Snohomish County’s homelessness reaches highest point since 2012
Snohomish County’s homeless population has reached its highest point since 2012, with nearly 1,300 people living unhoused. The county’s annual study revealed an 8.5% increase over the last year.
Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin finds the rise alarming. She believes the total number of people living unhoused in Snohomish County is an undercount due to how the survey was conducted back in late January.
“We’re counting people on one of the coldest nights of the year and they have to be voluntarily counted,” said Franklin. “There’s a lot of people we miss. So you can expect that number to be actually higher.”
The mayor believes the information is valuable but hopes additional research from Snohomish-based social workers can help answer other critical questions.
“What’s not always in that report is how many of those folks are struggling with behavioral health issues, mental illness, addiction,” said Franklin.
Wednesday night, Everett City Council passed two ordinances intended to curb this ongoing crisis. One ordinance would outlaw public drug use. The other ordinance gives the mayor power to create no sit, no lie buffer zones as needed. Mayor Franklin backed both.
“They are not going to solve the challenges that we have on our streets, but they just give us a couple more tools to help people get into treatment,” said Franklin.
