Shaun KingVerified account

Not true. Seattle spends min $60 million/year on homeless services. Our city hired nat'l homeless expert Barbara Poppe to shift from sidewalk + park encampments to a Housing First program that uses street outreach workers to move people into services & housing.

Cool! Got a link to a list of these housing units and shelters? Do high rents have any bearing on homelessness?

Here's the City's website. I don't see a list of shelters though there is a map of sanctioned encampments. You can always tweet, call or email the city for more info. https://www.seattle.gov/homelessness 

Thank you Kimberly. Are you in human services? It was kind of you to share these resources with me.

Any suggestions for those that choose to remain homeless? What can a community do about the individuals that choose their drug addiction over adhering to shelter rules? I'm asking as a compassionate but frustrated person that wants to help.

I’m a volunteer & advocate for the homeless. First suggestion is to focus your time on those that want help. Most do. Volunteer with homeless organizations. Use whatever skills you have to help. Many lack IDs and need help getting them so they can apply for services & jobs. 1/2

Perspective:Drug addiction is not a “choice”. That’s why it’s called “addiction”. It should be treated as a mental health issue, not a crime

Wouldn't it be far cheaper in the long run to follow the Utah model and build housing for them?

There's some of that happening in Seattle, too, just not nearly enough.

Didn’t Seattle invite the homeless to come there? I thought i remembered the mayor or someone encouraging Portland’s homeless population to come to Seattle a few years ago.

Our city has the best services for homeless people in the state but more than half refuse the service and more often than not other cities bus their homeless here. it's almost a hopeless situation for us here

I was just in SF 2 weeks ago, and trust me, it’s mild compared to Seattle. I’ve never seen anything like it. Not in NYC, LA, Denver, Portland, Phoenix. It was the weirdest vibe walking around downtown. Everyone was so angry and tense.

Also I'm not in SF I'm north of SF in Sonoma county . I was in seattle over the summer and was stunned . We are about on par with Seattle

I was totally blown away by New Zealand’s housing options for anyone facing being homeless when we were there. They take such good care of their people and make long term solutions, not quick fixes. It made the US look even more pathetic than usual.

YES patches for a leak dont fix a problem and your just wasting money every patch you use ...grrrrrrrr

Well, i was trying to find an article about the housing situations we saw and found this instead: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/94983470/new-zealand-has-worst-level-of-homelessness-in-the-world-labour-says …