Students from the Lummi Nation School visited the 91探花 in early February for a real-time conversation with astronaut Josh Cassada aboard the International Space Station (ISS). As part of a science project on the plant 鈥� a Pacific Northwest species that is significant in Lummi culture 鈥� seeds were sent to the ISS in late 2022. Cassada was the astronaut who worked on the plant experiment and germinated Devil’s club seeds to compare them to a similar plant of the same species on Earth.听

The Lummi Nation School students as well as students from the 91探花had a rare opportunity for a live Q&A with Cassada (with a few seconds鈥� delay) about his life and current job on the ISS. The conversation was possible because of a “downlink,” which allows participants on Earth to see video and hear audio from the astronaut in space.听

The event included presentations by 91探花students, professors Emily Levesque (astronomy) and Gregg Colburn (real estate) as well as a panel with former Seattle astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. It was hosted by the 91探花and the a group whose mission is to enhance higher education opportunities for students seeking to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

More details about the event are . You can watch a recording of the downlink Q&A .

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Not all U.S. major cities are grappling with homelessness at the scale of say, Seattle or San Francisco.

And it鈥檚 not because some cities have more people in poverty, or more people in crisis.

, assistant professor of real estate at the 91探花, believes housing market conditions 鈥� specifically, high housing and rental prices, and low vacancy rates 鈥� exacerbate economic and personal challenges for society鈥檚 most vulnerable. And it鈥檚 the housing market, aided by the private and public sectors, that can provide the solution.

Colburn鈥檚 new book, , co-authored with data journalist Clayton Aldern, explores the factors that drive homelessness, and the cultural and economic shift that can ultimately benefit all 鈥� housed and unhoused.

鈥淲e know that there are individual factors that increase the risk of homelessness for individuals, maybe poverty or health issues or substance use. But those factors alone don鈥檛 explain the huge problem we have in Seattle, or San Francisco or Los Angeles,鈥� Colburn said. 鈥淚f we continue to blame individuals for particular outcomes, we鈥檙e going to miss the fundamental driver of this crisis 鈥� housing market dynamics. We have a gross undersupply of housing at all levels, but certainly of affordable housing. Failure to address that gap will, I think, guarantee that we will continue to struggle with this crisis in perpetuity.鈥�

In 2020, Colburn co-led a study with King County on the use of hotels as temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. He spoke with 91探花News about his new book, published March 15 by University of California Press.

What did you learn about the differences among cities?

There are the 鈥渂ig eight鈥� cities for homelessness in the United States: Boston; New York; Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Portland; San Francisco; Los Angeles; and San Diego. Each of these cities have really high rents and low vacancies. While there are people with vulnerabilities in every community around the country, the consequences of vulnerabilities are far more severe in a place where housing costs are very expensive and vacancies are low.

For example, the margin for error in Seattle is very thin: If you get kicked out of your apartment, or get into a fight with your roommate, or lose your job, there are no places to move to, and if there are it might cost $2,000 a month. Now, the margin for error in Detroit 鈥� one of the most impoverished cities in the country 鈥� is far greater. You can lose a job, you can have an unfortunate event, but you might be able to find an apartment for $500, where vacancy rates are 10%.We have fewer poor people in Seattle than Detroit does on a per capita basis, but we have far more homelessness because the consequences of being poor in Seattle are so much more significant.

How is the 鈥渟ystem鈥� of homelessness, as you define it in the book 鈥� inflow, crisis response and outflow 鈥� strained in Seattle?

One of the key challenges that our political leaders currently face is where do we invest, given that we have a crisis raging right in front of us. We can and should invest in our crisis response 鈥� expanding shelter capacity and providing more services to people who need them. But those steps will not end homelessness. We also need to make permanent investments that will provide housing units. But the more acute the crisis gets, the greater the pressure is to deal with the short term, which is what is happening with our mayor and City Council right now. I understand that, but as we devote resources to these emergencies, I really hope that we don鈥檛 take our eye off the longer-term ball, which is investments in housing.

