Homelessness | Change Washington

Victory! County nixes plans for Chinatown homeless megaplex (for now)

When tasked with a long, difficult undertaking it’s important to celebrate the victories when they happen. King County’s decision to nix a planned homeless megaplex in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID) represents an unexpected and important success for sound homelessness policy, public safety, and common-sense governance. As we’ve written on repeatedly, this entire project was thoroughly...

Harrell, city councilmembers must side with Chinatown against homeless megacomplex

Recently the residents of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District held several protest rallies in opposition to a homeless megaplex proposed by King County Executive Dow Constantine that would house hundreds of people. Unfortunately, Constantine seems determined to ram the project through regardless of public feedback. While protesters have put appropriate pressure on the Seattle City Council, it’s...

Help Chinatown stop King County’s hush-hush plans for a homeless megaplex

A lack of accountability for public officials is one of the many problems contributing to the homelessness crisis in the region. For that to change, residents and voters must hold officials’ feet to the fire and make their own voice heard. That is what the people of Seattle’s Chinatown did last week when they protested...

Spending more on homelessness isn’t an outcome

We’ve often remarked that if you can’t identify the source of a problem then you can’t solve it. When it comes to the ongoing homelessness crisis in Seattle, among the causes are dysfunctional or counterproductive organizations that undermine efforts to fix it. Thankfully, it seems Mayor Bruce Harrell has identified one of them. In June...

Hotel California/Love Shack is not the way to shelter the homeless

We’ve long argued that the type of homelessness that we are now seeing in Seattle and King County is not the result of unaffordable housing, but a combination of mental illness, substance abuse, drug addiction, and unwillingness by those in need to accept help, combined with a lack of accountability by those who receive taxpayer...

City wants to provide RV park services for homeless – on your dime

Over the past few weeks we’ve taken aim at arguments made by sources quoted in a Seattle Times article claiming that removing drug camps is contributing to homeless deaths and drug abuse combined with permissive public policy are a significant cause of those deaths. With King County already on track to hit a record number...

What’s really behind the record number of homeless deaths?

Last week we took aim at claims made by sources in a Seattle Times story that the removal of drug camps was driving homelessness deaths. We’re now going to look at one of the actual problems. Drug overdoses. The homelessness problem in Seattle is primarily a substance addiction problem. Of the 195 homeless that died...

Removing drug camps isn’t causing record homeless deaths

It’s no secret to any of you that Seattle is in bad shape, but you may not be aware of just how dysfunctional the situation is – and it may only get worse if there isn’t a change in course. The level of dysfunction was revealed in a recent Seattle Times story that we’ll be...

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s homelessness plan needs work

Earlier this year we wrote about how King County’s previous efforts to eliminate homelessness failed because those involved incorrectly diagnosed the root problem, warning that any future attempts to address the crisis needed to attack the real causes – substance abuse and mental illness. Unfortunately, Mayor Bruce Harrell appears to be making many of...

Initiative 1922 = free needles for addicts

As you all well know, Washington state is currently dealing with a homelessness crisis along with increased crime. The last thing the state should do is decriminalize drug possession (and use), which would ensure that more people become homeless and commit more petty crime, while drug addicts will come here from other parts of the...

Stating the obvious: Homeless camps cause crime

“Homeless camps cause crime.” To you, it’s likely this is merely stating the obvious, but to others it’s a revelation as profound as discovering electricity. Unfortunately, much of the solution to Seattle’s problems is going to involve us stating the obvious again and again. In this case, it’s with homelessness. Acting on his State of...

New voter survey shows they agree with you – Seattle must do better on all fronts

It’s easy at times to feel we’re alone in how we feel about the poor state of Seattle. But a new survey by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce reveals the complete opposite. We’re not alone. In fact, we’re the vast majority. The survey of 700 registered voters in Seattle show what Chamber CEO Rachel...

What went right and wrong this legislative session

The 2022 legislative session ended on March 10 with a mixed bag that included some menial public safety reforms, unsustainable state spending, and homelessness policies that at best scratch the surface of the problem. Public Safety We began the session imploring lawmakers to fix a “police reform” law that effectively defanged police responses to actual...

A great first step toward addressing homeless, but what happens next?

In his recent State of the City address Mayor Bruce Harrell promised to clear public spaces of homeless encampments. We implored him to use this historic opportunity to make Seattle safe again, and this week his actions indicate he will make good on that pledge but we hope he will continue using good judgment with...