Housing Needs and the Hard Realities We Face

Reality: Demand Continues to Exceed Supply

The need for affordable and supportive housing still far outweighs what’s available. The housing pool, a quasi-wait list for people in need of housing support, shows that in January, the supply of affordable and supportive housing is only enough for about one out of five people who need it.

Funding Gap Slows Progress

Right now, local organizations have requested $27 million for housing and support programs next year, but the health department’s available housing program budget in 2027 is around $14 million, which is 20% less than what we had available in 2026. This is a perfect storm situation where multiple key funding sources are declining or flatlining, while the cost of everything keeps going up.

Progress can feel so slow, and limited and reduced funding is a factor. Housing organizations in our community are doing incredible work and  Hundreds of our neighbors are housed each year; yet hundreds more fall into homelessness or remain stuck on waiting lists.

Reasons for Hope

Despite significant challenges, real progress is happening:

• New housing units are opening: Several new affordable housing buildings have welcomed residents in recent months, with more coming next year.
• Rent prices are stabilizing: The rapid rise in local rent costs has finally started to slow down.
• A clear plan forward: Our 2026–2030 Homeless Housing Plan prioritizes creation of both affordable housing and expanding emergency shelter beds.

How We Measure Homelessness

Counting people without a fixed address is inherently difficult. To get a more accurate picture, our annual Snapshot on Homelessness pulls from multiple data sources, including the Point in Time Count, Housing Pool, and McKinney-Vento K-12 student homelessness. We are mindful that behind every statistic is a person. These are more than numbers. These are human beings.

Point In Time Numbers in Context

The annual Point in Time (PIT) count takes place on the same night in January across the country. Our PIT data show a 3% increase in the total number of people counted, to 840 in 2026.

Because the PIT is a snapshot of one night in January, and it’s impossible to find and count everyone without a home, small fluctuations from one year to the next are normal. It’s important to look at multiple years to know what is an outlier and what is a trend.

In general, we believe the number of homeless people in Whatcom County has remained more or less steady for the last three years. This PIT Count chart shows the high number of people counted in 2023, followed by a drop in 2024 and steady levels through  2025 and 2026.

• Sheltered homelessness means someone is staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing.
• Unsheltered means someone is sleeping outside, in a tent/car, or similar situation.

Technicality Excluded One Tiny Home Village as a Shelter

At first glance, PIT data shows a 30% increase in unsheltered homelessness compared to last year, at 435 people, and a 15% decrease in sheltered homelessness to 405 people. But the details behind these numbers are important.

The increase in unsheltered homelessness is due, in part, to the strict definitions the Washington State Department of Commerce uses for what constitutes shelter. New this year is that one of our local tiny home villages doesn’t officially qualify as 'shelter' because it moved to a new location where showers are shared among a few more people. If not for the technicality, these 30 people would be counted as sheltered.

This highlights the challenges we face when different programs use different definitions of ‘shelter,’ and the wide range of housing arrangements whose definitions don’t necessarily reflect the many different experiences of homelessness.

Point-in-Time Notable Numbers and Trends

The Point in Time Count is useful to track trends over time. We continue to see that mental illness plays a big role in whether someone is homeless. Out of every 10 responses, four say they are unhoused and living with mental health issues. Another three in ten chose not to answer the question, and three more said they did not have mental health issues.

Demographics also continue to show that most people who are homeless are single adults, making up about six out of 10 homeless people in Whatcom County.

In addition to counting individuals, the PIT asks about other household members. Families with both adults and children under 18 make up nearly 1 in 10 households counted, 8 percent of the total. These families represent 162 people, or 20 percent of the total individuals.

Unhoused People by Age, Point in Time Count

We saw a 14% increase in homeless seniors (over the age of 60) from the previous year, and this group now represents about one in seven unhoused people in Whatcom County, 128 people, or 15 percent of the total number of people.

K-12 Homeless Students and the McKinney-Vento Act

The number of K-12 students who experienced homelessness in Whatcom County at some point in the last school year reached a new high, and is now 1,447. This is approximately twice the number reported five years ago.

Whatcom County Homeless K-12 Students, McKinney-Vento Data

This data is based on information from the Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction and their more inclusive definition of homelessness from the McKinney-Vento Act.

This more inclusive definition means there’s no minimum amount of time a child must be in these circumstances before qualifying. It also includes a broader definition of being homeless. It includes things like ‘couch surfing,’ being ‘doubled up’ by sharing housing with friends or family temporarily, staying in a hotel or motel, and sleeping in a shelter, car, or outside in a tent, doorway, or similar situation.

Supporting Immediate Needs and Long-Term Solutions

We’re supporting ‘up stream’ prevention programs to address the root causes of homelessness and prevent someone from becoming homeless in the first place, while also funding ‘down stream’ programs that provide emergency shelter and meet immediate needs.

Upstream programs are investing resources in building and maintaining affordable housing, prevention programs, and short-term rental assistance to reduce the number of people who become homeless in the first place.

For example, over $1 million from the Healthy Children’s Fund has been used to support families at risk of homelessness by connecting them with local resources and services, helping them find and move into sustainable housing, and create stability plans before they enter into homeless shelters or unsheltered homelessness.

Capital investments made in recent years are funding construction of new units of affordable housing:

• Cedar Commons Phase 1 opened in June with 65 affordable units for families with children. Phase 2 in 2027 will add another 64 units of housing for seniors 62 and older.
• Lake Whatcom Treatment Center is developing another 37 units of permanent supportive housing for people with behavorial health challenges.
• Sean Humphrey House will add 6-8 units of supportive housing later this year for low-income people living with HIV.
• In July 2026, Lydia Place opened a new permanent supportive housing unit for large families exiting homelessness.
• Last year, the YWCA opened a new shelter for pregnant people and parents with young children.

These new buildings are helping our community steadily increase the dedicated affordable housing supply in Whatcom County, which we believe will both help prevent homelessness and provide paths out of it. We know this is a long-standing issue, and that’s why our 2026-2030 Five-Year Homeless Housing Plan dedicates funds to increasing the number of low-barrier shelter beds by at least 60 and affordable housing units by about 250 over the next few years. An update on our progress in 2026 will be published on our website in early 2027.

About Our Data Sources

We use multiple data sources to create the most comprehensive picture possible for the annual homelessness snapshot.

• Point in Time Count - A nationwide count of people who are homeless and sleeping outside or in a shelter, done on the same night across the United States. The PIT Count is required to receive federal and state funding.
• Housing Pool - A quasi-wait list of people who are homeless or staying in an emergency shelter. It is operated by the Opportunity Council in coordination with other housing providers to create a single ‘front door’ for people, and prioritizes services for people who need help most urgently. It is different from the Housing Authority waitlist.
• McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Count - A federal law that stipulates how homeless K-12 students are counted and receive support. It has a more inclusive definition of homelessness.

For More Information

Visit our Homelessness and Housing webpage for more information about Health and Community Services programs and to read our 5-year homeless housing plan.

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