COVID-19 Response for People Experiencing Homelessness: Early Learnings from Seattle/King County

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have published resources to support people experiencing homelessness in response to COVID-19, including interim guidance for homeless shelters , and for supporting people experiencing unsheltered homelessness . Their recommendations fall into three groups: Plan , Act , and Follow-Up .

In this document, we use the CDC framework to share early learnings from Seattle/King County, one of the communities to experience the earliest impacts of COVID-19. It is not a comprehensive overview of the work underway in Seattle/King County, but is intended to provide key insights from a community that has been executing on an emergency plan since the early stages of the nation’s COVID-19 response. All of the information shared is based on the best available knowledge at the moment, and practices on the ground continue to evolve.