Inslee wants to spend $300 Million on homeless

[Thx-1138]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

We had a stock of non-subsidized affordable housing (much of it built during or following the "war" years) that served not just the professional, managerial, and technical elites, but working stiffs, even earning minimum wage. If you got injured or sick and couldn't work, there was welfare, which would cover your rent and basic living costs until you could get back on your feet or approved for SSI/SSD. There were no credit reports or background checks, so it was much easier to find housing or re-enter the workforce. You could go back to school or get retrained and actually live on a Pell Grant.

Now, once you've fallen down the rabbit-hole, it is very difficult to climb back out again. The more fall in, and the fewer crawl out, it can get pretty crowded down there (on the street or in the belts). Some just give up, settle down in Wonderland, and let the Red Queen wail.

Yes, like I said, housing costs have went through the roof (no pun) we bought our house in West Covina Ca in 1972 for $21K, when I left California in 1991 the house was appraised at $150K, just a few years later they more than triple to peak at about $550K.


Now, bread has about doubled since the 70s, from 50 cents to a dollar, just about everything one would buy is proportional, overall about seven to one comparing prices now to 1970, except for houses which are more like 20 to 1 or more now.


And "life begins at home," of all the things that could have went sky high housing is going to have the most impact.


And what kind of "robust economy" are we going to have when everyone can just afford to keep a roof over their head and nothing else?


In the 1980s I was an electronic technician, the most I made was $13.60 an hour.


I was looking at tech jobs last year, just out of curiosity and saw a lot of $15-$16 an hour jobs, that's what I mean by stagnant wages.


The question was actually kind of rhetorical in the first place.


We keep hearing about "Healthcare, Healthcare, Healthcare," a very important issue, but people must realize how many issues including HC are directly impacted by wages, or lack thereof.


Just about every issue stems off of wages, healthcare, if I make more money, then I can afford better insurance, can eat better, don't have so much stress over money...


Education: If I make more money, then I can send my kids to school without taking out a loan, helps the student loan crisis too.


Climate Change: If I make more money I can afford to go solar, or buy that hybrid car.


Crime: We all know that crime and poverty go hand in hand.


Homelessness: Another one that I'm sure is plain for all to see.


Thx

[bergun]

Wow... Just another tax scam from the governor... Seriously, $140,000.00, approx., a year to take of a bum??

Wondering on how many millions of dollars will be wasted on further "studies" on the homeless problem? And I bet those "studies" will be granted to his political supporters... What a waste!!!

And what is not wasted on the governor's political favors with find its way into the State's general funds, where it will simply disappear with our explanation.

I thought he wanted to spend a billion dollars on studying the whales as well?? Again, we don't have a tax problem, we have a tax wasting problem, from the people who keep getting reelected.

[CrazyDonkey]

In unveiling his supplemental spending plan in Olympia, Washington for the state’s current $52.4 billion two-year budget, Inslee said Washington must do more to find housing for people. The state has the fifth-highest per-capita rate of homelessness of all U.S. states.

“This homelessness problem touches every part of the state,” said Inslee, a Democrat.

In addition to adding [2,100] shelter beds, Inslee wants to give rental and other housing assistance to more than 3,000 people. His plan would cost $146 million during the 2019-2021 two-year budget cycle and ultimately cost $300 million over three years. The state currently has about $2.5 billion in its emergency fund.

In unveiling his supplemental spending plan in Olympia, Washington for the state’s current $52.4 billion two-year budget, Inslee said Washington must do more to find housing for people. The state has the fifth-highest per-capita rate of homelessness of all U.S. states.

“This homelessness problem touches every part of the state,” said Inslee, a Democrat.

In addition to adding shelter beds, Inslee wants to give rental and other housing assistance to more than 3,000 people. His plan would cost $146 million during the 2019-2021 two-year budget cycle and ultimately cost $300 million over three years.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politic...-help-homeless

$146 million = ~1/2 of 1 percent of the $2.5 billion emergency fund. It is ~1/2 of 1/2 of 1 percent of the $52.4 billion biennial budget. The City of Seattle, alone, spent $96 million on homelessness in 2019 and the mayor is proposing spending $104 million in 2020. or $200 million over two years.

If 22,000 were rendered homeless by a tsunami, the state would waste no time in building as many trailer villages as were needed.

Note: According to the Boise decision, which the Supreme Court let stand, authorities cannot cite people for sleeping on the streets if safe and healthy alternative shelter is not available to them. This funding should help communities across the state to clear illegal camps which pose threats to public safety, public health, and the environment by providing safe and healthy alternative shelter, as well as invest in "local communities on issues affecting the homeless like mental health, drug addiction and job training".