Here’s what the Seattle area has and hasn’t done to protect its homeless population from coronavirus – Seattle Times

When the novel coronavirus killed its first U.S. victim in King County,local officials knew thatthespreadingvirusposed unique risksto the more than 11,100 people inthe Seattle areawho do not have homes,and, in many cases,access to basic hygiene services.

To date, shelter outbreaks in cities like San Francisco and Boston outpace whats been seen in the Seattle area. But while thecity and the county have worked to create new resources to protect the regions homeless population, the response still falls short of what experts and homeless service providers say is needed.

City and county efforts have focused on three areas: opening new overnight shelters to decrease crowding in existing shelters, creating isolation, quarantine and recovery units,and installing additional hygiene services for people living outside.

Heresa lookat how Seattleand the surrounding regions efforts to protect homelesspeoplefrom COVID-19 compare to other municipalities,and how far the city and county have come inaccomplishingtheir plans.

Use the bottom right blue arrow to scroll through the graphic.

In a matter of days in March, many of the hygiene services relied on by people surviving outside disappeared.

On March 12, the city of Seattle announced the closure of many public facilities to limit gatherings.Within 24 hours, Seattles homeless population lost 27 public librariesthat have reliable public restrooms.Atthe same time,the city closed sixcommunity centers and pools, which normally offer shower programs.

Less than a weeklater,thefast food joints, coffee shops and restaurantsthathad restroomshomeless people could sometimes useclosedby state executive order.

Ittookthe city two weeks after closinglibraries,poolsand community centersto add six new hand-washing stations and 14 portable toilets in sixoutdoorlocationsnearexisting homelessencampments, according to the city.

Since the start of the crisis, the city has kept its park restroom facilities open in more than 100 parks,according to city data. Its also opened five communitycenterswith limited,daytimehourstooffershower services.

Butadvocatesand homeless service providers saythe efforts arefar from enough.A local hepatitis Aoutbreakhas been growing over the last several months,andin March King County sawcase numbersthat totaled altogether those of thelast fivemonths of 2019.Nearly halfwere amonghomeless people.

What we are seeing unfold in our city is a truly shocking experience,Seattle/King CountyCoalition on Homelessness executive director Alison Eisinger told the Seattle City Councilthisweek.

Deputy Mayor Casey Sixkiller told the council that the city had struggled withkeeping the sites clean and preventing hand-sanitizer theft. Each new hygiene site cost $35,000 a month tomaintain, Sixkiller said.

But we are working through it and obviously acknowledge that more work is to be done, Sixkillersaid.

One ofexpertsearliest concerns for people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic wasthatcrowded conditions insidecongregateshelters, where sometimes peoplesleepon mats just 6 inches apart, would contribute to the spread of the disease.

Many people in these shelters were already vulnerable.Among homelessKing County residentssurveyed in 2019,more than a quarter said they struggled with a chronic health condition.

The city and countyhavefaceda massive undertakingover the last six weeks:One study by leading homelessness researchersestimated that the city and county would need 9,089 new units to decrease crowding in shelters and bring new people inside.

So far, the county has confirmed 27 positive COVID-19 cases among 12 shelters tested, including two clusters of six and 12 cases respectively. On Friday, San Francisco announced that 70 people, including two staffers, at a shelter had tested positive.

But while the city and county have created hundreds of largerspaces for existing shelter clients to prevent these kinds of outbreaks, they have thus far been unable to open a fraction of the new shelter units experts say are needed to bring new people, who arent already living in shelters, inside.

On March 25, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a press release that the county and city have worked to deploy every measure we can to help our neighbors experiencing homelessness, including expanding shelter capacity to nearly 1,900 spaces.

This is a breakdown ofwhatsome ofthose1,900spacesmean,though it does not include the countys new efforts this week to move 400 people in shelters into hotel units and pay for more. These are how many of the 1,900 spaces were available as of April9:

Source: city of Seattle and King County

*first announced on March 5

Though the city saidearlylastmonth that 95units would becomeavailable to shelteras many as 100new people within two to three weeks,the citynow projects that the units will open in mid- to late April. Five pallets, however, have been added to Chief Seattle Clubs Eagle Village site, according to county Department of Community and Human Services spokesperson Sherry Hamilton.

The citycontendsthat it has created new shelter spaces byadding more services to spaces that already had shelter clients. Setting up expanded spaces and new units while maintaining capacity,mitigatinghealth risks at all of our other shelter locations and adjusting to staffing reductions due to COVID-19 is unprecedented,mayoralspokespersonKamariaHightower saidby email.

Adding the new shelter units is complicated by staffing challengesas well as issues accessing construction and maintenance services during the statewide stayhome order, Hightower added.

For more than a month, we have been asking for additional state and federal resources for mass sheltering, Hightower said. Thecity simply doesnt have the resources to surge to the capacity we need without personnel and supports.

Even shelters where people are sleeping 6 feet apart are still at high risk of outbreaks spreading, according to Dr. Stephen Hwang, a researcher at the University of Toronto who has studied respiratory illnesses and their spread in shelters.

Theres constant mingling, in the bathroom, in the hallways, at meal time, Hwang said. You can make them safer, but you can never make them as safe as we would like them to be.

A better option, according to Hwang, is moving people into individual hotel and motel units.

On April 3, Californias Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would useFEMAfunding tomove thousands of the states homeless population into hotels.

Washington state does not have a similar initiative, though the Department of Commerce announced in March that it would distribute at least $250,000in grant fundingto each county thatwasorganizinga homelessness response, which could include placing people in hotels.King County has applied for FEMA funding to reimburse the costs of hotels, trailers, modular units and more.

King County provided 60 vouchers for vulnerable shelter residents to stay in hotels in late February and early March, and as of this week, started moving400 vulnerable people into hotels. The Downtown Emergency Service Center also began moving 200 people into hotel units this week with county money. While the city of Seattle has used hotel units to house first responders, and council members have discussed the idea, a spokesperson for Durkan told The Seattle Times in early April that theoptionwas cost-prohibitive, among other concerns like the availability of staffing and wraparound services.

Over the last month, thecounty hasopenedthree quarantine and isolation facilities for people who are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, tested positive, or believe they have been exposed:amotelin Kent,a modular site inNorth Seattle and a hotel in Issaquah. In addition,Harborview MedicalCenter isoperatingan isolation and quarantine site at HarborviewHall.

Out of these four locations, 150 rooms were available to accept peopleas ofFriday.

The county said it is working to remove carpet at the hotels tomeet sanitation standardsbeforeanadditional51rooms canbe opened.A modular site in White Center that could house 31 people is still in progress.

Scott Greenstone contributed reporting to this story.

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Here's what the Seattle area has and hasn't done to protect its homeless population from coronavirus - Seattle Times