As the year comes to a close, the Department of Community and Human Services is taking stock in progress we’ve made throughout a year filled with both challenges and opportunities. This year was full of milestones and celebrations, and we look forward to building on these accomplishments for the people of King County in 2025.
The work we do in human services is never done, and must be done together, driven by collaboration and connection. We are fortunate in DCHS for the 580+ employees and 1,250+ providers who share their expertise, meaningfully partner with communities, and take new and creative approaches to deliver quality services for the community.
In 2024, DCHS welcomed new Director, Kelly Rider, and Deputy Director, Amber Green while continuing to deliver on the major initiatives led by the department, Best Starts for Kids, Crisis Care Centers Initiative, Health Through Housing, MIDD, and the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy, and across the five divisions that drive the County’s work to provide equitable opportunities for residents to be healthy, happy, and connected to community.
Below are just a few highlights DCHS is proud to celebrate alongside our many partners in 2024:
- Stabilized community organizations through workforce scholarships and training, higher reimbursement rates and wages, technical assistance and capacity building, and a new inflation policy.
- Opened new doors to 1,650 affordable homes across the County, including 950 homes in the Health through Housing portfolio.
- Increased access to behavioral health treatment, crisis services, and other supports helping to drive down opioid-related overdoses by 15%.
- Implemented the new Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy by contracting with new providers and continuing to build on the nation-leading King County Veterans Program.
- Promoted stronger education and employment opportunities, initiating a housing partnership with Shoreline Community College and proposing the Youth Bill of Rights.
Learn more about the year!
Workforce Stabilization and Provider Stability
- Launched the Inflation Rate Adjustment Policy for Human Services Contracts in response to the underinvestment in the nonprofit workforce impacts programs, services, and the overall human services sector.
- Crisis Care Centers Initiative invested in the community behavioral health workforce. BHRD will distribute $12 million across 37 agencies to support worker training, clinical supervision, career development, and worker wellbeing.
- Launched the Early Support for Infants & Toddlers (ESIT) Scholarship Pilot to create career pathways for existing staff who work in the King County ESIT system by funding higher education costs needed for career advancement, to strengthen the ability of ESIT providers to work effectively with diverse families.
- Selected a contractor to administer the 2025 Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy Nonprofit Wage & Benefits and Employee Engagement Surveys (surveys to be released Spring 2025).
Behavioral Health
- Launched the request for proposals (RFP) to select behavioral health agencies to operate the first crisis care center.
- Expanded mobile rapid-response crisis teams for adults, adding 10 new teams in the field, plus new services and providers to the program.
- Helped launch a multi-part strategy across five priority areas to address the surge of fentanyl and stop the record overdose deaths in the region. These strategies expand behavioral health treatment and increase access to medications for opioid use disorder.
- Helped open a new residential treatment facility in King County. The 16-bed program serves Medicaid-eligible adults who are experiencing co-occurring mental health conditions and substance use disorders.
- Made 21,700 engagements with people through our Behavioral Health Outreach Team in City Hall Park, Metro, and Sound Transit.
- Reached 920 people through a variety of sessions to understand community perspectives on the MIDD behavioral health sales tax, and engaged 543 people and 14 provider agencies through culturally-specific community listening sessions.
- Supported the opening of the region’s first walk-in 24/7 behavioral health crisis center in Kirkland along with partner cities of Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, and Shoreline.
Education and Employment
- Proposed the Youth Bill of Rights (YBOR) to the King County Council. The YBOR lays out a framework that unites youth voices and inform decisionmakers as they create policies impacting young people.
- Launched a small pilot this fall for two years that will make stable housing possible for housing insecure students, in partnership with Shoreline Community College and the Shoreline Foundation. Four students are currently enrolled in the program and in on-campus housing, with two new students joining this fall.
- Opened the Auburn School Based Health Center at Auburn Mountainview High School alongside Sea Mar Community Health Centers. School-based health centers offer health services to students at their school – usually for no cost and have positive impacts on students’ well-being and school participation.
- Helped pass a bill that ensures ESIT providers are paid for the first month of ESIT services. King County participated in statewide workgroups that encouraged and supported the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families in proposing the bill. This is a big win for the entire statewide ESIT system.
Housing
- Launched the Keep King County Housed Dashboard that shares program information, household demographics, and geographic reach of program services for the state program.
- Opened four Health Through Housing buildings in Auburn, Redmond, and Burien, and selected an operator for Health Through Housing in Kirkland.
- Invested in affordable housing, like The Southard and Beacon Pacific Village.
Veterans Services
- Grew the Collaborative Case Management (CCM) program, a first-in-the-nation program, blending federal housing vouchers and local housing navigation with support services through King County Veterans Program. Since launching in 2021, CCM has helped reduce veteran homelessness in King County by 40% and permanently housed 214 veterans.
- Opened the Blaine Veterans Center, the first all-veteran 24/7 enhanced shelter in King County. The center provides onsite services and supports to 36 veterans experiencing homelessness in King County, including case management, housing navigation support, and connections to behavioral health care, medical services, and skill development opportunities.
- Opened Q’mmunity House, the first transitional home in the country for LGBTQ+ veterans. Q’mmunity House will provide on-site holistic case management, connections to the veteran-serving community, and a safe, affirming, and supportive home for LGBTQ+ veterans experiencing homelessness in King County.
While this is not an exhaustive list, it is a snapshot of some of our key accomplishments throughout the year. We look forward to building on this success in the new year.