Brandy Lahue's voice cracked as she told a committee of state legislators what it was like to grow up homeless and what it had taken to end the cycle.
A young mother of a 3-year-old, Lahue said she had lived in cars or with friends most of her life, dropped out of high school and ended up in a violent relationship. She found Olympia's Community Youth Services and everything changed, she said.
"I just got a job yesterday," Lahue said, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I'm going to college and I never thought I would."
Lahue was one of three young people who told lawmakers their story at a first-of-its-kind hearing Jan. 27 in Olympia. The hearing was timed to coincide with the annual One Night Count, an annual county-by-county volunteer effort to determine how many people are homeless. This year's One Night Count took place in the early morning hours January 28.
Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney (D-Seattle), chair of the House's Community Development and Housing Committee, organized the hearing to brief legislators on the issues. Gov. Christine Gregoire proclaimed Jan. 27 as Homeless Awareness Day.
Volunteers with the Seattle-King County Coalition for the Homeless counted 2,442 individuals living outside or in cars, an 11 percent drop from last year's count.
There's also been a 15 percent decline in the number of chronic long-term homeless that Washington state saw between 2008 and 2009, Norm Suchar with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, told the panel.
Suchar credited Washington's success at bringing the numbers down to the state's focus on providing "housing first," where services like counseling are offered on site.
The bad news, Suchar and other participants said, is that homelessness and the factors that lead to it