How COVID-19 is changing the future of homelessness in the Seattle area
By:
Jessie Cohen
and last updated 2021-06-01 12:18:57-04
SEATTLE, Wash. â As COVID-19 worsened throughout 2020, so did homelessness. During a time when preventing the spread of the virus was first priority, it was nearly impossible to shelter people in the same space.
Claudia Balducci, the Chair of the King County Council in Seattle, says COVID-19 changed the cities' response to homelessness.
âPeople realized pretty quickly that we couldnât continue to house folks in homelessness in these big congregate shelters where they were sleeping on mats on the floor or bunk beds in a big open room because it was too dangerous. There was too big a risk of transmission of the virus," Balducci said.