Huh, never knew you could declare "state of emergency" to deal with homeless. (Seattle: homes, camping)

[flyingsaucermom]

[url=http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/mayor-county-exec-declare-state-of-emergency-over-homelessness/]Mayor, county exec declare[/url]

What do you guys think of this?

[Hemlock140]

I have been taking the bus to Westlake and walking through the Market to my job on the waterfront for 6 years. There definitely is an increase of homeless in certain areas this year, though I cannot say that they just didn't move from another part of the city. The 3rd-4th-Pine-Pike area doorways seem to have fewer since they took steps to reduce the drug dealing, but there are far more now, some even in tents along 4th Avenue between Washington and Jefferson. Just in the last week many tents have popped up along the Express ramps to I90 Eastbound. Something should have been done about this problem long ago, hopefully something will come of this.

[GatsbyGatz]

I witness junkies shooting up heroine in broad daylight on the busy streets of Cap Hill almost every week. While it's easy enough to just ignore these people, it's very obvious to everyone that drug addicts are all over the place. Mayor Murray himself says that heroine is the primary cause to Seattle's homeless.

[homesinseattle]

Despicable, that this blatant problem exists in a city as financially successful as Seattle. Perhaps easy for me to say but it seems like if 5 or 10 very wealthy and influential people in this town got focused with resources and a plan, we'd be on our way to a solution in no time.

[Seattle4321]

Mr. Billionaire gates could sure help! But nope I guess he's more concerned about people in other countries! I wonder why Steve ballmer, Paul Allen or jef bezos don't care either? I feel bad for the innocent homeless. It's also sorta uncomfortable walking by crowds of them. But I'm glad the government might help!

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Despicable, that this blatant problem exists in a city as financially successful as Seattle. Perhaps easy for me to say but it seems like if 5 or 10 very wealthy and influential people in this town got focused with resources and a plan, we'd be on our way to a solution in no time.

I don't think it's that simple. Yes, if they built a wall around the city to keep other homeless people from coming in they probably could do something meaningful for the homeless already there. Therein lies the problem. The better you take care of the homeless, the easier you make it for them, the more that will show up.

This is one of those problems that just isn't easy to solve. You know "something" needs to be done, but finding the perfect "something" is elusive. Even countries with excellent social safety nets have homeless in all of their big cities. Nobody has cracked the code yet.

[flyingsaucermom]

I used to joke about all the camping gear.. REI always has a means of reducing unwanted inventory

I honestly can't even comment about this, but I did want opinions and responses here are reflective of my views. Most everyone identifies the problem, but possible solutions are resource intensive and ongoing.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Despicable, that this blatant problem exists in a city as financially successful as Seattle. Perhaps easy for me to say but it seems like if 5 or 10 very wealthy and influential people in this town got focused with resources and a plan, we'd be on our way to a solution in no time.

There's no easy solution to solving the mental issues or drug addictions to hundreds of lost souls, let alone to provide an area for these people to sleep.

[Gardyloo]

Originally Posted by Seattle4321

Mr. Billionaire gates could sure help! But nope I guess he's more concerned about people in other countries! I wonder why Steve ballmer, Paul Allen or jef bezos don't care either? I feel bad for the innocent homeless. It's also sorta uncomfortable walking by crowds of them. But I'm glad the government might help!

The Gates Foundation has been among the leaders in combating homelessness in our city. If you'd bothered to do any homework on the matter you'd know this.

Homelessness and Family Stability - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

[mkarch]

Seems pretty obvious at this point the city needs to set up a place for people to camp and use heroin. Then if they find people doing this elsewhere they can make them pack up and move to the designated spot.

This current program of using city resources to move people around between a series of illegal camping spots is a huge waste. It's not fair to the residents and businesses either that have to deal with needle campers being pushed on them.