Methodology

The main purpose of the PSH/PH Landscape is to give advocates, providers, policy-makers, and other community members a tool to help increase access to housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness. The tool does this by providing data on housing supply needs and funding needs.

The primary sources for information depicted in this map are direct information from providers, King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s (KCRHA) System Performance dashboard, and the annual HUD Housing Inventory Count Report for CoC’s in the state of Washington. Secondary sources include provider websites, Google Maps, and other publicly available sources. We recognize that data from our two primary sources are limited because they only include properties and programs that are funded by these sources. Our goal is to include all relevant properties and programs within the five housing categories in Washington state. If you notice a property or program that is missing from our data, please reach out to us through the Data Inquiry form.

ACRONYM DEFINITIONS

PSH – Permanent Supportive Housing

PH – Permanent Housing

KCRHA – King County Regional Homelessness Authority

HUD – (Federal Government Department of) Housing and Urban Development

CoC - Continuum of Care

DATA UPDATE FREQUENCY

Data updates from the KCRHA System Performance Dashboard is conducted whenever the dashboard is updated which is several times per year. The HUD Housing Inventory Count data is updated annually. Lunous reaches out to providers for validation of data and updates at least once every six months. Most recent updates are:

KCRHA – System Performance dashboard. Sourced through HMIS, updated on 3/1/2023. The reporting timeframe is from 1/1/2022 to 12/31/2022.

HUD – HUD Housing Inventory Count Report for CoC’s in the state of Washington 2022.

Providers - Lunous last reached out to providers in January 2023, the next round of outreach will be conducted in Summer 2023.

DATA SOURCES

Continuum of Care

As defined by HUD, we have included Continuum of Care entities across Washington state. These CoCs form the geographical basis for this tool.

Homeless Population

These homeless population numbers are sourced from the annual HUD Point in Time (PIT) count of people experiencing homelessness.

PSH/PH Operational Units

These numbers have been sourced through multiple different methods, including directly through contact with providers, provider websites, the HUD Housing Inventory Count, and the KCRHA Performance Dashboard.

PSH/PH In Pipeling Units

These numbers have been sourced through direct contact to providers and information gathered from provider websites.

PSH/PH Total Needed

This datapoint is a combination of two other datapoints. For this we have added the total unmet need (people experiencing chronic homelessness) to the total existing supply (PSH/PH Operational Units).

PSH/PH Gap

Is equivalent to the unmet need, which is the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness sourced from the HUD PIT Count.

Capital Cost Gap

This number multiplies the cost of PSH/PH units by the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness. The estimated cost per unit is $284,200 based on an estimate proposed by Seattle City Council after a change in regulation around PSH. Read more about that HERE.

Annual Operating Cost Gap

The annual operating cost gap multiplies the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness by the annual operating cost per unit, which is currently estimated to be $19487.50. This number is based on the operating budgets reported by providers and is then averaged.