ActionPlan

Pathways Home: Seattle’s Person-Centered Plan to Support People Experiencing Homelessness
The City of Seattle is one of the most prosperous
and innovative cities in the country. However, in
spite of that prosperity, Seattle is in the midst of a
crisis of homelessness. There has been a lot of
attention in recent months to those living on our
streets, camping under the freeway, and living in
their automobiles or RVs. Those discussions have
often neglected to acknowledge that people living
in those conditions are our neighbors and residents
of the City of Seattle. Like all residents, people
experiencing homelessness deserve to be honored
for their humanity and served in the best and most
Community Vision
“The U.S. Interagency Council on
Homelessness has looked at how Seattle
spends its money. For years, they have
urged us to adopt an approach that is
person‐centered, uses data to invest in
what works, and is aligned with our
federal partners. But our City has been
unable for decades to gather the political
courage to make this shift.”
‐‐Mayor Ed Murray
efficient means possible. The City of Seattle envisions that every resident benefit from the prosperity
and growth of our city and its economy. Our success as a city must be defined by how we care for our
most vulnerable residents.
In order to best serve and support people experiencing homelessness, we must make some difficult
decisions and adjustments. We can no longer continue to do what we have always done. Seattle’s
response to homelessness has grown organically over time. The result is an extensive collection of
individual programs without the coordination and integration necessary to function as a system focused
on ending someone’s experience of homelessness. Seattle is a city of innovation, and we must embrace
the spirit of change, create greater efficiencies, strengthen programs that are working, and discontinue
our support for programs that have proven to be ineffective at ending homelessness. We have
consulted with some of our nation's leading experts, have the best understanding of how our system is
working that we have ever had, learned from cities that have successfully made a difference in their
communities, and now we know what we must do. It is time to stop studying and begin acting. We
must have the political courage to make those difficult choices, keeping the best interest of those we
serve at the heart of all decisions. Our neighbors experiencing homelessness deserve for our
community to do better.
The vision of All Home King County is that homelessness is rare, racial disparities are eliminated, and if
one becomes homeless, it is brief and only a one‐time occurrence. 1 The City of Seattle joins in
supporting that vision. Every investment must be working towards that end. To make homelessness
brief and one‐time, we must provide each person with what is needed to gain housing stability as
quickly as possible. Access to housing must not be contingent upon being “housing ready.” We recognize
that the lack of housing can be a barrier that prevents people from accessing services to address their
1
All Home (formerly the Committee to End Homelessness) is a community‐wide partnership to make
homelessness in King County rare, brief and one‐time – http://allhomekc.org/the‐plan/
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