
But less than half — 512 people — accepted the offer and stayed at a shelter for at least one night.