Everett panel: nonprofits, cities discuss ways to address homelessness

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 20, 2026

EVERETT — Representatives from social service providers around Snohomish County gathered at the Everett Gospel Mission on Tuesday for a panel discussion about ways that nonprofits, the private sector and government agencies can address homelessness in the region.

The goal of bringing together the nearly two dozen organizations under one roof was to spread awareness about the services available to individuals — and to find ways to help ensure people are able to effectively navigate the labyrinthine network of programs without falling through the cracks.

“Homelessness is not solved by one organization, by one city, one funding source or one program,” said John Hull, the CEO of the Everett Gospel Mission. “It requires a full continuum of care. It requires immediate responses for people in crisis today, long-term housing solutions for tomorrow and strong partnership across the entire county.”

The event took place less than a week after Snohomish County released the results of its annual point in time count, which showed that the number of people experiencing homelessness had increased between 2025 and 2026, but fewer people are unsheltered, likely thanks to greater shelter capacity across the county.

During a panel discussion, Housing Hope CEO Kathryn Opina, Mountlake Terrace Mayor Pro Tem Bryan Wahl and Darin Huesby, the owner of a homebuilding company, discussed the challenges of addressing the problem of homelessness and how the organizations in attendance — and those that weren’t — could help get more people off the streets.

Wahl said that local governments and service providers should improve their collaboration and share more information with each other through forums like Snohomish County Tomorrow. Opina also said improving coordination was important, especially to help people navigate the multiple agencies needed to receive critical services.

“Oftentimes it can be like building a house, where there’s a lot of different rooms and no hallways to get to the next room,” Opina said. “… We need to have good cooperation between service supporters. We’re not all a one-stop shop, so knowing and relying on each other for what our specialities are, and giving those referrals within our own continuum, I think is really important.”

She also added that intervening in people experiencing homelessness more quickly was important to prevent lengthy and traumatic experiences that can come when people are left to live without shelter.

“The earlier intervention we can have with them, the better,” Opina said.

Huesby argued that burdensome regulations, impact fees that pay for the infrastructure costs of supporting new residents and sales taxes add too many costs to the construction of a home to make the building of smaller starter homes profitable. He said the private sector is “a simple animal, we just want to make a little bit of money, build our houses and move on.”

“It’s a collaboration between builders like myself and the jurisdictions,” Huesby said. “You’ve got to incentivize, or at least make it somehow profitable, to be able to build some of this entry-level product. And thus far, really, it hasn’t been there.”

Joseph Alonzo, the CEO of Cocoon House, a nonprofit that provides shelter and support services to young people in Everett, said Tuesday’s showcase helped show the breadth of the organizations available to people in the county. He said the goal was to ensure gaps between different services are closed and to encourage people across the region to take collective action to address homelessness, as no one organization can solve the issue.

“The attitude around homelessness is stigmatized,” Alonzo said. “… We dehumanize the issue as a society. We need to put names and face and understandings of why people are experiencing what they’re experiencing. Everyone’s got a story, everyone’s got a life worth living.”

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.