2,736 people in King Co. spent last night without shelter

Reality?  People with mental illness, veterans, the elderly , and people with disabilities all have resources available to them..to address shelter, health care and meals.  At times emergency or temporary shelter is needed until permanent housing is available.  These populations all have case workers, advocates and/or service coordinators available to help obtain housing. Most receive social security benefits. If assistance isn't offered or coordinated, it is frequently because some provider thinks they are overworked, underpaid and under funded.     So these populations can not be factored into the equation.  

And people living with family and friends do not count either.

For most  families with children, and victims of domestic violence. there are a  variety of organizations available, as well. Most are useful and helpful...but some are not

Anyone, including these folks, can reject help if they choose.

Resources are scarce for people with substance abuse issues. when they can not or will not abstain while using facilities. .

Veterans who are not "service connected" fall through the cracks but can access the VA or the VA Reps at the county level for guidance.

People who are employable but barely make a living wage have the freedom to  obtain a 2nd job.

These facts greatly reduce the  "legitimate"  homelessness statistics.

It  is accurate that creating more shelters and meal sites aggravates the homeless situation... as the incentive to quickly resolve ones predicament is diminished.  

On any given day there are dozens of jobs out there...some good and some crappy.....but available just the same, to anyone willing to work.  Not taking a job because of low pay or because it is beneath you is not acceptable when expecting help from others.  Jobs are like stepping stones....

Homelessness is complex but  reporting inaccurate statistics and "counts overwhelms a community and its ability to plan solutions, stresses resources and contributes to the unacceptable "overworked and underpaid" mindset among our public servants.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a question about the buses category.  Did the interviewers ride every "night owl bus" and ask everyone on it if they had a home?  So they found 66 men, 1 minor (I guess minors don't have a gender) and 1 "gender unknown" - (were they sleeping under the seat with a blanket over their head?) riding around on these buses.  Are these just buses to nowhere so people can stay warm? 

So, the 305 people that were "walking around" are assumed to be homeless?  And, what's with the 569 people in the "other" category?  Were they rolling around on fire, or juggling in the dark?  Basically, that's almost 875 people.  Talk about inflation.

How many looked for work yesterday? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDxpdFKuGb4

I am sure there are people out there that really need a hand, but there are more out there that are just milking the system for freebees rather than working for a living. I don't mind helping those who really need help, bug the rest can freeze their butts off or get a job and there are plenty of jobs out there.

I have great compassion for those of us shivering in the increasingly damp and colder Seattle winter weather. Something must be done to alleviate their circumstances. I would be willing to contribute to any fund that would allow them to travel to a warmer more comfortable climate.  Arizona would be nice but Hawaii would be even better. I wonder how Hawaiians would like this uprooting idea? 

I have a dream, that our government one day will spend as much money at home taking care of Americans living in poverty as they do the poverty stricken in other countries. I have a dream where housing and shelter for those at a mental or physical disadvantage is more important than sending billions of U.S. tax dollars overseas to support foreign domestic issues and wars. I have a dream, that Americans will once again become AMERICANS, and extend their hand to those less fortunate and help them up, rather than pass them by on the street like they don't exist. I have a dream, that the government, who took MANY homes during the housing collapse, that now stand vacant.....could use their BRAINS and some math to help ease the burden of homelessness. (for those who WANT help) Empty, unsellable houses + homeless in need = sheltered homeless. Make the ones that WANT a better life, work to earn their keep. The ones that don't want help? Leave them out there, with the rest of the country KNOWING that they chose to live that way, and watch their "change begging" handouts dwindle down to ZERO.

As long as there are more people than housing and the jobs to pay the rent this is going to be a problem.  Doesn't matter what else you do or what kind of issues the homeless have the issue won't go away without the living wage job and the place to rent.  Maybe consider closing the door to immigration, and prohibiting employment and housing to non-citizens.

No matter whose fault it is that they are homeless; it should be dealt with as it is burdensome on a community when it gets severe, and no human should feel less than a human.  Homeless will always be an issue, but the numbers here is the NW are a little too high compared to the rest of the nation which means we are taking on their obligations.......

