Increase in King County’s homeless population in the last 10 years.
Political leaders cannot say how much money has been spent on the homeless issue in King County.
WA state has the 3rd largest homeless population in the country. And THE largest chronically homeless population.
In recent years, well-intentioned policies have often produced disappointing results in many corners of Washington. We advocate for programs that focus on truly helping those among us most in need and focus on accountabilty for actual results.
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This is the concluding article of ChangeWA’s two-part review of 2024. Last week, we discussed successful citizen efforts to correct the mistakes made by politicians on crime and drug issues. This article examines why our region continues to lose the battle against homelessness despite billions spent annually on government programs. We also take a quick...
This is the first of a two-part review of 2024. This article looks at citizen efforts to correct the mistakes made by politicians on crime and drug issues. Next week we will post our thoughts on why our region continues to lose the battle on the homeless crisis. As we look back on 2024, Washington...
ChangeWA received a strong response to our exclusive interview on homelessness with King County Executive Dow Constantine – the single most responsible public official for the current strategy to combat the crisis in the county and Seattle. After 15 years in office, Constantine announced in mid-November that he will not be seeking a fifth term...
It is safe to say that no other elected official has had more impact on the homelessness issue in King County/Seattle than King County Executive Dow Constantine. In 2015 Constantine joined then Seattle Mayor Ed Murray to declare homelessness an emergency, he led the effort to form the much-maligned King County Regional Housing Authority (KCRHA),...
It is common to reflect on what makes us thankful as the holidays approach. After last week’s budget vote, ChangeWA is grateful for the 2023 Seattle voters who rejected the reckless policies of the previous city council and replaced six of the nine council seats with more responsible members. In the end, this council kept...
Seattle voters must remind councilmembers to keep their campaign promises and not cave into the demands of greedy special interest groups which benefit from higher taxes. Moreover, councilmembers should listen to 68% of Seattle voters who support budget cuts over imposing more taxes which increase the cost of living and doing business in the city....
The Seattle-based Discovery Institute released an important study on the King County homelessness crisis which asserts that current government “Housing First” policies are causing homeless numbers to double every three years. The report’s authors proposed commonsense solutions that go to the root cause of why half of the homeless individuals say they are living on...
County election offices across Washington are busy counting ballots and a few races won’t be determined until next week. Yet, with roughly 80% of the statewide vote counted, there is enough election data to make a couple of general observations. SEATTLE Seattle voters took a step back to the failed progressive policies of its recent...
Those seeking to decrease the number of homeless individuals in Washington received heartbreaking news last week. Despite overwhelming evidence that the current homeless strategy (i.e. “Housing First”) is one of the worst and most expensive policy failures in modern history, state government officials released a five-year plan saying they will continue to waste even more...
A new survey of Seattle residents reveals the public is becoming more optimistic about Seattle’s future after voters in 2023 replaced extremist city councilmembers with practical moderates, who thus far are keeping their campaign promises on public safety and not raising taxes. The numbers have improved enough for one to wonder whether the public would...
King County Executive Dow Constantine’s homeless strategy suffered yet another blow as a federal court threw out the county’s lawsuit against the City of Burien over enforcement of the city’s no camping laws. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones ruled on September 25 that the county’s legal claims were “nebulous,” and Burien’s public-area camping ban is...
ChangeWA has teamed with filmmaker V Ginny Burton to produce "Behind Closed Doors," a shocking 30-minute documentary which exposes the unsafe and drug-filled conditions within King County's low-barrier housing.
“I’m shook up. I want to get out of here. I don’t feel safe.” This statement, from a resident of the public supportive housing complex at 1811 Eastlake (on the edge of Downtown Seattle), was stated hours after the latest murder at the 75-unit low-barrier facility. 42-year-old Steve Eden was stabbed more than 20 times...
In Washington State’s two most populous counties there are two differing approaches to combatting the homelessness crisis. If past results are any indication, one county will continue to break records for the number of people who are homeless and for the number of homeless deaths, while the other will see significant positive results helping those...