Homelessness

After decades of working inside homelessness services, I’ve learned that the greatest lie we tell ourselves is that we don’t know what works. We do. The problem isn’t a lack of data, innovation, or funding. The problem is that real solutions require decisions we are unwilling to make and truths we are afraid to say out loud.

It is easier to expand systems than to fix them. Easier to signal compassion than to practice it in ways that are uncomfortable. Easier to manage homelessness than to end it.

Most people assume homelessness persists because it is too complex to solve. In reality, it persists because solving it would disrupt an entire industry built around its permanence. Over time, the system stopped being accountable to outcomes and became accountable to itself. Programs are judged by how many people they touch, not how many people leave the streets. Success is defined by engagement, not transformation. In this environment, homelessness is no longer a crisis to be resolved, but a condition to be administered.

One of the hardest truths is that housing alone does not stabilize people who are deeply addicted, severely mentally ill, or both. I have watched housing placements fail because we insisted on treating housing as the solution rather than the setting in which recovery might occur. For people actively using fentanyl, methamphetamine, or alcohol at life-threatening levels, housing without treatment can become a slower form of self-destruction. When it collapses, we try again and call it trauma-informed care, quietly accepting failure as inevitable.

Real solutions begin with recovery, not as a moral requirement, but as a practical one. A person cannot stabilize while in the grip of serious addiction. No amount of case management, harm-reduction supplies, or wellness check-ins can substitute for sobriety when the brain itself is hijacked. Cities like Portland and Seattle know this, yet continue to build models that treat recovery as optional. We call this compassion, but too often it looks like abandonment.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson bragged about delaying an encampment sweep so she could place several homeless people into shelter and housing, implying this would be a new way of getting people off the streets. “There I talked with a woman who was five months sober,” Mayor Wilson said at her State of the City Address, “and had three small dogs. We were able to identify a spot for her in a tiny house village.” But after Wilson’s State of the City Address last week, We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez did a simple follow-up to see if that woman with three dogs actually made it off the streets. “People don’t always accept the services they’re referred to,” Suarez explained. Surrounded by Read More ›

No Comment Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is dodging all my questions about the devastating homeless drug crisis destroying lives in her city. She’s also avoiding questions about the controversial encampment sweeps ramping up under her watch. So I had to confront her at a public event Tuesday afternoon. WATCH. Woman Remains Homeless Still no explanation from Wilson about this mold infested tiny house given to a homeless woman by city workers. She’s now back on the streets with her dogs. Wilson Follows in Harrell’s Footsteps When Wilson was running for office, she slammed former Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell for aggressively sweeping drug encampments. Now that Wilson is in City Hall she’s doing the same thing. I wanted to ask Read More ›

Displaced Another massive encampment sweep under Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson. More than 20 people were displaced Tuesday afternoon around the Ballard Bevmo liquor store. But biz owners are worried it might come roaring back. Homeless Say “No” to Shelter Instead of taking shelter and services offered by the city, most of the men and women just moved their tents down the road. Once again, the so called “service resistant” are the ones causing the most harm to themselves and the community. Wilson has no solutions for this group. Unintended Consequences The attitude of entitlement is also out of control. The drug addicts told me they would only move into a tiny house or fully furnished apartment. No sharing rooms with Read More ›

Home Some good news coming out of the crime, chaos, and death ravaging Seattle. Over the weekend, the family of Marissa Flores watched my coverage of We Heart Seattle doing outreach at a drug encampment in the city. After contacting me for a location, Flores’ family immediately jumped in the car, started a search, and miraculously found her in a tent. She’s now in detox and back home with her kids. The politicians, academics, and activists keep saying this is primarily being fueled by an affordable housing crisis. Flores’ family says don’t listen to them. They say it’s time to focus on drug treatment and recovery first if we are going to save lives in this city.

Last weekend, former President Barack Obama acknowledged a blunt political reality: “The average person doesn’t want to have to navigate around a tent city in the middle of downtown … and we’re not going to be able to generate support [for treatment] if we simply say, ‘It’s not their fault, they should be able to do whatever they want,’ because that’s a losing political strategy.”

What makes the remark notable is not merely its candor. It is the history behind it.

It was the Obama administration that institutionalized the federal government’s one-size-fits-all embrace of Housing First in 2013. They promised the approach would end homelessness within a decade by prioritizing immediate housing placement.

The theory was simple: Housing would stabilize lives.

But the results have been anything but stabilizing.

Eating Their Own Stop The Sweeps Seattle is finally speaking out against Mayor Katie Wilson’s drug encampment sweeps. Members of this far-left activist group wrote a demand letter in Real Change News and slammed Wilson for essentially doing the exact same thing as her predecessor Bruce Harrell. But for now, there is no doubt they are going easier on her. Crashing Press Conferences I wonder when Stop The Sweeps will crash one of Mayor Katie Wilson’s press conferences. They did it to Harrell all the time. Protests Harrell had so many encounters with Stop the Sweeps. Putting Pressure on the Governor So many memories under the Harrell administration. Where Are They? So when will these violent Antifa aligned activists protest Read More ›

Nothing Has Changed Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is now dealing with a credibility problem. She said homeless outreach and sweeps would be done differently. But in reality, nothing has changed from the prior administration. On Friday, the MLK Jr. Way drug encampment was cleared for the second time in less than a month. The addicts returned immediately and set up tents in the very same spot or simply moved across the street. The so-called “service resistant” people do not believe cops will arrest them for illegal camping. Men and women out here also know for a fact City Attorney Erika Evans won’t prosecute for open-air drug use. That’s why Seattle keeps losing this game of Whack-A-Mole. BTW, anyone see District Read More ›

Making the Problem Worse The homeless drug crisis is out of control in Seattle. And it’s now evident Mayor Katie Wilson is going to make the problem worse. During her first State of the City address, she talked about building more housing and shelter. But no solutions to deal with mental illness or drug addiction ravaging the city. Sweep, Sweep, Sweep Aside from changing some policy language, she is pretty much doing the same thing as the last mayor of Seattle. Sweep, sweep, sweep. And the game of Whack-A-Mole continues. Same Old Same Old Wilson’s spokesperson recently told the Seattle Times that, “the mayor isn’t pursuing a significant shift in encampment clearing strategies from the previous administration.” Ignoring the Service Read More ›

Playing Whack-A-Mole Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s homelessness strategy is turning into a game of Whack-A-Mole. The MLK Way encampment cleared last month has already come roaring back. There are at least 20 people living here. Open-air drug use is rampant. During her State of the City address on Tuesday, Wilson will say she’s building more shelters in the city. But anyone in the outreach world will tell you the mayor has ZERO plan for the “service resistant.” In other words, Wilson can build all the shelters she wants. But unless there is a mechanism to force people indoors, the crisis will get worse and the sweeps will continue. So far, we are seeing a repeat of the Bruce Harrell administration. Read More ›