Expanding shelter is critical — lasting solutions require investing in both high-support shelter and permanent supportive housing
DESC welcomes the City of Seattle’s and King County’s efforts to expand shelter capacity and invest in a more robust, responsive homelessness response system. Our community needs both immediate and long-term solutions, and that means investing in high-support shelter while also stabilizing and expanding permanent supportive housing. It is not “shelter versus housing”— it is both. We need a system that meets people where they are today while building clear, supported pathways to long-term stability.
This reflects the consistent stance DESC has maintained over more than 30 years of developing and operating permanent supportive housing. During that time, we created nearly 2,000 units of permanent housing while continuing to create and operate emergency shelter — recognizing that the need for immediate relief has remained high.
Many people living unsheltered in our communities are experiencing complex behavioral health conditions, including serious mental illness and substance use disorders. These individuals require more than many shelter models are typically designed to provide. Expanding low-barrier, high-impact shelter — designed with skilled staff and strong connections to personalized medical and behavioral health care, including support and treatment for people experiencing substance use disorder — is essential to meeting this need.
As the City and County move forward, it will be critical to ensure that the level of support in these settings is sufficient to match the acuity of the people being served.
At the same time, shelters for people with high needs must be closely connected to supportive housing. When shelters are equipped to provide stability and perform comprehensive needs assessments, they can serve as an effective bridge to permanent supportive housing. But without reliable pathways out of shelter, progress stalls, system capacity shrinks, and people are left without options. Seattle and King County do not currently have enough high-support shelter or supportive housing — and we need to expand both in tandem to create a system that works.
DESC is partnering in this work. We continue to operate more than 350 beds to temporarily accommodate people with the highest needs. At the City’s request, we have identified opportunities to quickly add shelter capacity within our existing programs and have shared additional options that could be developed with further coordination. While shelter expansion is not a core focus of our current strategic plan, the scale of need in our community — and our experience serving people with complex behavioral health needs — makes it clear that we have a role to play.
We are also encouraged by King County’s commitment to exploring new, dedicated revenue sources to support the building, siting, preservation, maintenance, and operations of emergency shelter and affordable housing. We are committed to being part of a solution that ensures no one is left outside without care, support, and a path to housing.