I cannot believe this....... (Seattle, Bellevue: apartment, how much, big home)

[Miranda Sebastian]

Today, I was watching on the National Geographic channel, a program about alcoholics in the Seattle area. It depicted a program at 1811 East Lake, Seattle, Washington. No name was given for the facility.

In this program, homeless alcoholics living in the street are placed in a one-bedroom apartment, with a kitchen, and living room, and all the amenities necessary. The are allowed to continue using alcohol, and the alcohol is provided FREE. They can drink as much as they want, smoke as much as they want, they are provided with three-meals per day, and nothing is demanded from them. EVERYTHING IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE!!!! They are hoping that the alcoholics can feel safe, and start putting their lives together, but not much data has proven this.

They are not required to be responsible for anything......not even to attend therapy, where they can learn about their illness. What baffles me more than anything else, is that this program is paid by the taxpayers of Seattle.

Is this a City program, a Government program? I do not know.

Regardless of what type of program it is, I find it difficult to understand how the people of Seattle went along with it, when the statistics for recovery are very minimal.

One thing comes to my mind: On one of my visits to Seattle, (a beautiful state with beautiful people), on the Pike Street Market, that was about 10 years' ago, on my last trip, I noticed lots of Heroin addicts and homelessness.

1. Is this program the result of the City trying to hide the homeless...... from the tourists?

Let's hear your opinions.......thank you,

[poopskooper]

1811 Eastlake is part of the DESC's (Downtown Emergency Service Center) award winning program in Seattle. If I remember right, there was some controversy when 1811 Eastlake first started but I can't remember much about the details. But it's just a part of what DESC does.

Take a look at their comprehensive website and you can gain a bit more understanding about the entire program:

DESC - Downtown Emergency Service Center

If you run your cursor along the green bar with the links, it will give you lots of drop downs to give you more links to information.

History

1811 Eastlake



Generally, in my opinion, I think overall, it's a good thing to have in the city.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Miranda Sebastian

One thing comes to my mind: On one of my visits to Seattle, (a beautiful state with beautiful people), on the Pike Street Market, that was about 10 years' ago, on my last trip, I noticed lots of Heroin addicts and homelessness.

1. Is this program the result of the City trying to hide the homeless...... from the tourists?

Let's hear your opinions.......thank you,

LOL the city trying to "hide" the homeless? They're certainly doing a lousy job of that, especially since the problem actually has gotten worse since you've last visited. The city isn't really interested in dealing with the homeless issue, so whatever (most of the) citizens want, it doesn't matter.

[CarawayDJ]

Here is a link: Wet Houses, Homeless Shelters That Give Booze To Alcoholics, May Save San Francisco Millions

I trust the Huffington Post about as much as I do Breitbart (not much), but they actually say it saves the city money. They claim that the healthcare and public service use by the chronically homeless with severe alcohol problems cost the city $4,000 a month prior to the program, and only $958 a month afterwards. I find that dubious. It reeks of creative accounting politicians use to justify something they want. I'm more apt to think they are costing private medical facilities a lot. Does the city reimburse private medical facilities when a homeless alcoholic seeks treatment there? Are they going to city clinics? Do any exist? Exactly what public services are they consuming that cost the city over $4k a month?

Education is a good thing, but I am convinced that some people could have benefited from attending a couple of years LESS college. Some people are so smart that they aren't. This smells a lot like a program conceived by such people.

That said, I'm not averse to trying different approaches to a problem from time to time. If it cleans people up and gets them to stand on their own two feet I'm happy. I'm not sure this is like that. It sounds like a permanent arrangement where big drunks living on the street become lesser drunks living in taxpayer funded housing.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by poopskooper

1811 Eastlake is part of the DESC's (Downtown Emergency Service Center) award winning program in Seattle. If I remember right, there was some controversy when 1811 Eastlake first started but I can't remember much about the details. But it's just a part of what DESC does.

