Issues | Change Washington

Seattle-Style Cronyism Makes Dow Constantine the $6 Million Man

Imagine you need to choose a CEO for a large transportation company currently serving over 100,000 people daily. The company is undertaking a 30-year, multi-billion-dollar construction project to increase the number of markets and potentially serve more riders. Yet there are serious financial problems within the company. Cost overruns and time delays have already more...

Liberal tax policies place more burdens on lower- and middle-class Seattle residents

Reckless policies which resulted in businesses fleeing Seattle, are now forcing residential taxpayers to pay higher taxes. In just four years, King County homeowners have gone from paying 65% of the property taxes collected to now being responsible for over 80%. Ironically, this is primarily due to progressive policies which supporters claimed would make wealthy...

Change Washington: Using facts to bring common-sense solutions

Change Washington is a non-partisan organization dedicated to solving urban problems across the state with a focus on the Seattle/Puget Sound region with proven, data-driven solutions. Unlike the current political leadership, which supports costly ineffective measures, ChangeWA focuses on common-sense answers that have a track record of success. ChangeWA has partnered with many organizations to...

Three women champion common sense homelessness policies

Who is bringing common sense solutions to the region’s homelessness debate? Who is refuting the seemingly ridiculous claim that addiction and mental health issues are not major factors in King County’s worsening homelessness crisis? The answer is three women who have each become authoritative voices in the homelessness discussions. These three non-governmental leaders stand out...

New KCRHA CEO refuses to be accountable to taxpayers

As readers will recall, King County Executive Dow Constantine admitted in a recent ChangeWa interview that he couldn’t provide even a rough estimate as to how much taxpayer money he had spent on the homeless issues. He also refused to provide even one public goal for the much-maligned King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) to...

How involuntary treatment can reduce homelessness

There is increasing discussion among community leaders for expanding the use of involuntary treatment for individuals with severe substance abuse issues. This strategy would largely benefit those currently living on the streets and classified as “chronically homeless.” However, to effectively assist these individuals, there must be a significant change in local and state government’s spending...

Why do some legislators want encampments to return?

In the decade since homelessness was declared an emergency, almost every progressive measure has led to an increase in homelessness and more suffering on the streets. Going back to the beginning of the millennium, unchecked extreme measures have made the problem worse as these “fixes” fail to address the true culprits – addiction and mental...

Voters’ Guide to confusing Seattle housing initiative

Many Seattle voters are unaware that a special election is taking place next week (Tuesday, February 11 deadline to return your ballot if you lived in the city) where the progressives are seeking to increase taxes on Seattle employers to fund the expansion of yet another local housing bureaucracy – this time for the City...

Rent Control – The latest “fix” that will actually increase homelessness

Since Washington’s homelessness problem reached crisis status in the early 2010’s, nearly every housing and homeless measure that has received government support (and our tax dollars) has resulted in higher homeless numbers and/or lowered our state’s housing supply. Currently, Washington has one of the worst homeless problems in the country (with thousands remaining untreated for...

Public frustration grows over government’s negative homelessness results

In the latest condemnation of “Housing First” homeless policies, an overwhelming 80% of Washington State voters believe current homeless strategies have failed and that the region’s political leadership has made the crisis even worse. This is one of many public opinions learned in a new 800-voter survey conducted by Napolitan News Services . The wide-ranging...

Governor Inslee’s Legacy – 77.7% increase in homelessness

How will history view Governor Jay Inslee’s 12 years in office and his leadership on the homeless crisis? If historians look at the facts, they will not be kind to the career politician when it comes to one of the major issues of the day. Besides being an obedient follower of the controversial Housing First...

2024 in review: Despite billions spent, homelessness continues to grow

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...

2024 in review: Citizens fight back on crime and drugs

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...

Dow Constantine interview raises questions on region’s homeless strategy

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...