Rise in homelessness reflects a governance crisis

The U.S. is experiencing rising levels of homelessness, especially in West Coast cities. The most recent data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development on homelessness reported a 12% increase since last year. If we want to curb the trend toward rising homelessness, especially in West Coast cities, we must change our framing of the issue and demand accountability from our leaders to advance sound social policy.

While homelessness is about housing, it not solely about housing. First, reducing the problem to housing doesn’t adequately recognize the complex interplay between biographical vulnerabilities and social structural conditions. Second, while King County has a housing affordability challenge, as does much of the rest of the state, Seattle is actually among the least cost-burdened big U.S. cities for renters. Yet, Seattle/King County has one of the highest rates of homelessness nationwide. Finally, reducing homelessness to housing costs misses the crucial role played by ineffective governmental policies that are not limited to housing issues.

The crisis around homelessness in Seattle has become a governance crisis. We are currently at a crossroads in terms of governmental response. Yes, the rise in homelessness is about rising inequality, lack of affordable housing, and mental health and substance abuse issues. However, all of those factors have a common denominator: good governance. Studies of governance highlight the importance of evaluating both inputs and outputs, that is, resources invested, and outcomes produced. However, the process of how you get from one to the other (“throughput”) is also important. This is why transparency and accountability are central tenants of good governance. In our region, the focus has been largely on inputs. But spending more money in diffuse and unfocused ways without sustained attention to outcomes and process will blunt any such initiative.

Two years into a declared homelessness crisis, which began in 2015, the homelessness budget for Seattle was $71.3 million, growing to $103.7 million in 2020. In 2023, the budget invested $153.7 million in citywide and regional initiatives. Hence, in six years the budget more than doubled but the number of people experiencing homelessness kept on increasing. The spending pattern has no end in sight, with a recent headline asserting, “Ending homelessness in King County will cost billions, regional authority says.”

Despite the massive investments of resources regionally, examples of poor governance limiting the effects of that spending are many. They include the unfulfilled promises of tiny house villages, the rise of unsanctioned tent encampments, sheltering hotels with drug abuse and dealing problems, fentanyl overdoses, agency financial mismanagement and leadership problems associated with the regional housing authority, and abandonment of the downtown project to address homelessness. There are a few signs pointing in a more promising direction. A 2022 audit called for a more data-driven approach to our state’s homelessness problem which can be seen in Mayor Bruce Harrell’s dashboard improving transparency by tracking Seattle’s progress.

While the scale of the homelessness problem requires substantial investment, we cannot simply continue to increase spending and assume it will be contained, much less resolved. Adequately addressing homelessness requires action on a broad front, including support for multiple forms of housing and focused social services and treatment. This isn’t going to be accomplished on the cheap and there is no question that Seattle’s investments have helped people, but the millions of dollars spent demands evidence that we are meeting our goals to reduce and prevent homelessness. Without refocusing on good governance, massive investments offered by local and federal governments may yield disappointing results.

Good government is effective. It is a product of our ability to provide agencies with the resources they need to fulfill their mandates and our ability to keep track of their performance. It thrives on legitimate process and transparency. Poor governance is ineffective and unaccountable. If citizens lose faith in the capacity and willingness of their government to handle the problem of homelessness responsibly and competently, we will fail as a community.