King County providers and national partners briefed the Health, Housing and Human Services Committee on Sept. 11, highlighting measurable reductions in youth homelessness in Washington and describing programmatic approaches that contributed to that decline — while warning that federal and state funding cuts and administrative changes threaten recent gains.

Casey Troop of North 40 and Mark Putnam of the YMCA Social Impact Center told the committee Washington saw about 10,000 fewer young people experiencing homelessness between 2016 and 2022, and that the graduation rate for students experiencing homelessness rose by 37 percent in the same period. Troop said Washington has made notable progress “focusing on young people coming out of systems of care” including youth exiting foster care, corrections and inpatient behavioral health settings; those exits into homelessness have declined roughly 29 percent in recent years.

Presenters credited coordinated prevention strategies, expanded diversion and flexible financial assistance, targeted programs (including LifeSet for youth exiting systems), transitional housing, and school‑based interventions such as an Upstream prevention pilot for Rainier Beach High School as contributors to the drop in counts. Putnam described a coalition of providers that shares shelter space, runs mobile crisis teams for youth and operates outreach and wraparound services.

Speakers also described data limitations: youth homelessness is often undercounted and mobility of young people complicates tracing and measurement. To address that, the coalition is pursuing a Built for Zero approach with a by‑name list to match each young person in the system to housing resources.

Providers told the committee they face multiple funding threats: state and federal grant reductions, programmatic restrictions in some federal solicitations (which limited applications for Runaway and Homeless Youth Act funding this year), rising personnel and construction costs, and the ending or reduction of specific grants such as Lifeset and other supportive services. Putnam and Troop said small, flexible funds — often modest one‑time payments — are highly effective in preventing homelessness for youth: “Small amounts of funds that are targeted…have been exceptionally effective,” Troop said, noting one provider success story of a young person who entered transitional housing and later secured employment, education and stable housing.

The presenters provided a list of local gaps and suggested investments for county consideration; committee members responded by noting the strong return on upstream prevention. Committee members asked the presenters for additional detail about shelter turnaways and the regional implications of shelter closures; providers said demand has risen at Auburn shelters and that closures in neighboring Pierce County have increased demand across county lines.

What’s next: Presenters asked the county to prioritize prevention‑focused investments, maintain partnerships with state and federal funders, and consider modest, predictable allocations to preserve effective local programs. The committee received the briefing with interest and pledged to continue examining funding and policy responses during the budget process.