I wonder how many were homeless before coming to King Co?

Plenty of free land out there available for the poor if the feds and the state would quit unconstitutionally stealing it. Open land back up for homesteading for the poor and give them a piece of land they can settle out and try to build a better life. And quit stealing land from poor people by having property taxes.

I wonder how many of these people were "helped" into this social status by alcohol? It's legal and available and does great harm. It's like the pink elephant in the room. But it's SOOO profitable.

Its not a problem in Seattle for some of the homeless but a lifestyle....

The growth of homeless is due mostly to the fact that Seattle is a homeless friendly city. Seattle programs to help the homeless actually attract the homeless to the city. It’s not helping them but enabling them. It’s NOT due to the economy downturn, many were homeless before the recession. Just compare our city streets from today and just a few years ago. Take a walk down Pike Place, downtown, Chinatown, Capitol Hill, a panhandler will approach you every single block, they are on every corner, stoplight and every freeway exit.

 

I have no problem with helping people out (if they try in return) but all of you volunteers think you are helping by bringing them here, but you forget about the neighborhood that you just burden by doing so, it doesn’t matter to you because at night you go home where you don’t see what it’s really like. Please take them to your house don’t make me deal with something you are “passionate” about.

Ah in a perfect world... (Dream sequence music begins...) Where mental health is evaluated and identified by the state and federal agencies as energetically as tax evasion, child support, or owing to creditors. Where psychological health professionals and graduate students alike were inclined to help identify those who show signs, and get those to the appropriate state or federal programs. Where responsible and reasonable gun control meant that your mental health and capacity determined if you received an approved gun purchase. Where child abusers, rapists, and domestic violence have the follow up and consequences that are needed for these mental health born offenses. These groups of people are not allowed rehabilitation rights because in this perfect world, common sense prevails and these people cannot be rehabilitated. Where identifying a mental health problem is a common sense approach to ensure the right path and treatment. (dream sequence fades...) Look, evaluating mental health does not need to be a dystopian, socialist, "round'em up" type society. It should be as important as a child’s physical health, education, and welfare. It needs to start early and be prevalent throughout the child’s development and early adulthood. Only then can we allocate the funding, we are currently bleeding out, towards agencies and community centers that specialize in various types of mental health issues. Throwing money as a blanket onto specialized problems will always fail. I think the same money can be used to get this population out of the equation. Then we can focus on the people who do not show signs of mental illness, who have drug dependencies, who are scamming the system, who are just comfortable with the lifestyle, and those who legitimately are down on their luck and need the right assistance.

1241 gender unknown . How can that be. Seems just a way to inflate the numbers. 

Here is a question, How many of these people put themselves in this situation and want to be in this boat? 

They did a study in Utah were they counted Homeless in Salt Lake City and homeless shelters guess what they found out? The shelters were almost empty every night. Why because you have to live by rules and clean yourself up most of those shelters offer warm beds work placement and all sorts of things the number of shelters was over 60 all able to house 100 people or more a night .so with people choosing not find refuge and shelter that is given freely I have a hard time feeling sorry for some people

Like many comments here, I too wonder how many of these people are on the streets because they choose to be or because of their very poor choices in life.

How come there is not a count of shelter beds available along with this story? Fact of the matter is a lot of these people choose to sleep on the streets because the shelters make them take showers and don't allow drinking and drugs. Mentall patients aside, most of these people choose the street. Hard to feel sorry for them. NYC passed a law outlawing sleeping outside and the street people were NOT happy. They had to move to a shelter or go home. Lots went home. We should try that here.

Just to point this out. These numbers are sad, but there are people who do choose to live like this. We have a good family friend who chooses to live in a tent in Auburn. He is happy like that. He spends his days working at a community center. He doesn't bum off the system, or complain about how things are. He also doesn't expect to be supported by others. 

When did Seattle become so heartless and inhumane? I've literally cringed while reading some of the Comments that appear to be from some of the most evil people on the planet.