The number of homeless individuals in King County has risen again. The suffering grows in encampments, vacant buildings, and in urban green spaces, despite billions of taxpayer dollars being spent on building large housing bureaucracies at multiple levels of government. While those in charge of our region’s failed homeless strategy have become very wealthy, more...
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...
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),...
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....
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...
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...
Seattle has claimed the top spot in the nation as the city with the highest sales tax. Even with this incredible revenue stream, Seattle is now less safe. It has been misguided politicians and policies, not the lack of funds, that have made it a city where criminals feel comfortable while charities flee. Earlier this...
Last week King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced a proposal to scrap the King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s (KCRHA) Implementation Board, the 13-person committee of “experience in the housing and homelessness fields” which shares responsibility for managing the much-maligned authority. According to the proposal, nearly all of the board’s responsibilities...
A recently released midyear crime report from the Council on Criminal Justice revealed that while murder is down across the U.S. when compared to 2019, Seattle’s homicide rate is 50% higher than it was five years ago. Frustrated Seattle voters, fed up with the mass exodus of police officers (Seattle currently has fewer police officers...
King County Executive Dow Constantine recent battle with Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison over incarceration of criminals is the latest proof that the 15-year incumbent is stubbornly holding onto failed progressive public safety and homelessness policies, which many now blame for making conditions worse. Constantine appears stuck in 2020 as he continues to advocate combatting...