Homelessness
A New Federal Shift Could Help Seattle Match Its World Cup Moment
June 24, 2026

A New Federal Shift Could Help Seattle Match Its World Cup Moment

Seattle is welcoming the world.

As World Cup visitors continue to arrive, downtown streets are busy, waterfront parks are active, and television broadcasts are showcasing the city’s mountains, waterways, neighborhoods, and skyline. For many residents, it has been a reminder of why they love living here in the first place.

The natural beauty was always there. The question is why Seattle often seems able to present its best self when the world is watching but struggles to deliver that same experience for the people who live here every day.

That question becomes especially relevant when discussing homelessness.

For years, many local governments on the West Coast, including Seattle, embraced a philosophy known as “Housing First.” The idea was straightforward: provide permanent housing with as few barriers as possible, then connect people to additional services later. The approach was motivated by compassion and a sincere desire to help people stabilize their lives.

But as homelessness, addiction, and untreated mental illness continued to rise in many cities despite growing public spending, more residents began asking a difficult question: Is the system producing the outcomes people were promised?

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced significant changes to how billions of federal homelessness dollars will be distributed moving forward. The new guidance shifts emphasis away from simply placing people into housing and toward programs that demonstrate progress in recovery, treatment participation, self-sufficiency, and measurable outcomes. HUD says the goal is to pair housing assistance with services that help people achieve long-term stability and independence.

The agency’s updated Continuum of Care funding competition places new priority on transitional housing, supportive services, recovery-oriented programs, and outcome-based performance measures. It also creates one of the most competitive funding environments in the program’s history, requiring communities to demonstrate effectiveness rather than simply maintain existing approaches.

Homelessness policy had become too focused on process and not focused enough on results, leading to communities that spent increasing amounts of money while continuing to see large numbers of people living on sidewalks, struggling with addiction, cycling through emergency services, or remaining disconnected from treatment and recovery programs.

Reasonable people can debate the details, but one thing is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: The public is asking for evidence that homelessness programs are actually helping people recover and rebuild their lives.

Most Seattle residents understand that homelessness is complicated.

They know addiction can destroy lives. They know untreated mental illness can make stability difficult. They know many people on the streets need support, treatment, and a path forward.

What increasingly frustrates residents is not the goal, but the lack of visible progress. After years of growing budgets and expanding programs, many are asking whether the current system is helping enough people move from crisis toward recovery.

That is why the conversation around accountability has become so important. Not because people are less compassionate than they were a decade ago, but because they want to know whether existing approaches are delivering the outcomes everyone hoped for.

In fact, those two goals may depend on one another.

A system that measures success primarily by how much money is spent or how many housing units are funded can lose sight of the people it is supposed to help. A system that focuses on recovery, stability, and long-term outcomes asks a different question: Are people actually getting better?

Seattle’s experience over the last decade suggests that question deserves more attention.

The city has invested enormous resources into homelessness programs, yet residents continue to encounter visible encampments, public drug use, untreated behavioral health crises, and growing frustration about whether existing strategies are working. At the same time, many service providers themselves acknowledge that housing alone often cannot address severe addiction or serious mental illness.

The World Cup is offering a glimpse of what Seattle looks like when the city is operating at its best.

Clean public spaces. Welcoming neighborhoods. Vibrant business districts. Parks and public transit that people feel safe and comfortable using.

Residents should not have to wait for an international event to experience that version of their city.

HUD’s new emphasis on recovery, accountability, and measurable outcomes reflects a conversation that many Seattle residents have already been having for years. But our local leaders have not followed suit.

Compassion matters. Housing matters. But results matter too.

Seattle residents deserve a homelessness strategy that measures success not by how much money is spent, but by whether people are actually moving from crisis to stability.

Recovery and accountability should not be viewed as alternatives to compassion. They are essential parts of it.