Take a look at their comprehensive website and you can gain a bit more understanding about the entire program:

DESC - Downtown Emergency Service Center

If you run your cursor along the green bar with the links, it will give you lots of drop downs to give you more links to information.

History

1811 Eastlake



Generally, in my opinion, I think overall, it's a good thing to have in the city.

Although I may appear to contradict my above post, I agree. They do a lot of good things. I'm still dubious of this one program they offer and the math behind it. They do a lot however, and this is just one of many programs. Is it really taxpayer funded?

[Vinylly]

Originally Posted by Miranda Sebastian

Today, I was watching on the National Geographic channel, a program about alcoholics in the Seattle area. It depicted a program at 1811 East Lake, Seattle, Washington. No name was given for the facility.

In this program, homeless alcoholics living in the street are placed in a one-bedroom apartment, with a kitchen, and living room, and all the amenities necessary. The are allowed to continue using alcohol, and the alcohol is provided FREE. They can drink as much as they want, smoke as much as they want, they are provided with three-meals per day, and nothing is demanded from them. EVERYTHING IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE!!!! They are hoping that the alcoholics can feel safe, and start putting their lives together, but not much data has proven this.

They are not required to be responsible for anything......not even to attend therapy, where they can learn about their illness. What baffles me more than anything else, is that this program is paid by the taxpayers of Seattle.

Is this a City program, a Government program? I do not know.

Regardless of what type of program it is, I find it difficult to understand how the people of Seattle went along with it, when the statistics for recovery are very minimal.

One thing comes to my mind: On one of my visits to Seattle, (a beautiful state with beautiful people), on the Pike Street Market, that was about 10 years' ago, on my last trip, I noticed lots of Heroin addicts and homelessness.

1. Is this program the result of the City trying to hide the homeless...... from the tourists?

Let's hear your opinions.......thank you,

Welcome to Seattle and and very liberal mayor and city council. All of the bums and derelicts from all over the world feel very welcome as well. The homeless bums have a grapevine, telling all how welcome they are here. Of course most of the taxpayers are very liberal as well, and welcome all the bums and homeless with tear filled eyes and vote the crazy kooks in office that they love so well. This is one of the reasons Seattle is one of the most expensive cities to live as all liberal cities are. I say, send them all to Santa Barbra. California is the perfect place for them and they would be right at home where they will have even more loving care.

[poopskooper]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

Although I may appear to contradict my above post, I agree. They do a lot of good things. I'm still dubious of this one program they offer and the math behind it. They do a lot however, and this is just one of many programs. Is it really taxpayer funded?

I'm not sure if it's still taxpayer funded or not. According to this wiki page, it was initially funded by a Federal block-grant money from the city, funds from the county and from the United Way but I'm not sure of just how much taxpayer money is now used to keep it running. Does anybody know?

I find interesting that the wiki page goes on to say that a University of Washington study shows that the 1811 Eastlake project saved Seattle more than $2 million each year ...huh?

Downtown Emergency Service Center - Wikipedia

[Hemlock140]

Seattle government seems to be proud of it's homeless, and showcases them for some odd reason. Even when they block the sidewalk and pester people the police ignore it.

Yes, the study by the city showed that having this place saved them $4 million, or 53% from the high cost of police, medics, and emergency medical treatment. Less visits to Harborview or detox facilities and ambulances able to respond to real emergencies. They do offer counseling/treatment and alcohol is allowed only in the individual rooms, resulting, they say, in a 25% decrease in the drinking by residents. It's now operated by a non-profit, Downtown Emergency Service Center, from donations and volunteers. Interesting that this cam in under the leadership of Mayor Nickels, for whom the big homeless camp is named.

https://sites.google.com/a/nickelsville.org/home/

[spotlesseden]

Bellevue polices drive all the homeless to seattle. now that's a smarter way.

[Vinylly]

Originally Posted by spotlesseden

Bellevue polices drive all the homeless to seattle. now that's a smarter way.

There's even a smarter way; chase all the homeless back to Bellevue, put a heavy toll on I-90 bridge so they can't come back.