Tackling Homelessness and Changing Lives with the Jobs and Housing Project

Why this investment?

Considered the original epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, King County’s interlocking challenges of unemployment, homelessness, and economic insecurity were starkly revealed—and exacerbated—by the pandemic. In King County, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous populations are disproportionately homeless. The 2022 Point-in-Time Count found that American Indian/Alaska Native people made up just one percent of the population, but 9 percent of the homelessness population; Black people are 7 percent of the Seattle/King County population, but 25 percent of the homeless population; and Latinx people are 10 percent of the population, but 17 percent of the homeless population.
Guided by an Equity and Social Justice strategic framework, King County was the first in the nation to launch a countywide equity approach in 2008, and immediately sought to target efforts to residents most impacted by the pandemic and systemic inequities, including its homeless population. ARPA provided an opportunity to pilot a new, potentially transformative program model grounded in the theory that the right supports could alleviate homelessness. The County decided to couple major supports by providing subsidized employment with housing supports to individuals experiencing homelessness with the goal of transitioning each participant into a permanent job and home.

What is this investment?

The Jobs and Housing Program provides transitional jobs, career preparation, housing, and support services to people experiencing homelessness for up to one year. The jobs pay $20 to $25 per hour on average, and many of the jobs come with health insurance and other benefits. Most of the jobs—nine of every 10—are provided by nonprofit community partners such as Weld Seattle, InterCultural Children and Family Services, and the African Community Housing and Development. The rest of the jobs are in County departments, primarily Parks and Recreation as well as Elections, Regional Animal Services, and more. Participants are recruited from the county’s homeless shelters and other organizations serving unhoused individuals.

With its goal to connect people to long-term employment, the program provides individualized career support services including job readiness workshops, skills assessment, and job search strategies. Each participant is connected to a career navigator who helps them access their next job by helping them prepare their resume, explore career options, and access training opportunities. Participants can also access funding for childcare, business attire, certifications, drivers’ license, or other costs related to finding and securing permanent employment. 

Each participant also receives housing supports including housing navigation and housing subsidies. Those who are homeless and not living in transitional housing receive Rapid Re-Housing services which aim to quickly place them into permanent housing through individualized services. Once placed into housing, supports gradually decrease until participants can take on housing payments. Program participants in transitional housing or otherwise not eligible for Rapid Re-Housing receive other support to find permanent housing based on the same model. For example, participants have used program funds for long-term temporary housing including clean and sober living.

Centering equity in the program

Recognizing that power, autonomy, and a sense of belonging are central to achieving upward mobility, Jobs and Housing aims to provide participants with opportunities to choose their own pathways to success. The program embodies a strong “dual client” approach to support both the host agencies and the program participants to be as successful as they can, whether that be through additional training or continuous conversations.

Yamamoto explains that the program aims to foster a culture of belonging in the work environment by ensuring participating employers understand their role in advancing program goals, as well as how the program can support their front line staff as well as the program participants. 

Tailoring services to the specific needs of participants is another way that the program operationalizes equitable implementation. Through their career services, the program works to remove specific barriers to longer-term employment for participants, such as drivers’ licenses and fees for program participants. 

To reach their target population, the County intentionally selected community partners in service to diverse Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Similarly, King County chose dedicated housing and career navigators based on key principles like their ability to serve in the cultural competency of those organizations. They work with 13 community partners serving a variety of different communities such as immigrant and refugee communities, formerly incarcerated individuals, and youth.

While the program is overdelivering on its initial goals in terms of the number of people they’ve assisted with subsidized employment, Yamamoto says that one of the biggest challenges they’ve faced throughout the program is matching participants with jobs that fit their interests and skills. The County positions each have specific requirements that can pose barriers: Parks and Recreation positions require a physical and a background check, Elections positions require employees to pass a speed typing and accuracy test, and while Regional Animal Services has fewer entry requirements, not everyone is comfortable working with animals. Some of the nonprofit employers offer services that are more tailored to participants’ needs. For example, one of the community partners, WELD Seattle, has built a program targeted to justice involved individuals which includes impactful support such as life skills classes for returning community members with skills like goal setting, orientation to new technology, and conflict resolution.

Outcomes to date

While the original goal was to serve 400 people, as of June 2024 the County has provided subsidized employment or training to 831 program participants, with roughly half connected to permanent or transitional stable housing.  

Yamamoto attributes the lag in housing to the County’s overall lack of affordable options, the time it takes to find suitable housing, and program participants electing to remain in transitional housing or other housing options, such as staying with friends and/or relatives, rather than signing a lease.

The program aims for 80 percent of participants to complete job assignments, 80 percent to move into permanent housing while in the program, 75 percent to be employed with earnings of at least $40,000/year, and at least 80 percent to be housed 6 months after exiting the program. 

The County has contracted with the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy & Governance’s Evans Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) team to conduct a formal program and impact evaluation of the program, which was recently completed in July 2024. 

• 43% of program participants represented Black/African American communities, one of the communities most disproportionately experiencing homelessness at 19%, while representing just 6% of King County overall. 
• More than 90 percent of program participants engaged in subsidized employment with King County and with contracted program partners. The remaining participants engaged in stipend training programs.  Program participants earned pay rates between $15.74 and $25, with a modal pay rate of $20. Qualitative data indicated these pay rates were significantly higher than what participants previously earned. 
• Among participants where there is available data, nearly half experienced an improvement in living situation defined as entry into permanent housing or a move from unsheltered homelessness to temporary housing.  

Testimonials of individual participants demonstrate that the program is having an indelible impact on families. A father of two teenagers, one with disabilities, secured permanent employment with Parks and Recreation and a three-bedroom apartment through the program after living in his car and commuting two hours to a job in another county. “Fast forward just eight short months and everyone in my family is not only safe and comfortable, but thriving,” The father says. “The health benefits that come with a job have benefited my kids immensely. They're both now enrolled in programs designed to put them on a path toward a stable and happy future and have a safe and loving home to return to each day. As for myself, I love the job. I'm privileged to show up for each morning and have the joy of tending directly to the needs of my family and what could be better than that.”

In terms of equity goals, King County aimed for its participant demographics to mirror those of the County’s homeless population to reach people equitably according to communities disproportionately impacted by homelessness. While they are meeting their goals regarding services rendered to the Black population, they currently lag with the American Indian and Alaska populations, and women are also underrepresented in the program. Participant demographics reveal that the majority of Jobs and Housing Program participants identify as BIPOC and male with 7 percent Hispanic, 40 percent Black/African American, and 4 percent American Indian or Alaska Native.

To address the demographic disparities, the County has reached out to organizations serving American Indian and Alaska Native communities, such as the Chief Seattle Club, which is a Native-led housing and human services agency, to refer potential program participants as well as to inform members of funding opportunities. To increase the number of female participants, the program has worked to diversify the types of positions available through the program and have made some progress in increasing female representation.

Toward transformative change

While the County is looking for other opportunities to continue some aspects of the program, at this stage, the program is likely to sunset at the end of 2024.  Some elements of the program have continued, such as the County’s contract with the nonprofit temporary staffing agency Uplift Northwest, who provides employment to individuals experiencing homelessness. Despite the program’s likely end, its impact has affected County operations through a collective perception shift. Yamamoto says that, “There were a lot of misperceptions about the experiences of people who are unhoused and what they can offer a workplace. When we later surveyed our frontline staff who were engaged in the program, one of the positive changes that we saw was in the change in their perceptions of who individuals experiencing homelessness are, a stronger empathy around the varied circumstances that led to becoming unstably housed, and how they could contribute as a valued employee. And so that was a big win for us.”