OLYMPIA, Wash. — The growth rate in homelessness in Washington slowed in 2025, according to results from the annual Point In Time (PIT) count and the Department of Commerce’s Snapshot of Homelessness report. The number is still too high, said Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn.
On Jan. 30, 22,173 people were counted as experiencing homelessness in Washington, excluding King County’s unsheltered count, during the PIT count. Of those, 33% were experiencing unsheltered homelessness and 67% were experiencing sheltered homelessness in locations such as emergency shelters, transitional housing and Safe Haven. It’s a 4.4% increase since 2024 and a 25% increase overall since 2022. From 2023 to 2025, the rate of increase was 8.7%.
The growth rate was similarly slower and the overall count higher in Commerce’s Snapshot report, which combines client information from three state agency data systems to provide the most comprehensive estimate of the homeless and unstably housed population in the state. That report found 158,791 people in emergency shelters or unhoused in January 2025, a 2.2% increase from 155,356 in January 2024 and an 8.9% increase from 145,736 in January 2022. That data includes the King County figures…