The official U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development homelessness count is 746,000 people. But the real number is closer to 1.5 million. Why the discrepancy? Because for over a decade, HUD has been employing clever gimmicks that exclude hundreds of thousands of people experiencing homelessness from their numbers. Now, HUD is changing course with meaningful reforms. Senior Fellow Michele Steeb explains.
Independent journalist and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Choe appeared on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, September 15, to testify before the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the invitation of Chairman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). The hearing was titled, “Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services.” Several clips and excerpts of Choe’s videos covering the homelessness and drug addiction crisis were also presented to the subcommittee. Choe provided testimony based on his experience reporting on the homelessness crisis in West coast cities like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He addressed the problems inherent in low-barrier housing facilities such as high rates of assaults, theft, sexual violence, drug use, and other criminal activity that result in Read More ›
Owning a home, or at least having one, has long been considered an essential part of the American dream. But what if Americans judged success not by whether people had housing, but by whether they discovered — or rediscovered — who they were created to become? Imagine the hundreds of thousands of people who could be strengthening cities like New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles had local leaders invested in systems designed to restore lives and cultivate human flourishing, rather than embracing the federal government’s Housing First approach adopted in 2013. Housing First made housing placement the primary intervention and measure of success, while removing expectations for treatment, sobriety, employment or progress toward self-sufficiency. In doing so, it too often Read More ›
Total Disaster It’s the city’s worst-kept secret. Seattle Public Libraries are being used as drug dens and hangouts for the homeless. Savanah Hernandez exposed some of the most problematic locations. Meanwhile, city leaders recently passed a $400 million property tax levy to fund this insanity.
Mayhem Another drug encampment inferno engulfed multiple tents in Seattle’s Mount Baker neighborhood over the weekend. Angry neighbors warned socialist Mayor Katie Wilson this would happen. Instead, city workers dropped off concrete blocks to keep the addicts away. It clearly did not work. We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez has been doing outreach in this part of the city that’s now dealing with a massive inflow of vagrants.
The following excerpt is from a Christianity Today article written by Marvin Olasky, the magazine’s editor in chief as well as a Discovery Institute Senior Fellow. Olasky makes reference to an article written by our Project Coordinator and Research Fellow Marsha Michaelis, titled “Washington’s Homelessness and Drug Policies Have Created a Culture of Death and Disorder.” Olasky provides further insight on this important topic with compassion and conviction. We encourage our readers to read the full article at Christianity Today.
Addiction is nothing new in our country. Sometimes it’s hidden away and people with abnormal habits can still lead mostly normal lives. But numerous studies over the years have linked substance abuse and homelessness.
One oft-cited study showed that more than four out of five chronically homeless people have had alcohol or drug problems. That’s over a lifetime, but another study tested 400 homeless people on the St. Louis streets and shelters for recent cocaine use: Most had detectable amounts.
Jeremiah is a formerly homeless man whom I met at Eden Village, a refuge for the formerly homeless in Springfield, Missouri. He told me about two vivid memories. The first was a one-time disaster: His home burned when he was a child, and Jeremiah made it out with his grandparents and stepdad. But his mom went back in for his sister and never came out.
Read More ›
The final FIFA World Cup game hosted in Seattle ended in the disappointing loss of the United States to Belgium. But for Seattle, a city so overcome by drug addiction, mental illness, and street-level homelessness, the weeks-long event was a smashing success. Downtown sparkled as it welcomed visitors from around the world for the six games it hosted at Lumen Field, rebranded Seattle Stadium for the tournament. In addition to exciting games, soccer fans enjoyed a city with noticeably cleaner streets and few visible signs of homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness that are familiar to residents. But this is not what long-term success looks like. Mayor Katie Wilson and her team did not clean up the city. They simply Read More ›
This Is Just the Beginning Chinatown-ID demonstrators came out in full force today, even bringing dozens of senior citizens to blast Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson. On this final day of the World Cup, they accuse Wilson of shoving homeless drug addicts into their community, costing them millions in tourism dollars. But CID organizers say this is just the beginning of their fight. Expect more protests until the mayor shows up to fix this crisis on the streets.
For more than a decade, America’s homelessness system has largely measured success by a single metric: whether someone is housed. In the process, what should have been a milestone on the journey to self-sufficiency became the destination itself. Housing is important, but making it the finish line set the bar devastatingly low for both the system and the people it serves. We now routinely confuse housing placement with transformation and occupancy with human flourishing. As a result, too many people remain trapped in addiction, untreated mental illness, dependency, and isolation, yet are counted as successes because the system measures where they sleep rather than whether they are healing, rebuilding, and moving toward self-sufficiency. This was never what most Americans envisioned Read More ›
Enough is Enough Team USA will be playing on Monday in Seattle. Expect a mega protest against Mayor Katie Wilson and the city. Chinatown-ID residents accuse Wilson of pushing homeless drug addicts into their community so downtown tourists won’t have to see the street crisis. The CID has had enough.