EVERETT — Wes Fay missed dinner at First Presbyterian Church so he could celebrate lost friends.
“They were just guys who found themselves on the street,” he said. “It’s a hard life. You lose people.”
He has seen friends freeze on cold nights. Others fell to drugs or drinking.
“Everyone else has passed except me and Chief,” Fay said.
He doesn’t know Chief’s real name. They run into each other around town.
Snohomish County hosted the fifth annual Homeless Person’s Memorial Day on Wednesday evening. It was the longest and darkest night of the year.
The ceremony recognized 15 people who were homeless and died this year. Six of them were veterans.
“Regardless of the circumstance of someone passing away, they deserve to be recognized and memorialized,” said Cammy Hart-Anderson, a manager with the county’s chemical dependency, mental health and veterans services department.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers and others spoke at the memorial. A Color Guard made a special tribute to the veterans.
“For the last few years, it’s been consistently in the teens,” Hart-Anderson said, referring to the annual homeless deaths. “It’s much too high.”
The county hosted its own Point in Time Count in January. People tried to measure the homeless population. The count increased by 50 percent from the year before.
“Part of it is the economy. Part of it is opioids,” said Sgt. Ian Huri with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s a perfect mixture of two bad things hitting at the same time.”
Opioid abuse can lead to life-threatening withdrawals. In these cases, some people don’t want to be alone, so they hang out on the street, Huri said.
As camps become more public, others find needles and trash.
“That becomes a big visual indicator that we have this problem in our community,” Huri said.
Last year, he helped establish the Office of Neighborhoods, a program created by Sheriff Ty Trenary.
The purpose is to avoid arresting the same people repeatedly. They don’t want a revolving door at the county jail.
The office includes Huri, two sheriff’s deputies and two social workers. Instead of making arrests, they connect people with services.
In its first year, the program helped 57 men and women find stable housing.
An additional 86 people were enrolled in drug-detox programs. Of those, 72 completed the detox and moved on to inpatient drug treatment.
“We realize that relapse is likely,” Huri said. “We’re supportive and focus on getting people back into their recovery plan.”
People who go through the program have received help registering for an identification card. A valid I.D. is the first step toward finding housing and a job.
Social workers also have also reconnected them with their families, sorted out court issues and provided resources for resumes.
By the end of the process, the goal is to have a job and support oneself.
Huri was surprised by the six or seven homeless veterans he has met over the past year through the Office of Neighborhoods. He attributed this to the work of the county Veterans’ Assistance Program.
“They’ve done a good job where it’s actually reduced the number of veterans we see on the streets,” Huri said.
The county had considered cutting the sheriff’s office budget for 2017. The Offices of Neighborhoods was at risk of being dissolved.
Instead, the county found a way to secure funding that allowed it to grow. A third deputy is expected to join the team after the first of the year.
Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com.
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