SEATTLE. There are more than three times as many unsheltered American Indians and Alaska Natives in King County as a government agency previously reported, according to ICT News, which cited a new report correcting the data.
The University of Washington, the Urban Indian Health Institute and the Chief Seattle Club teamed up to conduct their own research and correct figures released in June by the King County Homeless Authority. Their report found American Indians and Alaska Natives make up 15 percent of unsheltered individuals in the county while accounting for only 1 to 2 percent of the total population, based on alone and in combination data from the 2020 Census. The initial Point-In-Time count had shown just 4.2 percent of unsheltered people self-identifying as American Indian, Alaska Native or Indigenous.
Abigail Echo-Hawk, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, called the flaw data genocide in a press release, saying people who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with another race are too often erased from data used to inform policy and funding.
In July, leadership at the Chief Seattle Club, a Native-led housing organization, and the Seattle Indian Health Board had estimated the true number was likely closer to 15 percent, with the undercount highlighting ongoing flaws in data collection, as previously reported by Underscore Native News and ICT.
Derrick Belgarde, chief executive officer of the Chief Seattle Club, told Underscore Native News and ICT that solving Native homelessness requires accurate data rather than false data sets. He also credited reporters for pressing the story, saying the issue might otherwise have been glossed over while everyone assumed there was not much of a Native homelessness problem in Seattle.
Researchers pointed to the multi-racial category as one of the biggest problems with the housing authority's count. Anyone identifying as Native and any other race is lumped into the multi-racial category instead of being counted as Native, an overall data collection flaw traced to the federal government.
The report recommends fixing the multi-racial category so people are included in the overall count, collaborating more with Native organizations on methods that follow best practices for marginalized communities, and funding more culturally specific options to address the shelter gap. Belgarde said the county's count relied on people reporting to a central hub, but deep distrust means Native people need safe places to report where they are met by members of their own community, especially in a political environment where reporting to officials can feel dangerous.
The corrected data came from Belgarde, who is Siletz and Chippewa Cree; Echo-Hawk, vice president of the Seattle Indian Health Board and director of the Urban Indian Health Institute; and Zack Almquist, a University of Washington sociology professor who was lead researcher on the initial Point-In-Time count.