Seattle spent millions to shelter people in hotel rooms. Then it stopped filling them

Seattle Now

KUOW News and Information

Daily News, News

4.7 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the years following the pandemic, the city of Seattle leaned into a strategy to convert hotels into shelters. At one point, the Civic Hotel was full of residents. But later, many of the rooms sat empty, even though the City of Seattle was still paying the rent. KUOW investigative reporter Ashley Hiruko is here to tell us what happened.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support comes from the Skagit County Historical Museum in LaConnor, with funding from LaConnor Lodging Tax.
0:07.9	The museum features exhibits on Skagit County's heritage and early life from the mountains to the sea.
0:14.3	Shops, restaurants, and farm stands are located nearby.
0:18.3	Details at scadgett County.net slash museum. Support comes from Sunnyside Village
0:25.1	Co-Housing. Live in mutual support with neighbors of all ages in a co-housing village of cottages in
0:31.5	Marysville. It's the best of both worlds, active rural living by Puget Sound with easy access to Seattle. More at
0:39.6	Sunnyside Village co-housing.com.
0:45.8	Hey good morning. I'm Patricia Murphy. It's Tuesday. This is Seattle now. Since the beginning
0:51.9	of the pandemic, Seattle has spent millions of dollars on hotel rooms
0:56.0	to shelter unhoused people. One of the buildings leased by the city at a hefty cost was the Civic Hotel
1:02.3	in South Lake Union. Back in January 2024, city leadership decided we're going to stop putting people in these rooms, in these city beds that they were paying for.
1:14.3	Coming up, we'll talk with KUOWU's investigative reporter Ashley Haruko about why that happened.
1:19.9	But first, let's get you caught up.
1:26.9	If you missed the Seattle mayoral debate between Bruce Harrell and Challenger Katie Wilson last Friday,
1:33.1	here's another chance. Wilson and Harrell will face each other again tomorrow at Seattle University.
1:38.9	The event is sold out, but you can watch it Wednesday on the Seattle Channel and Saturday on Como 4. The debate starts
1:46.0	at 7 p.m. co-moderated by Seattle U and Como. It's not too late to register for this week's
1:52.6	Native Hawaiian conference into Laylap. Washington is home to the third largest Native Hawaiian
1:58.2	population in the country, yet this is the first time the
2:01.3	gathering's been held here. Organizers say nearly 2,000 Native Hawaiians are expected to attend
2:07.0	the event at the Tulalip Resort and Casino. The convention includes sessions on housing policy,
2:13.1	education, and economic development, as well as cultural preservation. The conference starts today and runs through Thursday.
	...

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