In the News

My research sits at the intersection of social network analysis, demography, and statistics, and it has drawn coverage from local, regional, and national press. Much of that attention has focused on the network-based (respondent-driven sampling) method my collaborators and I developed with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority to more accurately count people experiencing unsheltered homelessness — work that has reshaped how the region conducts its federally mandated Point-in-Time count and informed conversations about homelessness policy well beyond Washington. Reporters have also covered my work on survey methodology, data science and AI in higher education, and the use of large-scale digital and administrative data to study populations that traditional surveys often miss. The pieces below are a selection of that coverage, most recent first.

“Because this method relies on using people's personal networks, it tends to do a very good job finding people that would otherwise be hard to reach using more typical survey methods.” — Zack W. Almquist, The Seattle Times

Selected Coverage

The Seattle Times Quoted Number of homeless Native people in King County higher than reported October 2026 Native News Online Mentioned New Data Shows Native People Make Up 15% of King County’s Homeless Population Levi Rickert · October 2026 Chief Seattle Club Research cited The Data Was Wrong. Here’s What We Found. Derrick Belgarde · October 2026 Buffalo’s Fire Syndicated Quote Native organizations question Seattle homelessness count July 2026 ICT (Indian Country Today) Quoted Undercount of Native homeless population in Seattle highlights bigger data collection concerns Nika Bartoo-Smith · July 2026 Underscore Native News Quoted Undercount of Native homeless population in Seattle highlights bigger data collection concerns Nika Bartoo-Smith · July 2026 The Imprint Quoted L.A. County Tests New Approach to Counting Homeless Youth: Relying on Youth Themselves 2026 Next City Quoted L.A. County Tests a New Approach To Counting Homeless Youth: Relying on Youth Themselves Jeremy Loudenback · August 2026 The Stranger Quoted King County's Homelessness Crisis Worsens, But at a Slower Pace Guy Oron · June 2026 GeekWire Featured Not just for coders: UW's upcoming AI minor will reach beyond the computer science school 2026 The Chronicle Quoted King County finds 9% rise in homelessness since 2024 2025 Axios Seattle Mentioned Washington ranks 3rd for overall homeless population January 2025 KOMO News Quoted Researchers at UW improve upon survey-based system for better homeless counts November 2024 The Seattle Times Quoted King County reports largest number of homeless people ever KUOW (NPR Seattle) Interview Can we get better at measuring homelessness? Real Change Quoted KCRHA nixes overnight count of unhoused, leans into new method February 2023 The Washington Post Method cited Homeless statistics are flawed. Will Seattle's new way to count help? August 2022 The Seattle Times Quoted How many homeless people are in King County? Depends who you ask Greg Kim · July 2022 The Seattle Times Method cited Spurning old way of counting homeless people, King County says number is much higher than previously reported 2022 PubliCola Quoted The County's Annual Homeless Estimate Won't Include a Physical Count This Year. Here's How It Will Work. May 2022 Star Tribune Quoted Metro cities reach out in new ways to survey residents Natalie Daher · March 2016

University Features & Syndication