Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Washington > Seattle area
 [Register]
Seattle area Seattle and King County Suburbs
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-11-2015, 06:31 PM
 
Location: Independent Republic of Ballard
8,062 posts, read 8,308,680 times
Reputation: 6218

Advertisements

Lots of reasons why people become homeless (and stay that way). You can't pin it to a single cause.

Salt Lake City has pretty much eliminated chronic homelessness, and not by denying them services, running them out of town, or throwing them into jail, but by, surprise, providing them with homes:

Seattle News and Events | The Solution to Seattle's Homeless Problem Is Painfully

Quote:
Few restrictions were imposed. No tests to take, no rehabilitation programs to attend, no forms to fill out. The longtime street denizens could still drink, take drugs, whatever, as long as they didn’t hurt anyone or bother their neighbors. Let them decide, the thinking went, whether they wanted to avail themselves of free counseling, health care, or substance-abuse treatment. What Tsemberis discovered is that permanent housing can actually foster sobriety and stability, not the other way around. The results were amazing. Five years later, 88 percent of the participants were still in their apartments, and the costs of their care had been dramatically reduced.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-12-2015, 07:04 PM
 
Location: Moose Jaw, in between the Moose's butt and nose.
5,152 posts, read 8,503,137 times
Reputation: 2038
Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey View Post
$12/hr would be about almost $2,100/mo. Overtime might bump that up, say, another $300, or $2,400/mo. Assuming that 30% of income for rent is an antiquated relic of a more socially humane century (the last half, anyway), I'll go with 50%, which would allow $1,200/mo. for rent, which is somewhat doable, depending on what compromises (size, location, features) one is willing to make. Everything else would have to come out of the remaining $1,200, minus taxes.

While living in the burbs (Lynnwood and Federal Way) might save $300 or more on bottom-line rents, living without a car in the central city could save even more.

Could be done, but would need to scrimp. Health care benefits would be the big x-factor.
Maybe before taxes, but that salary is usually more like 1700 to 1800 a month, after taxes. Using the 25-30 formula, it is almost rare to find any housing without roommates from Olympia to Everett
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-13-2015, 11:50 AM
 
731 posts, read 931,634 times
Reputation: 1128
Seattle has a very limited supply of housing/land, so when people are doing very well at the high end of the income bracket, the competition for housing leaves very little available for people who make an income on the lower end of the bracket. So, while there may be plenty of jobs available at the low end of the economic bracket, the cost of living makes it a very hard living for those not bringing in a high end income.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-13-2015, 05:04 PM
 
5,075 posts, read 11,025,940 times
Reputation: 4664
Quote:
Originally Posted by RustinginSeattle View Post
Seattle has a very limited supply of housing/land, so when people are doing very well at the high end of the income bracket, the competition for housing leaves very little available for people who make an income on the lower end of the bracket. So, while there may be plenty of jobs available at the low end of the economic bracket, the cost of living makes it a very hard living for those not bringing in a high end income.
Yet there does seem to be a big bump in 'no income' households.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-13-2015, 05:48 PM
 
4 posts, read 2,584 times
Reputation: 17
I just saw a 900 sq. ft. 3 bed. 1 bath home with no basement, no garage and no parking, in a nice Seattle neighborhood sell for $470,000 (which was $30,000) more than it was listed for. I don't know how you feel about that, but imho - it is insane. If you aren't already committed to coming here, I would do my homework.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-13-2015, 09:06 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,227 posts, read 80,442,347 times
Reputation: 57140
Quote:
Originally Posted by imthinkin View Post
I just saw a 900 sq. ft. 3 bed. 1 bath home with no basement, no garage and no parking, in a nice Seattle neighborhood sell for $470,000 (which was $30,000) more than it was listed for. I don't know how you feel about that, but imho - it is insane. If you aren't already committed to coming here, I would do my homework.
I'm surprised to hear of anything under $500k in Seattle, never mind 3 bedrooms. As for the state of the economy, the homeless are not participating in the economy, so the number of them has no bearing.
The major signs of a good economy are job growth, building starts (both residential and commercial) and business startups. All of that is happening in Seattle. The growing gap between the rich and the poor, and the shrinking middle class with the bottom moving down and the top moving up are just unfortunate
by-products of the good economy. The demand for high paying job skills has grown tremendously, ad then the demand for the low skilled low paying jobs has increased to provide services to those newcomers taking the high paying jobs. The traditional middle class jobs have been reduced largely because of outsourcing, automation, and relocating of factories to less costly, more business-friendly states, but the
economy churns on.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-13-2015, 09:39 PM
 
908 posts, read 956,531 times
Reputation: 2557
outside of IT i would say salaries are shockingly low. i'm a white collar professional looking for a job in academics or social services and it's very tough to find anything that pays more than $18/hr. it's really ridiculous. thank God i am married to an IT professional or else i'd be sunk.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-15-2015, 10:27 PM
 
92 posts, read 115,810 times
Reputation: 102
Quote:
Originally Posted by imthinkin View Post
I just saw a 900 sq. ft. 3 bed. 1 bath home with no basement, no garage and no parking, in a nice Seattle neighborhood sell for $470,000 (which was $30,000) more than it was listed for. I don't know how you feel about that, but imho - it is insane. If you aren't already committed to coming here, I would do my homework.


I used to live in Seattle, and worked a white collar job making $31 an hour. The only housing I could find for sale that I could afford ($250,000 and under) were small 700sq. ft. townhouses, at least several decades old, in so-so neighborhoods, with a long commute to downtown (where I worked).

Rents were even more ridiculous!


I moved to the Midwest, where $250,000 will buy you a 2300 sq. ft. house with 2+ acres of land. I hated to leave the NW, but couldn't see a way to afford it even with several raises.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-16-2015, 12:20 PM
 
329 posts, read 1,026,255 times
Reputation: 438
Quote:
Originally Posted by TRS_151 View Post
I used to live in Seattle, and worked a white collar job making $31 an hour. The only housing I could find for sale that I could afford ($250,000 and under) were small 700sq. ft. townhouses, at least several decades old, in so-so neighborhoods, with a long commute to downtown (where I worked).

Rents were even more ridiculous!


I moved to the Midwest, where $250,000 will buy you a 2300 sq. ft. house with 2+ acres of land. I hated to leave the NW, but couldn't see a way to afford it even with several raises.

But doesn't one have to then accept lower salaries in the midwest?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-16-2015, 12:29 PM
 
159 posts, read 184,652 times
Reputation: 40
If you wanted a good bellweather or feel about how the economy is doing; simply look at the real estate market. I suppose you can say the same thing with the real estate market in the major market areas. Housing / condo starts are also an indicator.

The 'vibe' I get is the psychological barrier some of us place upon our selves. It's a bit unfair to compare high paying professions with lesser ones. But what I see is that these 'techies' or 'whatever' are placed on a pedestal.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Washington > Seattle area

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top