KC 5yr Plan 2025_Draft - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

2 Executive Summary The Homeless Housing 5-Year Planning Committee organized five focus groups facilitated by an external facilitator, Robin Read. The purpose of the focus groups was to gain the perspective of the community about homelessness and related issues, and to inform the development of community priorities that can be addressed in the 5-Year Plan. The focus groups ranged from four to eight participants each and were made up of community members, people with lived experience with homelessness, law enforcement and local government, service providers, and students, faculty, and staff from Central Washington University. Participation in the focus group questions and activities was robust and all attendees actively participated throughout the duration of the sessions. Focus Group Questions The focus groups explored the following questions: Is the homelessness problem in Kittitas County better, worse, or the same than 5 years ago? Why? Overall, across the focus groups participants tended to feel that the problem has either stayed the same or gotten worse. Some participants weren’t sure due to lack of knowledge about the problem, or limited time in the community. Many felt that the problem is more visible than it used to be and there are more services available which is why it may seem like it has gotten worse. People generally felt that more needs to be done to address the issue. Participants cited increased costs, poverty, housing costs, and unemployment or low wages as the primary reasons for increases. In a community survey, behavioral health services (mental health and substance use disorder) and job training and employment services were listed as priorities for individuals experiencing homelessness. Does this resonate with you? Are these priorities? Why or why not? Participants tended to agree that these are priorities, but lots of people expressed concern that housing and basic needs aren’t considered priorities first. It was expressed that basic needs like housing, food, and clothing have to be addressed before individuals can address behavioral health and/or employment. Substance use disorder was a common theme among the groups as something that is common problem for many people who experience homelessness. Unwillingness to participate and limited availability are listed as the top barriers to accessing services. How can we address these barriers? While some participants agreed that these are barriers, many listed other barriers that they felt are more prominent, such as complicated processes and stigma and judgment. Many participants took issue with the fact that many of the survey respondents selected “unwillingness to participate” because there are many factors that go into someone not participating in services (i.e. stigma, poor treatment, lack of documentation needed, barriers to accessing services, etc.) Common ideas for addressing barriers were reducing judgment of people accessing services, having personal advocates or peer advocates who can help people walk through the system, and increasing accessibility of mental health services. What are your barriers to accessing services? What was successful/what worked well? (for people with lived experience) Barriers listed by people with lived experience included addiction, experiencing negative judgment, having a criminal history, not having