The organization recommends the following immediate actions for King County and Seattle to implement: 

• Allocate all unrestricted funds towards treatment and recovery programs in order to help homeless people reach self-sufficiency.
• Redirect 20% of homelessness and housing funding towards emergency treatment responses.
• Create two clinical tracks that service providers would be required to align with.

The policy plan broadly centers on a treatment-first approach. That contrasts King County and Seattle’s current housing-first philosophy.

In fact, the Discovery Institute’s policy plan blames three policies in place that have worsened the homelessness crisis: halting treatment requirements, redistributing funds away from an emergency response and towards permanent supportive housing, and utilizing a “one-size-fits-all” approach to various Seattle populations with varying needs.

A housing-first regional strategy in King County is estimated to cost $450 million to $1.1 billion per year over the next 10 years in order to boost housing to sufficient levels in order to address the crisis, according to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

To put that in perspective, KCRHA’s 2024 budget totals $250 million, more than 44% less than the minimum $450 million the agency estimates is necessary.

The Discovery Institute’s policy plan instead recommends public and private funding should be prioritized to enable the most effective nonprofit organizations to dramatically expand the number of beds accompanied with treatment services in Seattle.

According to the organization, redirecting 20% of homeless and housing funding toward emergency treatment services would immediately result in bringing 25% of the unsheltered population indoors.

A number of leaders in Washington are also looking for the state to utilize a treatment-first approach to addressing homelessness. The Center Square previously reported on government officials across Washington signing a policy pledge that prioritizes a treatment-first approach to lowering the state’s rate of homelessness.

The 2024 point-in-time, or PIT, count conducted in January found that 16,385 people experiencing homelessness in King County. That is an all-time high for the region and a 23% increase from the previous count in 2022.

King County is the most populous county in Washington state with approximately 2.3 million people. It is important to note that the PIT count is widely known to be an undercount of the actual number of unhoused people within a certain area.

Seattle’s homelessness crisis is the third worst in the country, trailing Los Angeles (71,320) and New York City (88,025).

“Simply put, people should receive services that give them the highest chance of recovery and transition out of homelessness,” the policy plan states. “Short-term emergency services and family reunification for treatment should be provided for those who began experiencing homelessness outside of King County and have no direct connection to the area.”