‘Seattle is Dying’ came out seven years ago. Our leaders didn’t listen

On March 16, 2019, KOMO-TV broadcast the documentary Seattle is Dying, produced by reporter Eric Johnson. The 90-minute program presented a different view of Seattle’s growing homelessness and crime problems, which contrasted with statements from local political leaders.

Through candid street interviews and survey responses from first responders, Johnson revealed that addiction and mental health challenges were the primary causes of homelessness. Many of the police officers and encampment residents stated that 100% of those who were homeless had addiction or mental health issues. He also claimed that the rise in property crime was largely driven by drug users seeking to support their addiction.

This narrative differed from the talking points of politicians who blamed housing affordability as the key reason behind homelessness. They stated the solution was found in “Housing First” policies – we must build a large housing bureaucracy to support the expensive increase in taxpayer funded housing.

Seattle is Dying effectively showed that Housing First was not working because it did not focus on the drug problem. Johnson challenged the policy’s advocates by stating the fact that the Puget Sound region was spending more than a billion dollars a year on the homelessness issue and the number of those without shelter was still growing.

The documentary concluded with a warning about policymakers’ reluctance to recognize drug addiction as a central issue. Johnson remarked, “If we won’t even name the thing that is destroying Seattle, then what hope do we have of fixing it?”

Politicians and special interest groups which benefit from Housing First shot back. The City of Seattle hired an expensive crisis public relations firm to help push out a series of attacks on the documentary and on Johnson himself. In a bizarre twist, the same people who were behind labeling the homelessness crisis an “emergency “in 2015 were now saying the problem was not that bad, despite homelessness growing 11.5% during those four years (from 10,047 in 2015 to 11,119 in 2019).

Johnson was surprised by the backlash, but he soon learned that “the attacks were coming from a select few. Those with a dog in the race,”  (i.e. those who receive funding due to Housing First policies). He was grateful for the “shop owners, citizens, and the hard-working people of Seattle” who said they have seen with their own eyes that Johnson was the one telling the truth in this dispute.

While the documentary made an impact on many viewers, politicians continued to ignore the facts and theories it presented.  After seven more years of focusing on building a large bureaucracy and refusing to provide treatment for the thousands of addicts, the region’s homelessness crisis continues to worsen.

Moreover, homelessness, open drug use, and uncontrollable retail theft, made Downtown Seattle an unsafe place for workers and customers. This forced businesses to close and/or move which caused downtown’s vacancy rates to skyrocket from 6% in 2019 to 35.6% today.

Eric Johnson appeared with KIRO Radio host John Curley last week to commemorate the seven years anniversary of the first airing of Seattle is Dying and to discuss where we are today. Sadly, as Curley reported, things continue to worsen. From 11,119 homeless when the report aired in 2019 to 16,868 today (51.7% increase in just seven years). More importantly between 1,600 to 1,800 have died on our streets since KOMO released the documentary.

Despite these disturbing facts, Seattle’s political leadership is stubbornly refusing to alter its approach to homelessness.

Recently elected Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson stated during the campaign that her administration should be judged by how it responds to the homelessness crisis. During her first State of the City  speech, she acknowledged that, “I don’t think that anyone can really argue that our overall approach to homelessness has been successful.”

Yet when she unveiled her homelessness strategy in February, her plan was nearly identical to what previous Seattle mayors have done – pour massive amounts of money into bureaucratic housing programs and completely ignore the drug crisis. Not once during her speech did the mayor even mention addiction treatment.

Remember Johnson’s warning that it is difficult to fix a problem you refuse to admit even exists? Our political leaders continue to ignore the drug crisis. In fact, they have filed lawsuits to prevent any of the current homelessness funds being spent helping the homeless overcome their addictions.

It is often said that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is a sign of insanity. That is exactly what our political leaders are currently doing. They keep pouring more tax money into wasteful housing bureaucracies and ignoring the drug crisis,  and homelessness continues to rise.

In revisiting Seattle is Dying we see how our homelessness strategy is nearly identical to what it was seven years ago. Unless we place more focus on treatment and meaningful recovery, we will again be bemoaning the fact that things have become worse seven years from now.

Hopefully soon, our political  leaders will have the courage to stand up to those who are profiting from failed Housing First policies and choose to end the pain being experienced by thousands. When they do, they will listen to the experts and focus more resources on addiction recovery and mental health treatment. Until then, it is insanity to think we will achieve a different result.

Photo: Seattle Is Dying screenshot.