homelessness

Seattle and King County have the third-largest homeless population in the country, and it’s only getting worse. A Discovery Institute study in 2024 found that 86.6% of the Seattle and King County homeless population were not born there and that nearly half — 49.7% — first began experiencing homelessness outside of Seattle and King County. Filmmaker SIX SEVEN KEVIN explores the reality of these findings by asking the homeless themselves where they come from. Answers range from New York and Alaska to Africa and Guatemala, revealing the crisis of a city that attracts homelessness without offering any solutions. 6’7 Kevin is a documentary filmmaker and journalist known for the Dregs of the City series on YouTube, where he explores America’s homeless culture Read More ›

Michele Steeb appeared on The Steve Gruber Show on May 5 to discuss our current homelessness crisis. She explained why Housing First has failed to address the crisis, why the crisis is especially bad in California, the bill that could have begun to turn things around, but that Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed, and more.

Despite his campaign promise to end homeless encampment sweeps, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has reinstated them. Filmmaker SIX SEVEN KEVIN takes to the streets of New York City, asking business owners, residents, and homeless individuals themselves about how the mayor has been handling the homelessness crisis. 6’7 Kevin is a documentary filmmaker and journalist known for the Dregs of the City series on YouTube, where he explores America’s homeless culture from state to state. Follow SIX SEVEN KEVIN’s YouTube channel: @67kevin⁩ Follow SIX SEVEN KEVIN on X: Six Seven (@67Kevin1) / X Visit SIX SEVEN KEVIN’s website: SIX SEVEN | Documentary Filmmakers

“I Chose to be a Meth Head” Kevin Kalb is an independent filmmaker known for his “Dregs of the City” YouTube documentaries. He’s in Seattle collaborating with Discovery Institute Media to spotlight the region’s homeless drug crisis. He managed to get an interview with Mayor Katie Wilson and questioned her about the “service resistant” addicts who are causing the most problems on the streets. Wilson gave him spin about city “models” that get the “vast majority” of people off the streets. Not true at all. In fact it’s the opposite. Even the drug addicts laid out reasons why they don’t want city shelters like tiny houses. One woman summed it up best: “I don’t want to lay in my bed Read More ›

Wendy Yim is an aspiring writer, and by all measures a good one. Her first novel attracted the attention of literary agents and she was working on a second when she was forced to pivot to much less rewarding work: defending her neighborhood against the dangers posed by a low-barrier homeless shelter. Wendy’s family lives in Seattle’s picturesque, middle-class Madison Valley neighborhood, situated just east of Capitol Hill — a place filled with eclectic and colorful homes, winding streets lined with trees, and yards landscaped with flowers. Through the middle runs East Madison Street, host to about twenty small businesses, including a flower shop, bakery, music school, several ethnic restaurants, a small supermarket, and a massage clinic. Children make up Read More ›

For more than a century, America’s response to homelessness was rooted in faith. Churches, rescue missions, Catholic Charities, and the Salvation Army fed the hungry, sheltered the vulnerable, and most importantly, walked alongside them toward restoration. They innately understood a fundamental truth: Homelessness is a human transformation challenge requiring recovery, accountability, and the restoration of purpose. Over the past decade, however, policymakers were increasingly steered toward a different conclusion. A one-size-fits-all approach was supposed to end homelessness and simplify it — housing as the solution, housing placement as the sole metric, and a uniform approach applied everywhere. For policymakers drawn to ease, the appeal was obvious. But in embracing simplicity, the system ignored human complexity. Faith-based organizations began to be Read More ›

Starbucks: From Foe to Friend Last year Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson blasted Starbucks while standing in solidarity with workers on strike. This week, she announced the local coffee giant would help fund the first phase of the city’s homelessness response. So is the mayor now pandering to Starbucks or is Starbucks pandering to the mayor? Either way, we all know how the last public-private partnership to end homelessness turned out for local donors and the government. Past Failed Attempts Remember We Are In? The King County Regional Homelessness Authority under former CEO Marc Dones got corporations like the Gates Foundation to pony up millions of dollars to solve homelessness. Amazon, Microsoft, Ballmer Group, and the Raikes Foundation were also involved. Read More ›

No Plan for Drug Treatment and Recovery Options Wednesday evening, Mayor Katie Wilson shared more details about her plan to address the homeless drug crisis destroying the city. As expected, Wilson put an emphasis on how her office was taking the initiative to build more tiny houses and pallet shelters before the FIFA World Cup in June. But Wilson shared virtually ZERO details on drug treatment and recovery options for addicts suffering on the streets. Wilson just said “wrap around services” would be offered to residents at these shelters. In other words, no requirement to use the treatment and recovery options. It’s the same talking point parroted for more than a decade by every King County Democrat that’s presided over Read More ›

More than 48 million Americans are battling substance use disorder. Many are deteriorating in plain sight — on sidewalks, in encampments, and in emergency rooms. Others decline behind closed doors. Overdoses are shattering families, especially within the homeless population where the death rate among people living on the streets has surged by 77 percent. Yet in a media landscape quick to amplify controversy but slow to recognize consequential reform, President Donald Trump’s executive order to overhaul America’s addiction response passed with remarkably little national attention. It shouldn’t have. At its core, the order affirms a truth long understood by those who have worked on the front lines: no man or woman living with addiction ever dreamed of this life. When Read More ›

Developing An elderly homeless man is dead after being hit by a car near the Fred Meyer in Bellevue. It happened late Thursday evening along 148th Ave NE in a busy shopping corridor. Unclear if the rain and slick conditions played a role in what appears to be an accident. The driver stopped and is at the scene talking to cops. This is a developing story.