New York City serves as a warning: It has invested billions in a massive shelter system that houses tens of thousands of people, but then there鈥檚 nowhere for them to go. People can live their lives in the shelter system. In Seattle, we can make short-term investments and expand the shelter system, but without permanent housing units on the other side, we will just end up with a much larger shelter system. And that is not an outcome that I wish for the people experiencing homelessness or for our community. Those are very expensive systems to maintain, and you鈥檙e not ending homelessness 鈥� you鈥檙e re-characterizing it from unsheltered to sheltered. We need to have both short- and long-term responses if we鈥檙e going to make a dent in this crisis.

How did the hotel study inform your research for the book?

The hotel intervention occurred while we were writing the book, and it certainly clarified a couple of things. One is that the current emergency response system is essential but flawed 鈥� not because of a lack of imagination or good work by the people providing those services; they will acknowledge that our current congregate shelter settings do not help people get out of crisis. Congregate shelters, in an effort to serve as many people as possible, put hundreds of people together sleeping on mats, or in bunk beds, in very close proximity. It’s not an ideal situation to help people stabilize. What we observed through the transition to hotel rooms during the pandemic is that when people got out of these congregate settings, they improved from a physical and an emotional standpoint, evidence that provided support for the county to make some significant investments in the purchase of hotels for housing units. I have become a big advocate for those conversions because we need a lot more housing units, and it’s a lot easier to buy them rather than to spend two years building them. If we can get 300 units at a time through the acquisition of a motel, it can improve the emergency response, and eventually many of those units could be converted into permanent supportive housing.

You point to the private and public sectors to help provide solutions, as well as a needed cultural shift in how society views housing. How do we start?

Changing the perception around housing is essential. We think of transportation as a public good, but housing as a private good. We make massive investments in transportation, because we know it’s going to be good for people, the climate, the economy, traffic. But we get very reluctant when we start to talk about public investments in housing. Our region desperately needs more housing that is affordable and that commitment will require public funds, either from federal, state or local government 鈥� or preferably, all of the above. I think people are now starting to connect the dots, that the lack of housing is really kind of a clear and present danger for the viability of our community. We’re seeing Amazon and Microsoft stepping up and investing in housing because they recognize that if there are people in this community who can’t afford to live here, including their own service workers, then that is a threat to their businesses. In this crisis moment, there is an opportunity to rethink the way we think about housing鈥攊n terms of who funds it and our use of land. I think the growing recognition of this crisis will drive needed change, but it will be slow and difficult, just as a lot of political change is.

The fact that the government may and should be involved, either through supporting the construction of housing or providing people with purchasing power through vouchers or other subsidies, is encouraging. Then, we can hopefully get over the stigma associated with affordable housing and acknowledge that a healthy society involves housing that people can afford.

For more information, contact Colburn at colburn3@uw.edu.

A King County initiative that moved people out of homeless shelters and into hotel rooms earlier this year helped slow the transmission of coronavirus, according to from a of the intervention.

The intervention also produced other benefits to the people who were relocated, say authors of the joint study from King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) and the 91探花. Individuals who moved to area hotels 鈥� an arrangement managed by the County and social service providers 鈥� reported improved physical and mental health, and the ability to focus on long-term goals such as obtaining housing, employment and education, rather than simply focusing on day-to-day survival.

鈥淢oving people from large shelters to individual hotel rooms not only succeeded in slowing the spread of COVID-19, but also provided security, privacy and dignity to hundreds of people in our region experiencing homelessness,鈥� said King County Executive Dow Constantine. 鈥淭his study conclusively demonstrates the positive impacts of providing our most vulnerable neighbors a place to call their own and 24/7 support, and it underscores the urgency in expanding these efforts in the coming months.鈥�

The research is being presented Wednesday to the .

