1. Kittitas County 5-Year Homelessness Plan 2025-2030

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Results Question 1: ls the hometessness probtem in Kittitas County better, worse, or the same than 5 years ago? WhY? People with Lived Experience: Participant responses were mixed. A couple of peopte fett it has stayed the same based on the fact that peopte are generalty getting services and moving atong through the system. One person sees a positive change but feets like more needs to be done. There was discussion of the barriers that peopte experience in accessing services as wetl as the impact of substance use disorder. . "lt seems tike peopte in the shetter have been processed and moved atong. For us personatty, they have moved along fairty fast." . "l do see a better change, but I do feet like it needs to be improved more....l do feel there needs to be some more services or thought put into temporary housing." . "A tot of times, addicts don't get sober because they're on the streets....They may want hetp and want to get sober but it's hard to stay sober on the streets." Service Providers: Most participants fett the probtem isworse, with one saying they don't know. Their opinions were primarity based on community observations and the visibitity of people experiencing homelessness. There was some discussion about the cost of tiving, cost of housing, and diverse economic backgrounds being contributing factors. There were atso several comments about a more recent dip in services in the past few months potentialty attributabte to peopte not being etigibte for services. . "When I've driven around town in the last two years, it's more visibte. You can see more people. ". "l do think it's worse because there's some community fatigue, tess toterance, and maybe exhaustion in terms of hetping and finding solutions." . "l see more individuats who are transient, and who identify as living in their cars, compared to previous years." Law EnforcementlLocal Government: Generatty, participants fett the probtem is worse based on the number of taw enforcement catts seen. One participant said that based on the data and usage of the cotd weather shetter, the probtem has stayed the same. There was discussion about what the definition is of "the hometessness probtem"-is it the number of peopte affected, or the impacts experienced by the community? One participant fett the probtem is worse based on the community impacts. . "Overatt, I haven't seen a steep rise, but that's onty from the perspective of those that are using the shetter." . "My onty observation...is tistening to KITTCOM, the number of catts they have regarding hometessness or transient individuals. " . "What exactty is the'hometessness problem'?...|s it the impacts as they're experienced by the community and that we hear about in [aw enforcement, or is it the fact that there are people who struggte with not having a home?" . "lt doesn't seem like a steep inctine over the last five years. lt's not a whote [ot, but it definitety feets tike you see more." 5