Seattle area's family homeless crisis continues as provider seeks new shelters

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(The Center Square) - A new shelter in Burien in King County, scheduled to open mid-next year, will add 200 beds for homeless families, but it will only meet a small portion of the overall demand for families living without stable housing.

Even with the new beds, Mary’s Place, a non-profit that provides temporary housing for homeless families in Seattle and King County, will have only about half the capacity it had to serve families in 2023, said CEO Dominic Alex. 

The CEO spoke with The Center Square after a new report from the King County Regional Homeless Authority last month highlighted the severity of the problem facing homeless families. 

Unsheltered family homelessness has increased dramatically since 2022, it found — from 1,253 individuals in 415 households to 2,224 individuals in 647 households in 2026.

Alex said the organization had 800 beds for families in 2023. It now has 365.

The CEO said her organization receives approximately 45 calls daily from homeless families seeking to move from living in tents and vehicles to more supportive housing. 

Alex said on most days, only one to three families can be helped.

“It’s been extremely difficult,” she said. "Our emergency intake specialists have been taking these calls every day, and families are in real stress, and they worry about keeping their children safe."

Alex said the decline in temporary family housing has occurred because of a decline in affordable available spaces to house the temporary shelters.  

The non-profit operates on a budget of around $30 million 

She cited her organization opening a temporary shelter in downtown Bellevue in December 2022 for 90 families.

Alex said the location was rented from the owners of a former Silver Cloud Inn at no cost, but it was clear from the beginning that the owners would eventually want the space back to convert the building to another use.

The shelter saw its last families move out in recent weeks as the owners took back control, she said. 

“Our Bellevue shelter closed when the building's owner needed it back for their own project, and we could not find a replacement,” Alex said. 

She said two smaller congregate sites also recently closed.

“Since the pandemic, shared sleeping spaces no longer meet the safety standards we hold for families, and in a constrained funding environment, they were expensive to operate per bed,” Alex said. 

A similar situation exists at the former Glen Hotel in downtown Seattle, which is being leased temporarily, she said.

Alex said St Mary’s Place will close the 140 beds at the location when the new shelter opens in Burien because the owner will want back the building.

But since the Glen Hotel is closing, she said, the total number of family beds will increase from the current 365 to only 425, still leaving Mary’s Place short to meet the need. 

She said the new Burien beds are also replacing a former family shelter space that had to be closed last year while the former hospital campus that will house the new shelter is being renovated. 

Alex said it's been harder recently to find landlords willing to rent buildings on a temporary basis, so her organization is focusing more on owning and operating its own shelters. 

She said that only $1 million more is needed to renovate the $37 million Burien campus, which is being funded by a variety of donations and grants. 

Besides the Burien campus, Alex said Mary’s plans also run a permanent family housing facility in conjunction with Amazon in the South Lake Union section of Seattle. 

Alex said the organization continues to offer help, through outreach workers, to families living in their tents and cars. 

“This is a continuing problem,” she said of unhoused families.

Alex said ultimately more funding is needed to provide more housing.

“We really need a solution as soon as possible,” she said.