Homelessness

Wishing Him the Best The man who tried to take my head off with a baseball bat in downtown Seattle pleaded guilty to 4th Degree Assault. Jeffrey McMillan served 31 days in jail and is now on probation. He apologized and I shook his hand in court, wishing him nothing but the best. Mental Health Treatment up to Probation Officer McMillan was facing up to a year in jail along with fines before this plea deal. Meanwhile, it appears McMillan will seek work and housing with the controversial Downtown Emergency Service Center. DESC’s failed “Housing First” and “harm reduction” policies attract extremely problematic individuals that could drag McMillan back down into the gutter. I would argue that Mr. McMillan should Read More ›

Update They’re trying to convince the one-legged homeless woman to get help. But before she can go into some form of housing, apparently she needs to get treatment for the leg. We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez is here and says they are getting her food and trying to intervene. Does Compassion Mean Letting People Refuse Help? This woman needs a serious intervention.

Happening Now Emergency crews are on scene in downtown Seattle as a one-legged homeless woman was found lying in a pile of trash. Problem is, she is alert and now rejecting offers of help. She just said “I’m comfortable here.” So paramedics and fire have to leave. Rinse repeat. Streets Are the New Asylums The far-left activists call this compassion. Streets are the new asylums.

County Allowed Campers Remarkable spin coming from King County Executive Dow Constantine. He continues to say the county “did not establish” the drug encampment near the Burien courthouse. But now admits the county allowed campers to stay instead of enforcing the city’s camping ban. County Blocks City from Enforcing Law King County Sheriff’s Deputies are contracted to enforce the law in Burien. But for months now, Dow along with Sheriff Patti-Cole Tindall have prevented deputies from enforcing this camping ordinance. Both sides are now in litigation with the city over this matter. Countdown to October So the countdown is on. Constantine’s Burien drug encampment should be gone by the beginning of October. Btw, look at some of the maniacs I Read More ›

What Took So Long? After months of fights, thefts, drug dealing, overdoses, sex-trafficking, and kids found living in Dow Constantine’s Burien crime encampment, King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda now says help is on the way for her district. What took so long? Confrontation with King County Executive I recently confronted King County Executive Dow Constantine about the drug encampment he set up in Burien that’s now a revolving door for criminals. But Dow is denying he’s responsible for creating this blight on the city. Do you believe him? Two Kids Rescued In August, two kids were rescued from this dangerous encampment. But Dow claims he had no idea this incident happened and also says he was unaware of all the Read More ›

As this century began, journalist Fred Barnes quoted four discouraging words found in some illustrious newspapers: “First of a series.” Journalist Mickey Kaus defined the typical newspaper series as a “bloated journalistic project driven by egos and internal institutional needs.” But one thing is even more discouraging than most newspaper series: a series of articles from academic journals. Nevertheless, here are some journal articles about the relationship between homelessness and foster care. One, by Heather Taussig in 2002 in Child Abuse and Neglect, had the scintillating title, “Risk behaviors in maltreated youth placed in foster care: A longitudinal study of protective and vulnerability factors.” Taussig noted that “for many maltreated children, the experience of trauma does not cease when they Read More ›

The Safe Families dinner and Rob Henderson memoir I wrote about last month got me thinking more about “the relationship between foster care and homelessness”: That’s the title of a paper delivered at a 1996 conference hosted by the American Public Welfare Association and based on client files and case data from 21 homeless service organizations located in every region of the United States. Of the 1,134 homeless individuals covered by the study, 36 percent had a foster care history. The paper’s authors, Nan P. Roman and Phyllis B. Wolfe, determined that “the foster care system can fail to deal adequately with problems caused by sexual abuse, physical abuse, or troubled or dysfunctional families — that is to say, with Read More ›

Breaking Controversial homeless housing provider Plymouth Housing will now be running operations at the former Kirkland La Quinta Inn on 10530 Northup Way. Despite major opposition, the city council voted unanimously to allow it into the community. Concerns About Low Barrier Model Under King County’s “Health Through Housing,” neighbors expressed concerns about hardcore drug use and other problems spilling into the community. That’s because Plymouth subscribes to the low barrier “housing first” model where addicts are not required to get treatment. Councilmember Applauds Low Barrier Housing King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci is applauding this move in her district. Today’s press release did not indicate when the Kirkland location would open. Low Barrier Housing Doesn’t Work I spent a year investigating Read More ›

Dow Constantine Responds I confronted King County Executive Dow Constantine about the drug encampment he set up in Burien that’s now a revolving door for criminals. But Dow is denying he’s responsible for creating this blight on the city. Do you believe him? Burien No Longer Works with REACH Dow also made some erroneous statements. He thinks REACH is still the homeless outreach provider for Burien. I broke the story last March after the city announced its intent to cut ties. Dow didn’t know about this massive development? Rescued Last week, two kids were rescued from this dangerous encampment. But Dow claims he had no idea this incident happened and also says he was unaware of all the crime coming Read More ›

“Camping Is Prohibited” Right near the Interbay encampment fire, We Heart Seattle just discovered more tents in the NW Queen Anne Greenbelt. This area connects to the N. Kinnear Park hiking trail. Look at all the used drug needles scattered in the woods. This addiction crisis is out of control.