📈 County homelessness keeps growing

New Report: Homelessness In King County Keeps Growing

King County Regional Homelessness Authority has released a preliminary report on its annual Point-in-Time and housing inventory count. The report gives a window into the number of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in the county on a given night. This year, the report found a nine percent increase in overall homelessness, and a 21 percent increase in the number of people living unsheltered. [KCRHA Report]

• Need exceeds resources: While the report says the growth in the number of people experiencing homelessness is slowing, it still continues to rise. And, more people are becoming newly homeless or returning to homelessness than are getting housing. There are 18,365 people experiencing homelessness in King County, of whom 11,829 were unsheltered. This means the need for shelter and housing is still not being met by the resources available. [KCRHA Report]
• Homelessness disproportionately impacts people of color: Every non-white racial group was overrepresented among the homeless population. For example, Native and Indigenous people make up 0.4 percent of the county population but 4.2 percent of all unhoused people in the county. Unsheltered family homelessness has also increased over the last four years— from 415 households to 647 households.
• Shelter beds decrease while housing increases: The number of shelter beds in the county decreased by nearly 12 percent over the past year, in part because of a reduction in family shelter beds. Meanwhile, the number of permanent supportive housing units increased by 155 last year and 561 in 2025. King County currently has approximately one shelter bed for every three people experiencing homelessness. We will be discussing the report more in depth on Monday’s podcast episode 🎧, so stay tuned.

🪫 Big tech creates surge in renewable energy projects: Our state has strong decarbonization laws and this is resulting in a surge in renewable energy projects funded by big tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft. This comes as these companies require more and more energy to fuel data centers. Potential solutions range from massive solar farms and ocean-wave-based tech to attempts at nuclear fusion and small modular nuclear reactors. [KUOW]

📍 A guide to Seattle hip-hop history: Our city has a rich hip-hop history. With Sir Mix-a-Lot recently resharing a map of the full route from Posse on Broadway, Gary Campbell’s free zine Seattle Hip-Hop Walking Map is perfectly timed. The zine is part of Common AREA Maintenance's Pocket Neighborhood Guide series (which I also made a zine about KRAB-FM for), you can snag these on July 2 at the Pioneer Square Art Walk. [South Seattle Emerald]

💸 Capital gains tax brings in $1.5 billion: Despite fears that the wealthiest Washingtonians are leaving for less-tax-burdened pastures, the amount generated by the fiscal year 2026 capital gains tax far exceeded forecasts – appearing to triple compared to last year. In other words, the richest in WA are gaining wealth faster than tax estimations can account for. Or, as Danny Westneat writes, despite the state economy’s “funk,” “there’s no funk at the top.” [Seattle Times]