What is Seattle's homeless problem like in January 2023?

[jabogitlu]

I live in downtown Seattle. From my experience and in my view, street disorder has gotten quite a bit better since 2021, and much better since 2020.

We have almost no "screaming meanies" (folks who wander around and yell) and I actually haven't seen anyone doing this since last summer. We also have NO tents in my specific neighborhood and we haven't for 8+ months.

The nucleus of downtown (3rd Ave) is still rough by a long shot, I wouldn't recommend a tourist randomly stroll up and down 3rd Avenue. But if you're crossing it to get to Pike Place or vice versa, you'll be fine. If you want to walk north-south in downtown, take 1st, 2nd, or 5th avenues and you'll be fine.

The City is pretty much functioning normally now, except we have a lot of retail and office vacancy like many other urban downtowns.

However, we do have a lot of of open drug use. If you're walking up to Cap Hill, or over towards Belltown, you will likely encounter specific bus stops where folks are smoking fentanyl. Just keep walking and you'll be fine.

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by Oabmarcus

The homeless just moved their encampments from downtown to underneath the I-5 bridges and highways. Just sweeping the issue to another part of seattle, no actual resolutoin insight.

This isn't true at all. The City and County are working very diligently (and spending a lot of taxpayer money and business money through JumpStart funds) to acquire and/or fund a lot of new housing units specifically for these folks. We also now have a centralized housing command center the function of which is to specifically get folks into more permanent housing.

So far, it's working well. We have many fewer tents in places like under I-5 downtown, in random neighborhood dead-end streets, in downtown parks, etc. That doesn't mean you won't see a tent, but the frequency and alarming upward velocity from years 2021-2022 has abated.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

This isn't true at all. The City and County are working very diligently (and spending a lot of taxpayer money and business money through JumpStart funds) to acquire and/or fund a lot of new housing units specifically for these folks. We also now have a centralized housing command center the function of which is to specifically get folks into more permanent housing.

So far, it's working well. We have many fewer tents in places like under I-5 downtown, in random neighborhood dead-end streets, in downtown parks, etc. That doesn't mean you won't see a tent, but the frequency and alarming upward velocity from years 2021-2022 has abated.

The problem is that the existing encampments are bring so much more crime, maybe less of them but more problematic as they are the most hardcore homeless.



https://komonews.com/news/local/seat...sewage-campers

https://www.king5.com/article/news/c...e-345b5fc16969

[mayfair]

Yeah, and many of the homeless that left haven't gone far. Rural towns are seeing more. Some other nearby area with fewer resources is now dealing with the problem.

[daberkow]

Downtown is definitely doing better... for Seattle. It is still a medium city with the 3rd largest homeless population in the country and a serious drug problem. As a tourist you are probably going to see a homeless camp or three and they probably are not going to bother you. You will probably see someone doing or having just done some serious drugs if you ride public transportation.

If you went to Chicago you would see that there are not, in fact, gangs constantly shooting at each other in the museums and restaurants. You are not risking your life coming to Seattle. Come see for yourself.

[CalWorth]

On the drive today from the Edmonds ferry to Issaquah, there were yet even more tents, tarps & garbage all along the route, than I have ever seen before. There was even a huge "house" made of what looked like tarps & pallets. This was all along the sides & slopes of I-5 and I-90; also never-ending graffiti on freeway walls, overpasses, tunnels.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by CalWorth

On the drive today from the Edmonds ferry to Issaquah, there were yet even more tents, tarps & garbage all along the route, than I have ever seen before. There was even a huge "house" made of what looked like tarps & pallets. This was all along the sides & slopes of I-5 and I-90; also never-ending graffiti on freeway walls, overpasses, tunnels.

As I enter the I90 tunnel coming home from work in Seattle I am amazed at the extent of the graffiti, and wonder how they can possibly do all that with cars zooming by. It's literally floor to ceiling about the first 3rd of the tunnel. What you noticed is the reason it seems better in Seattle, they get moved and head for state right-of-way property where no one bothers them.

[CalWorth]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

What you noticed is the reason it seems better in Seattle, they get moved and head for state right-of-way property where no one bothers them.

Yes, that's why I pointed it out, in case anyone is under the illusion that Seattle is OK. It isn't OK, it's disgusting.

[Justin Vasylevych]

Originally Posted by mayfair

This is true. Some areas become better, but where do the homeless go when the area is cleaned up? The answer is somewhere else in the city.

In my opinion I disagree with you over the years I saw that the problems of homelessness have been getting worse. I'm driving on I-5 and see so many tents and its raining and snowing outside.

[mhays25]

Homeless concentrate along freeways because we've kicked them out of a lot of other places. Freeways are easier for them due to the state handling policing instead of cities iirc. That said, we need to clean them up too, and I'm ok with any penalty you can think of for graffiti.

My daily life on the northern fringe of Downtown doesn't really involve homeless, though I walk quite a bit.