鈥淓verything we know about homelessness reinforces that we need to remove the crisis of homelessness to allow people to move forward,鈥� said , an associate professor of public policy at the 91探花and one of the study鈥檚 authors. 鈥淲e know that from housing interventions, and what we know of mental health and getting to a place of stability, this intervention 鈥� while not perfect and not a substitute for housing 鈥� is closer to what we think might create conditions for someone to move on.鈥�

When the first cases of coronavirus, and information about the infectious nature of the disease, emerged in late winter, Seattle and King County sought alternatives for people staying in homeless shelters, both by relocating individuals and reconfiguring existing shelter spaces to allow for social distancing.

Beginning in April, the county leased hotel rooms in Seattle, , with management by four local housing service providers. The rooms have since served as temporary shelter for more than 800 people, and the hotels are not open to other guests.

Initial findings from the study of the hotel intervention showed that it achieved its primary goal: to slow the spread of COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness. Researchers found fewer clusters and outbreaks of COVID-19 among individuals who stayed in hotels than among those who remained in traditional, large-group shelter settings.

鈥淭his emergency intervention is an example of an effective public response under very challenging circumstances that kept large numbers of highly vulnerable people safe during a pandemic,鈥� said , an assistant professor of real estate at the 91探花who specializes in housing affordability issues.

King County is evaluating how to continue and expand the program during and beyond the pandemic, incorporating information from people who have stayed at the hotels, social service providers and neighboring businesses. The county has extended the hotel leases through January 2021. The King County Council is also currently reviewing a proposal from the County Executive as part of the 2021-2022 biennial budget to purchase single-room properties such as hotels and nursing homes to create emergency housing and move as many as 2,000 people out of homelessness.

鈥淥ur service providers met the moment.听They shifted from congregate shelters to hotels on a week鈥檚 notice, and they kept their residents safe, slowed our entire community鈥檚 spread of COVID, and tested a better approach that we are now trying to bring to scale in partnership with cities across the County,鈥� said Leo Flor, director of King County鈥檚 Department of Community and Human Services. 鈥淭his report provides strong evidence that we can slow the spread of disease and turn the tide on chronic homelessness. Housing is a foundation for health at the individual and community levels.鈥�

Shortly after the program launched in the spring, evaluators with DCHS partnered with 91探花researchers Colburn and Fyall to study the effectiveness of the hotel intervention in protecting people from COVID-19.

With support from the social services agencies managing the intervention, researchers interviewed nearly two dozen people, as well as several staff members, at four hotels over the summer. The study also relied on data from the King County Homeless Management Information System, the Washington Disease Reporting System and Seattle Fire 911 dispatches to local agencies.

In addition to the findings related to disease transmission, researchers found that staff and individuals staying in the hotels reported other benefits:

• Increased feelings of stability associated with consistent access to a private room;
• Improved health and well-being, including sleep, hygiene and mental health;
• Reduced conflict, as evidenced by declines in 911 call volume from shelters;
• More time to think about and take steps toward future goals;
• Higher rates of exits to permanent housing.

Researchers found that basic hotel features contributed to the program鈥檚 success. Individuals had secure, private rooms; consistent access to meals; and the ability to store belongings and the freedom to come and go.

鈥淲hat we learned from our interviews was how incredibly grateful the people were who moved to hotels. It was a total life-changer for them,鈥� said Colburn. 鈥淎 little privacy, good sleep, and consistent meals can have a very significant impact on individual well-being.鈥�

A full report is expected on the hotel intervention later this fall.

Additional authors of the study were Samantha Thompson and Taquesha Dean, graduate students at the UW; and Christina McHugh, Pear Moraras, Victoria Ewing and Sarah Argodale, all of King County. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a 91探花Population Health Initiative COVID-19 Economic Recovery Grant, and Urban@UW鈥檚 Homelessness Research Initiative.

For more information, contact Colburn at colburn3@uw.edu; Fyall at fyall@uw.edu or Sherry Hamilton, communications director for the King County Department of Community and Human Services at sherry.hamilton@kingcounty.gov.

This release was updated on Dec. 7 and includes a link to the final report. Further information about the report is available at .