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4 Background As part of the Homeless Housing 5-Year planning process, the planning committee conducted a community survey that was filled out by anybody in the community. After reviewing the results of the survey, the committee wished to gather more qualitative information about homelessness in Kittitas County. As a result, the committee decided to hire an independent facilitator to run five focus groups to gather opinions, thoughts, and ideas about homelessness in Kittitas County. The perspectives gained will help inform priorities for the 5-Year Plan. Methods The five focus groups were held between November 5th and November 8th, 2024 in the HopeSource training room and on the Central Washington University campus. x People with Lived Experience with Homelessness: 5 participants x Service Providers: 5 participants (Ellensburg Public Library, Kittitas County Public Health Department, HopeSource, Kittitas County Recovery Community Organization, APOYO) x Law Enforcement/Local Government: 4 participants (Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office, Kittitas Police Department, Ellensburg Police Department, City of Ellensburg) x Community Members: 6 participants x Central Washington University: 8 participants (students, faculty, and staff) Participants were given a list of the focus group questions as well as an information sheet/consent form prior to the meetings. The first few minutes was spent doing brief introductions including an icebreaker question, going over the focus group format and participation guidelines, and collecting consent forms (Appendix A). The questions and prompts that were asked of the focus groups were mostly in an open discussion format or a round robin format. The facilitator frequently called upon participants to ensure equitable participation. Some questions involved some individual brainstorming and then sharing top ideas with the group. Each focus group was recorded and the recordings sent to a transcriptionist for transcribing. The transcriptionist transcribes for content and meaning and leaves out language fillers and unrelated conversations. (Quotes provided may not be word for word.) The facilitator then reviewed the transcriptions, identified themes where appropriate, and used them to provide the results in this report.