ANACORTES, Wash. — The latest count of homeless people in Skagit County is 535.
That's up 70% from a year ago, but outreach workers see reason for hope.
Twenty-one new affordable housing units will be on the market in Anacortes in July. It's a significant more step forward in breaking the cycle of poverty.
"Being able to provide housing that is affordable, accessible, close to jobs, close to services, close to healthcare is absolutely integral to saving families," says Dustin Johnson, executive director of the Anacortes Family Center (AFC).
The apartments are part of a continuum of care provided by the center and it's partners.
AFC is teaming with the local Boys & Girls Club to open an early learning center in the same building as the apartments.
A partnership with Community Action of Skagit County is bringing a resource center to help with job, mental health, and addiction services. It's part of a campus in downtown Anacortes that also offers emergency shelter as well as transitional and permanent housing.
"It's all links in the same chain," said Johnson. "If one link breaks, the entire chain is broken."
The rental vacancy rate in Skagit County is less than 1%. That's the lowest in the entire state.
Outreach workers say the lack of affordable housing is the biggest factor driving homelessness in the county.
"Housing is the key to homeless prevention in addition to addressing the immediate needs," said Elizabeth Jennings of Community Action of Skagit County.
Though the number of homeless people in the county is up, so is the success rate in finding people housing. About 84% of the people who come to the Anacortes Family Center have found permanent homes.
"For better or worse, I think people understand there is an issue that needs to be addressed and as a community we have to solve it," said Johnson.
Case in point, those 21 new affordable housing units are now a reality because the voters of Skagit County approved a one-tenth of a percent sales tax -- helping everyone become part of the solution.
"We can do more together than we can on our own," Jennings said.