King County saw a 9% increase in homelessness in the past two years, according to the latest Point-In-Time count data released Tuesday. The total number of people now estimated to be homeless in the region is 18,365.

The results, released by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, also show 64% of the homeless population continues to live outside of shelter in places such as tents or cars. 

By contrast, the number of people in shelters declined slightly — not because shelter beds are sitting empty, the authority said, but because the region lost shelter beds between 2024 and 2026. The county measures its total homeless population every other year.

King County’s reported increase in homelessness comes as some communities nationally have celebrated declines in their homeless populations.

The results may have greater political consequences than in the past. The Trump administration continues to attack one of the primary approaches to resolving homelessness in communities like Seattle, arguing the ongoing increases in the unsheltered population are evidence of their failure.

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority stressed the region’s solutions have been helping bring more people inside — but that hasn’t kept pace with the high cost of living and lack of low-cost housing in Seattle and King County.

“Every year, thousands of people exit homelessness into housing, while thousands more enter because housing remains out of reach for too many people in our community,” the authority’s CEO Kelly Kinnison said in a news release. 

King County is unlike many other communities in the way it counts its homeless population. Traditionally, regions have sent volunteers out over the course of one night to tally the number of people they guessed were homeless. But since 2022, King County’s Regional Homelessness Authority has solicited help from the University of Washington to follow a sampling method. 

It relies on unsheltered homeless people visiting survey sites over the course of two weeks and referring others they know. The researchers extrapolate based on the data collected to estimate the total number of people who may be living outside of shelters.

The latest numbers, from the surveys conducted earlier this year, show the growth of homelessness has slowed compared to 2024, when the region saw a 26% increase from the previous two years. But the results are far from a decrease overall — there are 5,000 more people homeless now than in 2022, according to the county’s estimates.

In contrast, California claimed a 2.8% decrease in homelessness in 2025. The state also showed a 6.8% drop in the number of homeless people outside of shelter that year.

Zack Almquist, a sociology professor at UW who leads the King County count, said the amount of shelter in the region has not kept pace with the need — and even declined since the last study period — which leads to a higher number of people outside. 

The region may be showing a continued increase because its approach to estimating its homelessness is more accurate than many other places. The sampling method reaches more people who are living in encampments and remote areas that volunteers often miss, he said. 

“We are not inventing homelessness that was not there,” Almquist said. “We are seeing more clearly a population that has long been undercounted.”

But some have criticized the county’s methods for not capturing everyone. 

For the past three counts, Chief Seattle Club has raised concerns the county’s survey is neglecting Native American homelessness. CEO Derrick Belgarde said the data shows American Indian and Alaskan Natives  make up 4.2% of the homeless population, but that percentage should be higher. 

“We know from our work that there is great distrust by Native peoples in reporting to people outside their community,” Belgarde said.

The county has also struggled to survey homeless families, who are more likely to stay out of sight. The largest shelter provider, Mary’s Place, said its staff believe the numbers this year provide a more complete picture than in the past, but they still expect the county’s numbers are an undercount. The results showed 1,370 families were homeless this year, a slight decrease from 2024.

The Point-In-Time count has become increasingly political under the Trump administration. The latest federal funding guidelines for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development prioritizes grants for communities that show they’ve dramatically decreased homelessness — a departure from previous federal practices. 

HUD has argued that a low-barrier strategy known as Housing First, which King County and Seattle have embraced to address homelessness, is responsible for the continued rise in homelessness. The Trump administration has been fighting to dramatically cut funding for programs that focus on getting people into housing without requiring sobriety or mental health treatment. 

Karen Lee, CEO of Plymouth Housing, a leading provider of this type of housing, acknowledged any increase in homelessness in a city like Seattle may be spun for political means. But she said the data shows these housing programs are keeping people off the streets. The real problem, she said, is there isn’t enough. 

“Ninety-six percent of the people that we house, stay housed,” she said. “They do not return to homelessness.” 

In response to the latest numbers, local leaders stressed the region must do more.

“It is unacceptable that over 18,000 people are experiencing homelessness on any given night,” said King County Executive Girmay Zahilay in a statement. “The scale of this crisis demands that we improve our approach to bring more people indoors and connect them with the services they need.”

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said the numbers reinforce the need to speed up new housing development and provide more shelter with services. Her team continues to push for 1,000 new units this year.

“That’s how we’re going to finally begin to see progress on this crisis and bring these numbers down,” Wilson said in a statement.