Where to move to escape the homeless situation? (Seattle, Sedro-Woolley: 2013, neighborhoods)

[CharlesRamon]

That would be cool if there were a fifty-first state where every resident was homeless.

[pnwguy2]

Unfortunately, some homeless seem to see this as their "career". I don't understand that, but it goes much deeper than my understanding.

[elkotronics]

That would be cool if there were a fifty-first state where every resident was homeless.

They could name it...Home. The 51st state in the United States of America.


Home.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

Unfortunately, some homeless seem to see this as their "career". I don't understand that, but it goes much deeper than my understanding.

Having worked with homeless people for years, I'd disuade you from thinking this is a lifestyle choice for more than .05 percent of homeless people.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

We live in Madison Park, there is one guy who moves a van around the neighborhood but that pretty much the only homeless person. I think that people who are homeless choose to stay (mostly) close to social services, there tends to be more of that near Downtown and a few other places.

Services are a centripetal pull, drawing the homeless to where they can find food, shelter, checks/cash, clothes, medicine, bus scripts, bathrooms, mail, phone, internet, etc., as well as alcohol and drugs. A lot of places where the homeless used to camp have been cleared and fenced off so they can't easily be reoccupied, forcing many onto sidewalks and other public or unclaimed spaces.

On the other hand, reality is that Downtown is full, with no rooms at the hotel (or the Morrison, if you will). That pressure, alone, is pushing many homeless, centrifugally, back out into the neighborhoods, with a preference for areas where food banks, free feeds, church charities, shelters, service centers, libraries, lots of transit, etc., are located. Here, the RapidRide and light-rail lines have served as conduits, in that you can just walk on, rather than having to beg to be let on by the driver. Many homeless also now consider the neighborhoods, with fewer predators, to be safer than Downtown.

Personally, my impression is that the homeless situation in Ballard, where I live, while worse than it has been the last several years, is nowhere as bad as in 2012, when the Ride Free Zone ended. What has increased since 2012 is the number of crazies/tweakers, as well as people sleeping in tents (rather than under bridges/overpasses, for instance) - makes me suspect that at least some churches/charities are handing out free tents and sleeping bags.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by stevesamson

I have lived in Seattle for ten years and I have had enough. We just moved from Ballard to Magnolia and the reprieve from the homeless is such an improvement on QoL. Being able to go your local library without hearing some tweaked out dude yelling F-bombs every minute is great. That being said, I don't want to have to segregate myself away from the downtown areas which make living in a city what it is.



Unfortunately it seems as though the US has a crippling problem with transients and every single one of the powerful and interesting cities is being ruined by this situation. I have visited almost every major city in America and all of the west coast ones at least (LA, San Fran, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Honolulu) are just covered with drug addicts and the homeless. Travel to most European cities for a couple weeks and you will see that we don't have to live this way. Manhattan and Chicago are better as well.



My question is, where in the US can one live without having to deal with this crap? I know we can all move to Bellevue (or Bozeman, Bend, Santa Barbara, etc.) but where is there to move that has an educated population, global companies, culture, but without the problems we have here? Is it just the reality of all US cities above a certain size that there will be lots of homeless people and the wealthy just segregate themselves away from it?



I'm most interested in first hand reports from people who have lived in:
Salt Lake City, Boise, Reno, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Denver, Houston...


I still like Seattle and Los Angeles and maybe we will just deal with it but I'd like some second opinions, thanks!



P.S.
The homeless situation has certainly gotten worse over the last 10 years since I've lived here, for the longer residents what was it like in the 90s?

Interesting article about how homelessness is very difficult to solve. Salt Lake City, just a few years ago a "model" success story, has growing problems again. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/homel...b04e275d511aba

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

Tri-Cities, WA is a conservative area, but we have the same problem here. I don't think this is a political issue. When I lived here in the early 90's there were none. When I moved back in 2015 they were common. Perhaps not to the extent of Seattle or Portland, but they exist. It is almost a territorial game with these folks, claiming a street corner. Some take busses to get to a prime street corner. I have seen this. It is really sad. I am not sure how to help these people. You can give them a buck or two, but that really does nothing. The underlying problem is mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse. Until we as a people decide to fund and help these folks, this problem will go on and on. But some don't want help and that makes it even more complicated.

The City of Seattle provides free lodging and meals for the substance abuse cases; the City owns at least two apartment buildings for that purpose. Probably at this point there are long waiting lists; I don't know where that project stands at this point. This has been covered here in the past. Probably, the price of RE has exceeded the City's ability to acquire more buildings for this purpose...? The City's now focussed on initiatives to provide housing to low-income people at risk of becoming homeless, and for the employed homeless.

[Kevroqs]

Originally Posted by stevesamson

I'm most interested in first hand reports from people who have lived in:
Salt Lake City, Boise, Reno, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Denver, Houston...

Cost of living is going up in Salt Lake City and Reno, might be going up in Boise too because too many transplants are moving in. Denver is pricey, as average homes are in the 500k range.

I think southern cities like Atlanta, Houston, and Tampa would be better.

[RotseCherut]

Originally Posted by eugene_b

So basically just like any other city in the US, including Seattle?

Nope..Come visit and you will see the difference. I saw a lot of mentally ill, drug addicted and sketchy homeless people even in upscale parts of Seattle, including Ballard, Capitol Hill, Green Lake and Greenwood. Even in Bellevue I have found quite a few mentally disturbed people wandering the downtown, although nothing like Downtown Seattle. These are areas with multi-million dollar homes.

You will simply not find these derelict types in Belle Meade, Green Hills, West End areas of Nashville. I hardly even see any homeless people in East Nashville, which is considered a bit more sketchy and use to be the straight up hood before gentrification. As well, you will not find these types of people in Dilworth, South End or Ballantyne in Charlotte either. The cops will see to that. If the cops find those people there they will literally chase them out, beat them up and forcefully relocate them and nobody will give two craps about it. There is a completely different mentality and definitely a no-nonsense mentality about dealing with homeless. Downtown Nashville does have some sketchy homeless types, but they don't bother tourists. In downtown Charlotte you hardly see any homeless, a few, but they seem to hide themselves.

Just look at underpasses, freeway off-ramps around Charlotte and Nashville and how clean they are and how well behaved homeless are compared to anywhere on the West Coast.

I will say the homeless and drug problem is much more overt and aggressive in West Coast cities. Gang violence, drug turf wars and random acts of violence, such as armed robberies are more of a problem in the South and the Midwest. East Coast cities seem to have both the problems of the Midwest, South and West Coast. But, homeless and drug problem is the worst in the West Coast. The bad areas here are very bad, but the good areas are actually much cleaner and feel safer than places like Seattle or Portland.

[Guineas]

A lot of the homeless problem is because of drugs. American culture uniquely glorifies drugs and mind-altering substances as a form of recreation and escape. It's in our music and movies constantly. Europe might appear permissive with its drug use, but actual drug use is a lot lower in Europe than in the US because the culture doesn't seem to glorify drugs as much as we do. Americans also have very little tolerance for pain (the US uses more narcotic medication for a broken bone than any other country in the world, while many Asian countries only give you Tylenol for the same injury yet patients report the same pain control).

The South is more aggressive on drug enforcement (for now), so you see less of the tweakers and zombies out on the streets, but the drug use is just as prevalent in the South as anywhere else in the US. There's just more arrests and longer prison sentences, so they are less public.