Seattle Homeless Deaths and Shelter Suitability Analysis

Kevin Tran, Social Work

Seattle homelessness has worsened in recent years. However, the extent of the problem, in the form of homeless deaths, is not well recognized. The Seattle/King County Public Health Department, in collaboration with the Seattle Medical Examiner Office reported that homeless deaths have grown each year unimpededly since 2014. In 2017, 169 people who were homeless were reported dead; that number in 2018 was 191. Most of the deaths occur in the Seattle area, characterized as natural or accidental. This capstone seeks to show a) the spatial distribution of Seattle homeless deaths, b) factors associated with areas with the highest concentration of homeless deaths, and c) optimal areas for establishing a homeless shelter.