Last week, ChangeWA reviewed the negative outcomes of Seattle and King County’s Emergency Declaration issued 10 years ago this month. This week we look at two commonsense ways to quickly lower homelessness, cut dependence on costly government programs, and save taxpayer money. Progress has been made – just a few years ago these policies weren’t...
ChangeWA marks the 10-year anniversary of the City of Seattle and King County declaring homelessness an emergency with the first of a two-part series. This week we will examine the devastating results of the region’s homelessness strategy. Next week in part two, we will provide commonsense solutions that have reversed the negative trends in other...
The leniency in Washington’s judicial system was recently displayed by the repeat offender (36 arrests and 20 convictions) who killed a 20-year-old woman as he attempted to flee police in Pierce County. Despite serving numerous short sentences in his life, the suspect clearly has never been “rehabilitated.” It appears he views his many brief lockups...
Spokane provides the latest example of how citizens are forced to correct politicians’ failed policies because stubborn elected officials refuse to admit that their extremist, “Housing First” policies have made problems worse. Housing First is the policy strategy that provides free taxpayer-funded housing for homeless individuals regardless of their addiction, mental health, or criminal status....
Among the regular stream of meaningless partisan statements issued by Governor Bob Ferguson’s communications team was one of last week which has received almost no attention from the local press. It is significant because it reveals the lack of accountability by our political leaders, and it helps explain why the Seattle/King County region and our...
Results from a new statewide survey reveal that an overwhelming percentage of Washington residents are demanding a change in how our state and local governments approach homelessness. After more than a decade of rising homeless rates while adhering to expensive Housing First policies, the public strongly supports changing the focus to one based on addiction/mental...
Local communities, frustrated by the failed progressive homeless policies of their urban neighbors, are taking proactive steps to safeguard their public places, while encouraging those suffering in encampments to accept much-needed mental health and addiction treatment. The City of Camas became the latest Washington State community to enact a camping ban when its city council...
Over the years, ChangeWA has occasionally sided with the long-time Times columnist, Danny Westneat, especially when extremists like Kshama Sawant, Lisa Herbold, and Pete Holmes controlled Seattle City Hall. But on his recent column explaining why Seattle crime rates have dropped, Westneat appeared to have forgotten several important occurrences which have had far more impact...
Since the Obama Administration adopted the Housing First model in 2014, homelessness has increased: The Trump Administration’s July 24 Executive Order (EO) has shaken up how our country will confront its homelessness crisis, especially in how we attempt to help the overwhelming majority of destitute individuals suffering with mental illness and drug addiction. Essentially the...
Last week’s executive order from the Trump Administration firmly declared that the federal government is changing its homeless strategy after more than a decade of disappointing results from Housing First policies. These orders have brought encouragement to those who support more resources for addiction and mental health treatment and angered those who financially benefit from...
Today, the Trump Administration began to dismantle the ineffective and costly Housing First homelessness policies, which have caused the country’s homeless problem to become even worse. The Obama-era policy resulted in a record-breaking 770,000 people to suffer on our streets during the last year of the Biden Administration. In Washington state, homelessness rose 78% since...
A recent state drug proposal could further enable struggling addicts to keep using illegal substances while providing financial benefits to drug companies, bureaucrats, and disingenuous treatment centers, according to treatment advocate Ginny Burton in an op-ed for Center Square. She raises concerns over the effectiveness of the “Safer Supply” drug policy being discussed by Washington...
This is the third article of three on the various costs associated with homelessness. In this article we examine the costs associated with government-funded services and the lack of accountability of taxpayer funds. We also look at whether these services are attracting homeless individuals from other states. King County politicians boast that they work with...
This article is the second in ChangeWA’s three-part series on the increasing costs of our region’s homeless strategy. We asked treatment advocate and founder of the O-UT Program Ginny Burton to examine the long-term costs associated with current policies addressing homelessness. ChangeWA supports a treatment-based approach to homelessness. Data shows that the expensive “Housing First” method has...