The new Sequim (Seattle: school, live in, vs)

[pnwguy2]

Homelessness is a scourge that grows like a fungus. When more are put in this position then smaller areas will be effected. I am not surprised by the title of this thread. Question is how can we as a population reduce this? Very complicated, especially in a recessionary environment. Very difficult problem that likely last to the end of 2024 or beyond. I seriously don’t think this will change anytime soon.

If you own your home, stay put. The best way to help the economy, and perhaps nice continued appreciation in coming years with some areas that may show much slower appreciation. It is a mixed bag prognosis but in general your home value will continue to rise.

[MechAndy]

Well throwing money at it doesn’t seem to do any good.
Free lunches just seem to make things worse.
My ideas are considered strict from the far left.
Sometimes the old simple ways work better than these new sensitive ways of handling things.
I dunno.

[CalWorth]

Originally Posted by rodentraiser

Who closed all those hospitals?

When Reagan was governor of California, he started the process. The board & care homes & outpatient mental health clinics that were supposed to replace the state hospitals were never adequate and then the private contractors came along to make mental health a for-profit industry. Other states followed suit. When Reagan became President, this process accelerated. It takes a couple of decades for the withdrawal of services to impact society, and it's happening now.

[pnwguy2]

But if you own outright then the threat is minimal. Inflation will continue. I was fortunate to buy real estate in Tricities WA in 2015 that has doubled. But these scenarios are rare. Seattle and Portland migration to eastern Washington is real.

[CalWorth]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Are you saying that an aggressive panhandler would not be told to back off by LE? That LE would tell you you’re on your own and they refuse to even check it out in the first place?

Does Sequim have any laws differentiating between the more common passive forms of PH (standing at street corner with sign) vs accosting people as they go by?

I think even PT differentiated between those two. Not that it stemmed the flood of derelicts coming for the free monthly bus passes, free meals, free cots in winter (shelter closed in summer), free tents and sleeping bags that do-gooders gave them.

I made my original post of my observations to be true to the original purpose of City Data, which I believe was information regarding relocation. If someone wants to relocate to the Olympic Peninsula, which is hardly mentioned in the state forum, it should be an informed decision. These are my observations of the current situation in a small town where, if not resided in, is still frequented by most residents of Clallam county & also some from Jefferson County, for retail & medical services.

I did not make the post to debate, argue or discuss politics.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by rodentraiser

Who closed all those hospitals?

It wasn't Reagan as he was only a governor of California at that time..... it was JFK who signed into law with lawsuits being pushed by the ACLU that passed laws against involuntary commitment. Thus closing most mental hospitals down and leaving most mental ill on the streets where they can be found today across the nation.

Community_Mental_Health_Act of 1963. Read it.....

There is no dispute that President John F. Kennedy's passion and pleas to combat "the abandonment of the mentally ill and the mentally retarded to the grim mercy of custodial institutions" helped to revolutionize the way we treat mental illness and intellectual disabilities. It was because of JFK that Congress passed bold new legislative program known as the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, but today we view Kennedy's passionate pleas in a little different light than they may have been in 1963. Today, we know that Joe Kennedy Sr, John's father subjected his daughter Rosemary to an experimental lobotomy that left her severely disabled and with the mental capacity of a toddler.

State of the Union History: 1963 John F. Kennedy - Community Mental Health Act of 1963 and the story of Rosemary Kennedy
I am not saying it was right or wrong its just the facts.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

Homelessness is a scourge that grows like a fungus. When more are put in this position then smaller areas will be effected. I am not surprised by the title of this thread. Question is how can we as a population reduce this? Very complicated, especially in a recessionary environment. Very difficult problem that likely last to the end of 2024 or beyond. I seriously don’t think this will change anytime soon.

If you own your home, stay put. The best way to help the economy, and perhaps nice continued appreciation in coming years with some areas that may show much slower appreciation. It is a mixed bag prognosis but in general your home value will continue to rise.

They may not be a solution to the homeless problem...why? Because those who live on the street do it for a couple reasons...one: a life style...two: additions....three: mental illness.
Housing for those above people will not solve the problem. The first group as I said its a life style. The second group not be accepted into housing because of the abuse of drugs and alcohol and no amount of community services will change that. The last group can not be allowed into community housing because they would abuse the property and probably themselves. IMO

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by CalWorth

I made my original post of my observations to be true to the original purpose of City Data, which I believe was information regarding relocation. If someone wants to relocate to the Olympic Peninsula, which is hardly mentioned in the state forum, it should be an informed decision. These are my observations of the current situation in a small town where, if not resided in, is still frequented by most residents of Clallam county & also some from Jefferson County, for retail & medical services.

I did not make the post to debate, argue or discuss politics.

You did not answer the question of whether Sequim differentiates between panhandling and aggressive panhandling. Most people put up with the former. That has nothing to do with politics; it is about feeling safe to do ordinary activities.

[rodentraiser]

Originally Posted by CalWorth

When Reagan was governor of California, he started the process. The board & care homes & outpatient mental health clinics that were supposed to replace the state hospitals were never adequate and then the private contractors came along to make mental health a for-profit industry. Other states followed suit. When Reagan became President, this process accelerated. It takes a couple of decades for the withdrawal of services to impact society, and it's happening now.

Originally Posted by rantiquity

It wasn't Reagan as he was only a governor of California at that time..... it was JFK who signed into law with lawsuits being pushed by the ACLU that passed laws against involuntary commitment. Thus closing most mental hospitals down and leaving most mental ill on the streets where they can be found today across the nation.

Community_Mental_Health_Act of 1963. Read it.....

Well, that certainly cleared that up. LOL

I tend to believe CalWorth. I remember the 80s when the homeless were first starting to be noticed and mentioned on TV and in the news. And people were blaming Reagan even then. I had friends who were cops and I'd hear them talk about how even during the 60s, they'd never had to deal with people who were so mentally unstable after the institutions were closed and the patients put out on the street. It was during the 80s that rent started going sky high, too, forcing many people out into the street, myself included.

[Hemlock140]

I worked ion downtown Oakland CA in the 1980s, and there were plenty of homeless there then (near 12th St Bart). I remember some mornings driving into our parking garage at 5:45am there would be homeless people with small fires burning on the sidewalk as they were trying to keep warm. Going back even further, I was in graduate school at Sacramento State in 1975, and there were a lot of homeless in the K Street Mall area.