This year’s tally of homeless unsheltered people during the One Night Count, 3,772, is discouraging news. At 9 a.m., Jan. 23, we began ringing a gong outside of Seattle City Hall for every person counted outdoors in King County by teams of volunteers organized by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness.
As homeless people, advocates, elected representatives and others took their five-minute turns with the mallet, we struggled to make meaning of this year’s astonishing 21 percent increase from last year in
unsheltered homeless people. ...