Pierce County Human Services recently reported that the county’s homelessness-response system has served nearly 17,500 people through the first three quarters of 2024.
During a Nov. 13 Pierce County Council Select Committee on Homelessness meeting , social service supervisor Devon Isakson reported data from the beginning of 2024 through September. In that time frame, the county reported serving 17,493 individuals, 1,164 more than through the same months the previous year.
“That is a big number, but it does include interventions such as prevention, which is not literal homelessness,” Isakson told the committee.
According to the data, the largest service used by more than 7,000 individuals has been the diversion program provided through Coordinated Entry. Coordinated Entry is considered the “front door” to the region’s homelessness-response system, and the diversion program aims to give one-time assistance to those at risk of homelessness.
Diversion can often come in the form of cash assistance to prevent someone from becoming unhoused. Diversion solutions are unique to each person’s situation and can be used to pay for a deposit on a new apartment or even travel costs to help someone stay with family in a different state. According to data from Human Services, diversions makeup 41% of the interventions offered by the homelessness-response system.