Housing First | Change Washington

HB 2266 will remove local control and allow drug-filled housing projects into your neighborhood

Warning – Seattle style emergency housing projects could be coming to your community if HB 2266 passes the legislature. Progressive special interest groups are hoping to sneak through last-minute legislation that will allow Seattle’s public housing organizations to ignore local zoning restrictions to operate drug-filled emergency housing facilities anywhere in the state. The Discovery Institute’s...

“The first step is admitting you have a problem.”

In the past two weeks, two progressive political figures and long-term advocates for Housing First homelessness policies have publicly admitted that the strategy has failed to meet its goals. This fact has been widely accepted by less partisan analysts for many years as homelessness continues to rise nationwide (especially in progressive cities) and has increased...

Stop funding failed homeless policies and instead fund efforts that help people

A leading homeless advocate is encouraging Seattle’s political leadership to abandon failed homelessness and drug policies and instead increase access to treatment-based methods to help those suffering on our streets. Let’s hope that new Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and new King County Executive Girmay Zahilay are paying attention to what is and what is not...

Democrats defend their expensive homeless policies as numbers continue to increase

The expensive and ineffective homelessness strategy that Washington Democrats are defending will once again cause more homeless individuals to suffer on our streets. This devastating reality is what government officials are warning will be revealed when the current point-in-time homeless count figures are released in May. Local officials are currently wrapping up their count of...

A year-in-review through ChangeWA’s top 2025 articles

As 2025 comes to an end, ChangeWA will look back by revisiting some of our most popular articles of the year. ChangeWA has quickly become the leading source of reliable information on the homelessness issue as more of our neighbors continue to suffer in crime- and drug-filled encampments and temporary housing as billions of tax...

This could be Katie Wilson’s “moment,” if she adopts a commonsense homelessness strategy

The instability of Seattle’s political system is best illustrated by the revolving door at the mayor’s office. Since 1998, none of the City of Seattle’s chief executives left office under their own volition. Four (Mayors Schell, Nickels, McGinn, and Harrell) were defeated at the polls, one (Mayor Murray) resigned, and one (Mayor Durkan) chose not...

Seattle Times fails to meet its own standards for its coverage of the homelessness crisis

November 2, 2025, was the 10-year anniversary of Seattle/King County declaring homelessness an emergency. A decade later, government actions have caused homelessness to increase 68% and thousands have died (mostly from drug overdose). The Seattle Times, despite having an editor (Molly “MJ” Harbarger) and two reporters (Greg Kim and Anna Patrick) to cover the issue,...

‘Housing First’ in Washington: A Decade of Failure and Tragedy

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...

Thank you to We Heart Seattle for five years of making a real difference

Time to acknowledge something positive in Seattle… Those of us at ChangeWA celebrate the five-year anniversary of We Heart Seattle! When Seattle progressives’ public safety, drug, and homeless policies were causing the rapid decline of the city in 2020, Andrea Saurez and a small group of like-minded friends went into action. At first, they cleaned...

Rethink Criminal Justice and Recovery

By Ginny Burton After nearly 30 years of active drug use, the criminal justice system became the intervention that saved my life. When felony charges finally pulled me off the streets, it wasn’t punishment that made the difference—it was the pause. Incarceration removed me from homelessness, stopped the criminal behavior that fed my addiction, and...

Why Treatment is superior to Housing First to solve homelessness

1 – Housing First creates dependency on government, Treatment creates self-sufficiency Housing First creates dependency on government’s expensive social services while treatment creates independence. Providing someone with free shelter (which is often very unsafe) does nothing to solve the disabling addiction and mental health problems. The individual then becomes dependent on government services. Yet with...

The Dow Constantine Legacy

It has been nearly six months since then King County Executive Dow Constantine was handed $6 million by his cronies on the Sound Transit Board of Directors to lead its financially troubled organization. Yet his desire to recklessly and carelessly spend taxpayers’ money (while constantly demanding more) at the county still lives on. Remember at...

Local governments lead the way to solve the homelessness crisis

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...

Former Democrats explain why we need new homelessness policies

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...