Homelessness

The Mayhem of Open-Air Drug Use Chasing the truth can be risky. A drug addict assaulted me while I was recording outside a so-called safe consumption site in Vancouver, B.C. Thankfully the cops swooped in and neutralized the threat. We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez and I made it out unscathed. Afterwards, an officer admitted these facilities continue to attract crime, chaos, and death to this community. Other cities in North America have been put on notice. Join Our Team As you can tell, spotlighting these important stories require me to take enormous risks. If you would like to join our team and support me on the ground, please subscribe to my X account or donate at the link below so Read More ›

“I Thought I Saw the Worst in Seattle” Vancouver B.C. has the most horrific drug scene I have ever witnessed in North America. Discovery Institute and We Heart Seattle teamed up to learn more about what’s fueling this hell on earth. So-called “safe consumption sites” and non-profits giving away drug supplies like candy have trapped addicts in a vicious cycle. We did not see a single agency intentionally offering detox or treatment to anyone on the streets. This is failed public policy in action. Who Is Listening? My colleague Chris Rufo sounded the alarm back in 2020. The policy makers failed to heed his warning. The Harm in Vancouver’s “Harm Reduction” approach to drug use (city-journal.org)

The More We Love While King County Executive Dow Constantine continues to fail Burien, The More We Love is on the ground right now, quietly placing homeless men and women into detox and housing. “Camp Constantine” remains a cesspool of crime, drugs, and chaos. Pray for these outreach workers. The More We Love Does the Heavy Lifting What’s even more perplexing, King County hired REACH to clear out Camp Constantine. But Burien city leaders say this homeless outreach provider contacts The More We Love to do the heavy lifting, and of course Kristine Moreland obliges since her group is just trying to save lives.

Bob Ferguson Declined Invitation Earlier this year, I invited Bob Ferguson and Dave Reichert to tour Seattle’s drug dens and encampments. In my experience, the best leaders want to listen to the people on the frontlines in order to find the best solutions. Dave agreed but Bob declined.

After criticizing some scholarly articles and books, I have three books to recommend. First, here’s a tribute to 86-year-old psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, author of American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System (Oxford University Press, 2013). I first met Torrey in 1989 and heard about what was going wrong. Thirty-five years later, it’s even clearer that the federal panaceas have not panned out. Torrey shows how local and state charities and governments cared for mentally ill individuals, sometimes poorly but often adequately, until 1940, by which time state mental hospitals housed 423,445 individuals. During World War II half of the hospitals’ professional staff members were in the armed forces. Torrey: “The hospitals were grossly overcrowded Read More ›

The following press release for the new documentary “Behind Closed Doors” is from ChangeWA. ChangeWA and Ginny Burton are friends of Discovery Institute. Our work on homelessness is featured in “Behind Closed Doors” in an interview with our program coordinator Caitlyn McKenney. ChangeWA has teamed with filmmaker V Ginny Burton to produce “Behind Closed Doors,” a shocking 30-minute documentary which exposes the unsafe and drug-filled conditions within King County’s low-barrier housing and provides strong evidence that these are not conditions where formerly homeless individuals “can get their lives back,” as King County Executive Dow Constantine has repeatedly promised. Burton’s interviews with residents and workers from several of King County’s housing projects reveal that most residents continue to use illegal drugs, Read More ›

Exclusive In February I exposed a nightmare of drugs, crime, chaos, and death inside some of Plymouth Housing’s taxpayer funded apartments for the homeless. But their leaders ignored all my questions about accountability. So I confronted them at their annual gala and they ran. Donors Behind Low Barrier Housing Why are Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Delta Dental of Washington, Pagliacci Pizza, AvalonBay Communities, Goodman Real Estate, and Brettler Family Foundation funding meth pipes and drug supplies in Plymouth Housing facilities without any requirements to get addiction treatment? Problems Plague Plymouth I’ve also obtained hundreds of 911 call logs to the newest Plymouth Housing facility in Bellevue that opened at the end of last year. Same problems including deaths, drug overdoses, and Read More ›

Culture Change At this point, there is no doubt the vast majority of Democratic lawmakers in WA support failed “Housing First” policies instead of solutions that address the root causes of homelessness like drug addiction, mental illness, and broken relationships. That’s because they just vote along party lines or are heavily influenced by the homeless industrial complex. But courageous Democratic leaders like Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling are pushing back after realizing these very same progressive policies have destroyed his community. Schilling’s willingness to cross the aisle and find common sense solutions are some of the reasons why he is now winning. Refused to Capitulate Schilling refused to capitulate to King County and Dow. This was the turning point for Burien.

“Camp Constantine” Shutting Down More good news for Burien residents. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority says “Camp Constantine” is another step closer to shutting down. Still no exact date for an official closure but Dow said it would happen by mid-October. We shall see.