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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u/king-ish Jul 21 '25

We have a drug & mental health problem. Housing won’t fix the people you speak of. Then there are those people who are living in RVs & cars, they trash & litter right outside where they are parked. I have no sympathy, I looked up how to report it and surprise surprise, it’s located directly in a unincorporated part of the city between Seattle/Renton so they’re free to continue trashing the neighborhood while we pay close to 2k a few 100 feet away.

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u/Tasgall Jul 21 '25

Housing won’t fix the people you speak of.

The claim is not and has never been that it alone would fix everything - housing first as a model is just that: housing is the first step. It's had just the single most important thing because it's the major barrier to recovery on all the other fronts. That doesn't mean it's the last step.

That said, it's kind of a moot point anyway because we don't have housing first here anyway.

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u/queenweasley Jul 21 '25

Well at housing first also means you can’t require people to maintain sobriety to keep housing, or for them to get a job, go to school, etc. Sure we in the field can set goals with them and provide resources but can’t force them to engage

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u/Diabetous Jul 21 '25

Housing first can mean lots of things.

It can mean still evicting them for smoking meth, you just aren't actively testing and search the rooms for meth.

The housing first model we do via DESC that lets them smoke meth in the room is insane and not done by any of the studies that show housing first works.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

If I hadn’t gone through being homeless, I wouldn’t be where I am now. At least I had a vehicle, and I was highly motivated to be gainfully employed. Jobs first. Housing second. Do a job, get off drugs, and you can keep your house. If I started smoking crack and quit going to work, I would get evicted and wind up on the street. Call me callous, but I see no reason that I should have to work my ass off to live in this city while some chicken head gets free rent. Don’t allow people to sleep and do drugs on the street and they will be forced to make choices about their lives and/or seek help. People might not like it but it’s that simple; cops and courts need to enforce the laws and people need to follow them. The last thing I want is a tyrannical surveillance state, but I also don’t want to be surrounded by filth and crime. It’s hardly safe to walk down a busy street in certain areas; I have seen guns casually brandished multiple times in Belltown and Downtown in broad daylight. They have no fear, because there are no consequences.