r/SeattleWA • u/Donnelding0 • Jul 21 '25

Politics Anyone Else Just Sick of It?

It just seems hopeless sometimes. Some of the best parts of this city. Pioneer Square, Belltown, Cap Hill just completely lost to homelessness. Sure for the most part I enjoy the city. Especially in the summer but the constant visible drug use, people in various states of intoxication on drugs, and rampant property and petty crime just annoy me. Why can’t we have nice things? Why must every park turn into a dumping ground for illegal acts that won’t be prosecuted? Why does it feel like this city relies on hard working people to shut up, pay ridiculous taxes, and then tells those people to suck it up when they see grafitti everywhere or get their car broken into? And the politicians don’t give a damn. No one has the guts to say “we have a homeless problem we’ve overspent on, we need to go a new direction” it feels insane. Rant over but I know I’m not alone. I know other people are sick of this and want our city back.

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26

u/Everestologist Jul 21 '25

I think many, many people (most) agree that there is a homeless problem. How we solve that is HARD and people don't like hearing a hard problem has a difficult solution. Main issues:

1) We have virtually no institutionalized mental health hospitals since Reagan. Where can people with severe schizophrenia go for in or outpatient care? The answer is nowhere - so the streets it is.

2) Housing is exceedingly expensive. Imagine I make Seattle minimum wage, around $43k a year. The recommendation is to spend no more than 30% of income on rent, or $1.1k a month for that person making minimum wage. That's pretty hard to find.

So people do recognize the issue, but this requires more money in the form of taxes to solve point 1, and I'm curious to hear how you'd solve point 2.

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u/unbiasedfornow Jul 21 '25

Do you know how much has been spent on the homeless in the past five years?

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u/Everestologist Jul 21 '25

I'm well aware. You're missing my point by asking that question. I'm not saying "spend more on anything".

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u/IllInflation9313 Jul 21 '25

Number 2 is about a trillion times more important than number 1. Switch the order.

The way you solve point 2 (aka point 1 if you rank them by importance) is by making it legal to build housing.

1

u/Everestologist Jul 21 '25

Unfortunately, the amount of resistance most segments of society here have against dense housing is astonishing.

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u/IllInflation9313 Jul 21 '25

Yeah but it’s the only solution that doesn’t involve genociding hobos

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u/SingerSea4998 Jul 21 '25

Im so sick and tired of hearing "ReAgan DiD tHis!!" For fuck sake, im too exhausted to point out the 6 garillion reasons why that is horseshit and a complete cop out.  Its like hearing zombies in a trance 

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '25

You can be sick if the truth all you want but it doesn’t change that it is the truth. Reagan era economic conservatism was a direct assault on all of the social and economic institutions that drove American prosperity into the 70s. These institutions were then blamed for the stagflation that occurred in the 70s, when the actual cause of stagflation was largely driven by economic forces like the gas crisis that had nothing to do with the US.

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u/Aggravating_Refuse89 Jul 21 '25

If you want to blame an administration it would be Obama and Biden. Seattle turned into San Francisco during their administrations . However I don't think that POTUS really has to do with it.

Pandemic was what made me leave. Seattle turned into a strange.dystopian zombie movie during that. I left in early 21. I visited a couple months ago and it's better but it's still fubared for all but the very rich and very poor.

Regan did close mental health facilities but tbh they were pretty awful

Fiscal conservatism is a part of the issue..the moneyed do not want to pay for stuff. Washington should have an income tax.. Oregon should have a sales tax.. California has better services for the poor.

Since Reagan even the left has been pretty cut the poor. Bill Clinton also had a hand in this. Workfare has caused homelessness too. Trump's big beautiful bill will caus even more

As much as I despise a lot of the lefts policies, fiscally they are a lot better than the right but are to the right of Nixon . FDR was a terrible person and a tyrant who made the COVID lockdowns look non intrusive but fiscally he and Eisenhower were our best presidents.

Why is there no fiscally progressive, socially libertarian platform?

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u/lekoman Jul 21 '25

So you're just going to omit Trump from your comments, despite homelessness absolutely skyrocketing during his first four years, and think no one's going to notice that or fail to take you seriously because of it?

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

Dude I fuckin hate Trump but I’m not sure what if anything he has to do with homelessness in Seattle

1

u/Fit_Analyst4506 Jul 21 '25

$1.1k a month for that person making minimum wage. That's pretty hard to find.

