By Steve Shay

At 2:00 am Friday morning, Jan. 28, 886 volunteers counted 2,442 people living (sleeping) outside in King County. Each January, volunteers count men, women, and children who are outside during one winter night. The One Night Count sets in motion a full year of education, engagement, and action for Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH, pronounced “Skitch”).

According to their website, volunteers counted 2,442 people living outside in King County huddled in doorways, sleeping in cars, and camped in green spaces or sheltered in makeshift campsites. SKCCH organized more than 137 teams through 10 area headquarters in urban, suburban, and rural King County. One Night Count also collected information from select hospitals about emergency room usage, and from Metro night owl buses.

Volunteers counted 317 fewer people living in publicly-accessible parts of King County in 2011 than in those same areas in 2010. This represents an 11-percent decrease. The numbers of people counted outside are separate from roughly 6,000 people who were in area emergency shelters and transitional housing programs on the same night. The complete 2011 One Night Count Report will be released as soon as the other data are compiled.

"The count is not agenda driven," said Joshua Okrent, manager of Fundraising and Operations at Capitol Hill Housing Foundation and a volunteer with Seattle/ King County Coalition on Homelessness. "We are really taking a 'point in time' count. Everybody is happy to see the number reduced. The city receives money from the Federal Government (HUD) in the form of block grants (for participating)."

Okrent said that the One Night Count method varies. Miami does a citywide count, while Los Angeles County does a full county count.

"We're fortunate in this area to have an enlightened populace driven to keep people stable," he said. "Private investment is giving more money since 2005, when King County enacted the Ten-Year Plan to end homelessnes. We've done a lot to marshal public and private investment.

"Governor Gregoire is proposing cutting services for the homeless, not because of the drop in the one night count, but because of the economy," he said. "Even with the 11-percent decrease there are still too many homeless people out there. We know there are people we miss, people who hide, or have a fear of any kind of what they see as 'the man', and bureaucracy. The 'all-night bus' was famously a rolling shelter. That bus was replaced with lightrail. Where have all those people gone?"

"One can't make too much of annual count fluctuations," Timothy Harris, Founder and Executive Director of Real Change newspaper told the West Seattle Herald. Real Change's stated mission is "to create opportunity and a voice for low-income people while taking action to end homelessness and poverty".

"This year the emergency winter shelters were open and major count areas were off limits due to flooding," said Harris. "The one night count is never more than a rough approximation of what's out there, and more than 2,400 people on the streets in January after the shelters are full is hardly an occasion for celebration. There is nothing in our current reality to indicate that the tide has turned."

"I’m cautiously optimistic about the decline in numbers, but with more cuts to human services coming, I’m also worried," said Tricia Lapitan, Founder, Heroes for the Homeless, a King County non-profit.

"In hard-to-reach areas like 'the Jungle' and remote areas along, and under, I-5, Heroes for the Homeless continues to serve a high number of clients, vulnerable individuals in need of food, clothing, and clean drinking water. These areas may not be part of the One Night Count due to their limited accessibility," she told the West Seattle Herald.

"We shouldn’t rely solely on any one measure to gauge our fight against homelessness," she added. "A decline in evictions/foreclosures and unemployment would also be needed to support these hopeful results."

They counted children, adults, and seniors, some huddled in doorways, some sleeping in cars, others camped in green spaces or sheltered in makeshift campsites. SKCCH organized more than 137 teams 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 2011 One Night Count also collected information from select hospitals about emergency room usage, and from Metro night owl buses.

Volunteers counted 317 fewer people living in publicly-accessible parts of King County in 2011 than in those same areas in 2010. This represents an 11% decrease. The numbers of people counted outside are separate from roughly 6000 people who were in area emergency shelters and transitional housing programs on the same night.

Winter shelters in Seattle and Redmond meant that 149 people inside last night who would otherwise have had no place to go. SKCCH is tracking how many families were turned away from shelters because they were full during the Count.

The complete 2011 One Night Count Report will be released as soon as the other data are compiled.