King County's next mental health crisis center could be on Seattle's First Hill. The community has thoughts

King County’s next crisis center for behavioral health could be at the old Polyclinic building on Broadway, in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood.

At a recent public meeting near the proposed site, some Capitol Hill residents said a crisis center can’t open soon enough in their neighborhood, and they want people in need to have somewhere to go. But others expressed concern that it would bring more drug use and violence to the area.

In 2023, King County’s voters approved a levy — a new tax — to fund five behavioral health crisis centers, spread across the county. Each would be open 24/7 and include urgent care, a stabilization unit for stays of up to 23 hours, and rooms for longer-term stays of up to two weeks. Unlike an emergency room, crisis centers work with patients on a discharge plan and help bridge them to care or treatment in the community.

The county’s first crisis center opened in Kirkland in 2024. For the second center, planned for central King County, the choice came down to buying the old Polyclinic building — or building a new facility from the ground up.

The county says the Broadway location would be convenient for patients because it’s close to bus lines, light rail, and freeways. And it’s near three hospitals, which would make referrals and dropoffs by police or firefighters easy.

“Crisis centers are very much needed: by first responders, by providers, and by community members,” a spokesperson for the Seattle Fire Department wrote in an email to KUOW. “SFD’s Mobile Integrated Health team makes near-daily use of the DESC Crisis Solutions Center in the CID and increasingly frequent use of the Connections [crisis center] in Kirkland.”

Crisis centers “are also extremely important tools for diverting our clients away from unneeded hospital stays, thereby helping reserve emergency departments for critical patients,” she added.

The county is currently hosting monthly virtual meetings with community members with questions, concerns, or feedback about the crisis center; the August meeting will be scheduled soon. Neighborhood groups or organizations can also request meetings to learn more about crisis centers.

If all goes as planned, the county could purchase the old Polyclinic building by the end of the year, and the center would open in 2027. In addition to the approval of the King County Council, that would require written support from the city of Seattle — such as a memorandum of understanding or legislation expressing approval.

If the Broadway location doesn’t work out, central King County probably wouldn’t have a crisis care center until at least 2030.