What is Seattle's homeless problem like in January 2023? (Edmonds, Issaquah: home, neighborhood)

[Transmition]

That data is almost a year old now, so it is maybe less relevant with all the clear-ups that took place over the summer. I guess we won't know how well we are doing now until long after now has passed. It looks a lot better than it did a year ago though.

[mayfair]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

As has been the case for many years, clearing homeless without addressing the causes simply moves them from one place to another. With the city core being important to business and tourism (and the City's budget) the mayor has made good progress cleaning up some of the worst public-facing homeless. Most of them are still homeless and in Seattle, however. They have recently popped up in the shrubbery along I5 where it meets I90, and in the industrial area by Terminal 46 and the 99 tunnel entrance.

This is true. Some areas become better, but where do the homeless go when the area is cleaned up? The answer is somewhere else in the city.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by rjshae

........, feeling that the more money we pour into it the worse the problem will get.

Of course it does. It's like feeding stay cats. The more free food you put put the more cats you get move into your yard.

Seattle is a great place to be homeless. The weather is reltively good, there are all sorts of places that give out free food, there are free places to live where someone else cleans and washes your sheets, it is OK to camp on sidewalks and poop in the street, and you can use all the drugs you want to use and panhandle anywhere you want to. The police don't even do anything about car prowls, break-ins, or shoplifters, if you want to support yourself that way. What's not to like?

The homeless are, most of them, online and they have a grapevine where they can tell each other where the best places to live are. I've seen Seattle highly recommended. The only place that gets more likes is Los Angeles.

[rjshae]

It would almost make sense to limit some of the aid to long-term Washington residents. But I suppose that's never going to happen.

[Oabmarcus]

The homeless just moved their encampments from downtown to underneath the I-5 bridges and highways. Just sweeping the issue to another part of seattle, no actual resolutoin insight.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by rjshae

In terms of statistics, this state is not doing well.

Washington homeless population surpassed most states in 2022



The total homeless in this area has increase 13.8% since 2020. I'm cynical about it, feeling that the more money we pour into it the worse the problem will get.

Which is crazy considering Washington is only ranked like 13th or 14th in population. The fact that we have more homeless than Texas almost 4x the population size of us is just crazy. Absolutely bonkers. We shouldn’t be in the same league as states triple or quadruple the size of us when it comes to this.

[mayfair]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Which is crazy considering Washington is only ranked like 13th or 14th in population. The fact that we have more homeless than Texas almost 4x the population size of us is just crazy. Absolutely bonkers. We shouldn’t be in the same league as states triple or quadruple the size of us when it comes to this.

It's such a huge problem in WA. Even out in rural areas outside Seattle people are living under the bridges. It's probably an even larger problem in reality than it appears to be because I'm not sure all these people are being counted.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Of course it does. It's like feeding stay cats. The more free food you put put the more cats you get move into your yard.

Seattle is a great place to be homeless. The weather is reltively good, there are all sorts of places that give out free food, there are free places to live where someone else cleans and washes your sheets, it is OK to camp on sidewalks and poop in the street, and you can use all the drugs you want to use and panhandle anywhere you want to. The police don't even do anything about car prowls, break-ins, or shoplifters, if you want to support yourself that way. What's not to like?

The homeless are, most of them, online and they have a grapevine where they can tell each other where the best places to live are. I've seen Seattle highly recommended. The only place that gets more likes is Los Angeles.

This. In addition, word gets around at the municipal level and other states/cities "export" their problem homeless to us. One greyhound ticket and $100, and another druggie/thief/arsonist/rapist/child molester is now our problem.

[Marv95]

People blaming the homeless on muh weather when there are populated nations with much better weather worldwide that don't have this issue is a cope. It's a gov't thing, plain and simple. It supports this instead of doing what's necessary to destroy it. Building more housing isn't enough when the vast majority out there are junkies who refuse to be productive in society.

[Transmition]

"vast majority out there are junkies"?

Most homeless people are employed and just can't afford anywhere to live. The housing shortage and pushed up rents has put more of these people into shelters which become full, and it leaves the least organized still out on the streets.