In 2021, the Thurston Regional Housing Council allocated funding to decrease racial disparities in the Homeless Response System, leading to the creation of the Thurston Lived Experience Housing Steering Committee (LEHSC). In 2023, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness emphasized the need to include people with lived experience in the planning process for responding to homelessness. 

This LESHC is designed to shift conversations and decisions that define homeless response for Thurston County by including voices of those with lived experience of homelessness whose racial and ethnic identities are overrepresented in the homeless population and underrepresented where decisions are made. The committee provides feedback on racial equity strategies within the homeless response system. The members are compensated with a stipend for sharing their wisdom and perspectives on the homeless response system and the organizations, programs, and policies that define how Thurston County responds to homelessness.

LEHSC Members 

• Have lived experience of homelessness
• Reside in Thurston County
• The majority of the committee members should hold identities overrepresented in homeless populations such as Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and other marginalized identities.