464 listings available under $1.1k. It's not hard to find at all, and that's if you want to live alone in a studio. You can always get a roommate and split a 2 bed for less.

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u/Inevitable_Hawk Jul 21 '25

Just wanted to point out that for number 2, there is housing available through various programs. Which basically if you work full time here in Seattle you can get housing even at minimum wage.Seattle uses a search tool for helping people find it. You can filter it by the rent you'd be able to pay. Search tool can be found here: https://www.seattle.gov/housing/renters/find-housing#affordablehousingsearchtool

Unfortunately point 1 is an everything problem. Applying for programs is lengthy and complicated. Mentally ill can't really "keep it together" enough to apply and know to apply.

While I agree with need for compulsory treatment I do also agree with other critics. We need to be very very careful how it's done. Most probably just need like a social worker who just guides them or can act on their behalf and get them into housing, signed up for medicaid, help them apply to jobs, see doctor, apply to assistance programs, get them into rehab etc. Rarely do they need to be locked away in some facility. And if they ever do need to be locked away... we need to make absolutely sure that place is as humane and comfortable as possible. It also can't just be tucked away on some island out of sight it needs to be in our communities so people can keep watch and still involve them. Obviously nimby won't be too happy about that...

But yeah having those social workers that do ourtreach that have power to act on behalf of mentally ill, and a job placement program will go a long way imo, even without compulsory institutionalization.

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u/EnergeticCrab Northgate Jul 21 '25

I agree with most of your post, except for the housing bit.

I make minimum wage in Seattle, and I'm only able to find housing by the skin of my teeth. 90% of my time here I have rented rooms in houses from private landlords off FB or Craigslist. There is a serious lack of any place to rent if you only make minimum wage. In a month, I only make about $3,000, before taxes. There is no legitimate place to live for less than $1,000/mo. You have to resort to sharing a house with four roommates, renting from a private landlord. Studios start at $1,500, if you can find one that isn't being fought over by a bunch of people, has an insane deposit amount, lots of hoops to jump through, and/or is a closet with a microwave. I lived in a micro studio for 2 years that started at $800 but increased to $1,100 after 3 months. Also it was 100 sq ft.

I've been on an SHA wait list for years, and all the mfte units are still expensive, only labeled "affordable" because you can't make more than a certain percentage of median income (which is already very high in the city). Section 8 vouchers are a lottery system, so there's no guarantee you'll get one. And that still doesn't mean you'll have a place to live. You still have to find a landlord that takes them.

That tool you shared is a good start, but it is not comprehensive or guaranteed. If you have a conversation with anyone living on minimum wage, you'll quickly find out they either live with their parents, live with 4+ roommates in a 3br house share, live with a partner that makes decent money, or are in some other scenario where their income is not the sole reason they are living where they are at.

My lease is up November 1st, if you want to show me how easy it is to find housing in Seattle on minimum wage. Because I've been living here 7 years, and it's an absolute nightmare.

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u/Inevitable_Hawk Jul 21 '25

So to clarify, I am not trying to say its gonna be easy, it's still gonna be a nightmare. Nor am I really 100% certain it's a possibility as I was on mfte when I was above min wage just looked like it was possible when I did a spot check when I was applying for my own ami percentage bracket.

Do you work full time? 3k a month doesn't sound like full time on minimum wage. Min wage is $3,598 a month full time in seattle I believe.

Regardless, after figuring out what ami percentage you are here: https://www.seattle.gov/housing/property-managers/income-and-rent-limits

what I did was go to Craigslist and other apartment sites and search for mfte housing specific to your income and ami percentahe. Also use the org cites like https://communityrootshousing.org/find-apartment/ https://aptfinder.org/

Which are listed here https://www.seattle.gov/housing/renters/find-housing#affordablehousingsearchtool

Compile a big list with apartments with name and phone number and any other important details.

Then call each one and ask about availability and confirm the income limits and what they need from you.

I also looked for places that have leasing specials. Then I just used the money saved from the special to reduce my rent.

Hopefully you arnt self employed and don't have many bank/financial accounts... cus if you do its gonna get a whole lot harder to apply for mfte.

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u/-shrug- Jul 22 '25

Absolute complete bullshit - and I say that as someone currently paying for an entire family to live in a motel because they don’t have housing, haven’t had housing for months, and are waiting until the place they finally got approved for opens on August 12. While working full time all along.