Supportive housing logs about 36 times the overdose calls per apartment of other big buildings

What this chart asks

Per apartment, how often are 911 overdose calls logged at Seattle's supportive housing buildings compared with other large rental buildings?

Why it is shown this way

• A rate per apartment removes building size, the first objection to a raw count.
• Sorted horizontal bars, one per building, so the long names read in full.
• Two benchmark rows, the average for all supportive housing and for other large rental buildings, so each building is read against a baseline; the other-buildings bar is barely visible, which is the point.
• Buildings are the 10 supportive housing buildings with the most calls, chosen by count rather than rate so tiny buildings with a few calls don't lead.
• Two decimals so the benchmark rows match the article (3.65 and 0.10).

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

All 57 supportive housing buildings

Threshold: 3.65

600 overdose calls across 4,287 supportive housing units.

Other rental buildings with 50+ units

Threshold: 0.1

437 overdose calls across 111,092 units in 819 registered rental buildings.

Data and accessibility

The chart's data and images are in the strip under it.

Dataset seattle-911-overdose-calls-by-address, analysis psh-building-rates

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

Seattle 911 overdose calls by address, 2023 to October 2026

1. Seattle Real Time Fire 911 Calls (data.seattle.gov dataset kzjm-xkqj) Overdose-coded 911 dispatches by address and date; all medical dispatch types for the coding check

   Retrieved November 10, 2026. Public Domain. Public domain; redistributed as aggregate counts

   Reliability: Government. The City of Seattle publishes every Seattle Fire Department dispatch with its call type, address and time. The call type is set at dispatch from the caller's description.

2. Seattle Rental Property Registration (data.seattle.gov dataset j2xh-c7vt) Unit counts for registered rental buildings with 50 or more units (comparison group)

   Retrieved November 10, 2026. Public Domain. Public domain; redistributed as address and unit counts

   Reliability: Government. Seattle's Department of Construction and Inspections registry of rental properties under the city's Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance. Owners report the number of rental units.

3. Seattle Fire Department 2025 Annual Report Total suspected-overdose responses (all substances) for 2023, 2024 and 2025, used to measure how much of them the overdose call type captures

   Retrieved November 9, 2026. Public government record. Cited, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. The fire department's own yearly report. Its 'Tracking overdoses' table gives all suspected overdoses as 6,538 (2023), 5,203 (2024) and 5,001 (2025).

4. King County Regional Homelessness Authority regional services database (resources.json) Program type, unit counts and barrier level for supportive housing programs

   Retrieved November 10, 2026. Public government data. Cited; building names and unit counts restated

   Reliability: Government. The regional homelessness authority's public map data of housing and shelter programs. It hides most supportive housing street addresses, so addresses were matched by building name to operator pages.

5. DESC housing buildings Addresses and units of DESC supportive housing buildings

   Retrieved November 10, 2026. Cited webpage. Cited; building names, addresses and unit counts restated

   Reliability: Other. DESC is Seattle's largest supportive housing operator and publishes a page for each building.

6. Plymouth Housing: Our Buildings Addresses and units of Plymouth Housing supportive housing buildings

   Retrieved November 10, 2026. Cited webpage. Cited; building names, addresses and unit counts restated

   Reliability: Other. Plymouth Housing is a Seattle nonprofit that owns and runs permanent supportive housing and lists its buildings online.

7. Seattle Office of Housing: Find Housing (rental map) Addresses and unit counts for city-funded rental buildings, used to confirm addresses

   Retrieved November 10, 2026. Public government data. Cited; addresses and unit counts restated

   Reliability: Government. The city's map of income-restricted rental buildings it funds or regulates. Most supportive housing has no public application, so many such buildings are missing from it.

Limitations

• Counts only calls dispatched as overdoses, about a third of the fire department's suspected-overdose responses; counting all medical calls the supportive housing gap is about 14 times.
• A call usually means someone was treated or revived, not a death, and one person can account for several calls.
• Calls at an address can involve visitors, clinic patients or people outside; Hobson Place and The Morrison host clinics.
• Some low-income buildings in the comparison group come close to the supportive housing average; The Frye (LIHI) logged about 3.8.
• The 36 times figure compares the two averages (3.65 and 0.103 before rounding).