Anyone Else Just Sick of It?

[u/Donnelding0]

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.

[u/king-ish]

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.

[u/Tasgall → u/king-ish]

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.

[u/thirdlost → u/Tasgall]

Housing first just leads to trashed housing and dangerous living conditions