What is the One Night Count?
King County has one of the nation's best-established point-in-time counts of homeless people. The One Night Count remains the largest community-organized count in the United States. Since 1980, SKCCH and Operation Nightwatch have organized the One Night Count of people who are without shelter.
The One Night Count has two parts:
- A survey of emergency shelter and transitional housing providers about who is staying in their programs or facilities on that night. Staff from the King County Community Services Division, Homeless Housing Program coordinate the survey.
- A street count of people who are homeless, without shelter and staying outside, in vehicles or in makeshift shelters. SKCCH has expanded the count from its downtown Seattle origins to include parts of 11 suburban cities and unincorporated King County and Metro Night Owl buses.
Family Turnaway Survey
A new family turn-away survey will add important context to the One Night Count in 2010. A turn-away is defined as a family that is not admitted to a shelter for any reason, for example because the shelter is full or because they did not meet the requirements to stay at a given shelter. More than 30 agencies that serve families with children across the county will participate. SKCCH piloted a similar survey during the 2009 One Night Count. Survey results will help inform the community about the scope of homelessness, highlighting the often hidden nature of family homelessness. The number of families identified as turned away from shelter will not be included in the final tally, because of the need to de-duplicate multiple calls from the same family seeking shelter.
When is the One Night Count?
The annual Count takes place at the end of January. 2010 will mark the 30th year that our community has sent teams out into the night to see how many of our neighbors are homeless and without shelter.
How does the count work?
Over 900 volunteers go out with 125 trained team leaders to pre-arranged areas in parts of Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Shoreline, Kenmore, Bothell, Woodinville, Kent, Federal Way, Renton, Auburn, and White Center. The Count is only possible through the dedicated support from hundreds of individuals and dozens of community organizations, congregations and government agencies.
Since 2006, partial funding for the One Night Count has been provided by the King County Committee to End Homelessness, the coalition of government, business and nonprofits responsible for implementing our community's Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. The Count helps to inform progress on the Plan, as well as provide insight into the dynamics of homelessness and inform strategies for solving it.
Why do we do the Count?
We carry out the One Night Count for two reasons: to document the nature and extent of homelessness in King County, and to build public engagement and action around the issue. It is a solemn and eye-opening opportunity to witness the survival struggles of our neighbors who are homeless. Hundreds of community members come together for this annual count, which acts as a powerful launching off point for participants to speak up and act and write and advocate to end this crisis.
Beyond the One Night Count
Making homelessness count 365 days & nights a year
SKCCH organizes advocacy trainings and issue briefings intended to build on volunteers' experiences in the One Night Count and train them to become effective advocates for the public resources, political will, and sound policies that will end homelessness. More information about the next "Beyond the One Night Count".
The 2010 One Night Count
Beginning at 2:00 am Friday morning, 978 volunteers counted the people sleeping outdoors in King County. They counted 2,759 people living outside in King County. They counted children, adults, and seniors, some huddled in doorways, some sleeping in cars, others camped in green spaces or sheltered in makeshift campsites. More than 130 teams were organized through ten area headquarters in urban, suburban, and rural King County. Counters returned to historical and new count areas in Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Woodinville, Shoreline, Kenmore Bothell, Seattle, White Center, Federal Way, Kent, Renton and Auburn. The 2010 One Night Count also collected information from select hospitals about emergency room usage, and from Metro night owl buses operating throughout the county.
The 2010 total number of people counted living on the streets of King County is 5% lower than the numbers counted in those areas in 2009. The unsheltered number released this morning does not include the estimated 5,800 people staying in emergency shelter and transitional housing overnight. SKCCH is also tracking the number of families turned away from shelters because they were full. The complete 2010 One Night Count Report will be released as soon as the other data are compiled.
Archived One Night Count Reports
View one of our archived reports.