DESC 2025 Annual Report
DESC helps people with the complex needs of homelessness, substance use disorders, and serious mental illness achieve their highest potential for health and well-being through comprehensive services, treatment, and housing.
Our vision is a community where all people are shown compassion, treated with dignity, and everyone has a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home. In 2025, we moved 327 people into permanent supportive housing, with 98% of all clients retaining their homes after one year — evidence of the stability DESC provides.
This year was also a big year for growth at DESC as we opened multiple new facilities to serve single adults experiencing chronic homelessness, substance use disorder, and physical and mental disabilities. We opened Steven’s Place, our 18th permanent supportive housing location, in the Interbay neighborhood in Seattle — now home to 109 tenants.
We also opened the Opioid Recovery & Care Access (ORCA) Center, an innovative, judgement-free space for individuals to stabilize after an overdose and receive treatment for opioid use disorder. Located in the relocated and revamped Downtown Behavioral Health Clinic, ORCA had 1,311 service visits from community members within four months of opening.
Finally, we opened the Stability Through Access & Resources (STAR) Center, an innovative, non-congregate shelter designed for our most vulnerable neighbors to get connected to the services they need most. In 2025, STAR served 248 individuals.
Read the full 2025 Annual Report here!2025 in Review:
- 2,063 total people housed in DESC permanent supportive housing
- 6,569 total people served in behavioral health, entry-level survival services, or supportive housing
- 1,539 people received treatment for substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder
Permanent Supportive Housing
DESC operated nearly 2,000 units of permanent supportive housing across Seattle and Burien in 2025, across 18 project-based programs. All DESC permanent supportive housing locations feature 24/7 onsite support staff and integrated clinical and behavioral health services.
We advanced development of two additional permanent supportive housing locations — Clover Place, a 95-unit building located in Woodland neighborhood of Seattle, and Birch Grove, a 120-unit building located in Lake City.
DESC also manages 40+ master-leased, market-rate scattered-site units, where tenants receive intensive case management and other support as needed. DESC also supports another 250+ clients in private-market scattered-site units with case management and rent subsidies controlled by DESC.
- 1,967 units of permanent supportive housing
- 98% of people remained in their housing after one year
- 2,063 people housed in permanent supportive housing
Outpatient Behavioral Health Services
DESC provides a variety of outpatient behavioral health and medical services, both in clinics and via outreach in the community. Programs include:
- SAGE (Support, Advocacy, Growth, and Employment)
- HOST (Homelessness Outreach Stabilization and Transition)
- PACT (Program of Assertive Community Treatment)
- SUD (Substance Use Disorder treatment)
- COAT (Community Outreach and Advocacy Team)
- ORCA POD (Patient Outreach Division) for opioid use disorder treatment via the ORCA program
DESC served 1,875 people across all outpatient behavioral health programs in 2025.
- 61% of PSH tenants enrolled in one or more behavioral health programs
- 96% average retention rate across all programs after 90 days
Behavioral Health Crisis Response
DESC responds to individuals in behavioral health crisis who may otherwise not receive help or
would be taken to an expensive alternative such as jail, an emergency room, or a psychiatric
hospital.
Programs include DESC’s Crisis Solutions Center (CSC) and the King-County funded Mobile
Rapid Response Crisis Team (MRRCT). 2,475 clients were assisted by DESC’s mobile crisis response in 2025.
Shelter and Emergency Housing
DESC emergency housing is a low barrier program that provides rooms for single adults experiencing chronic homelessness. We offer basic amenities and safe, private, dignified spaces in which people can temporarily live while they search for permanent housing.
In 2025, DESC operated 2 emergency housing sites and 3 shelters, providing services for 932 individuals.
Emergency Housing:
- Mary Pilgrim Inn
- The Gateway in Honor of Tenaya Wright
Shelter:
- West Wing Shelter
- Kerner-Scott House
- STAR Center
We also opened the STAR Center, a service-rich, non-congregate shelter designed to support adults facing chronic homelessness and complex behavioral health challenges.
Community Support
Financials
Find 2025 financial information in the full 2025 Annual Report.