homelessness

For years, the political left has controlled the conversation around homelessness, addiction, and mental illness in most major West Coast cities. They control the nonprofits. They control the bureaucracies. They control the county commissions, the grant systems, the academic language, and most of the policy decisions. And yet the crisis keeps getting worse. That should tell us something. At some point, we have to stop judging these policies by their intentions and start judging them by their results. Because no matter how compassionate the language sounds, the outcome is obvious to anyone willing to walk the streets: more tents, more overdoses, more untreated mental illness, more open-air drug use, more crime, more suffering, and more people slowly dying in public. Read More ›

“That Happen Every Day” Seattle Mayor Katie is accused of ignoring pleas for help from business owners victimized by crime in Chinatown-ID. Late Sunday evening, we stumbled upon a car prowler outside Henry’s Taiwan Kitchen. Owner Henry Ku intervened and nearly got into a fight. He says homeless drug addicts have robbed him multiple times this year. His son says, “Whatever the City Hall is doing, it’s f*cked up.”

California lawmakers blocked legislation requiring a comprehensive audit of the state’s multibillion-dollar Homekey program. Fortunately, a nonprofit news site undertook the very investigation state leaders refused to demand. The newly-released findings sharply undercut Gov. Gavin Newsom’s repeated claims that his pandemic-era Homekey program has been a “phenomenal success.” Built on roughly 250 projects and more than 100 public-records requests, the two-year investigation exposed a familiar pattern in Newsom’s governance style: massive spending, glowing political rhetoric, weak oversight, and deeply underwhelming results. In a state already plagued by oversight failures involving Medicaid, hospice care, in-home supportive services, and homelessness spending itself, the revelations were troubling, though hardly surprising. California spent $3.8 billion to rapidly convert hotels, motels, offices, and other properties Read More ›

Overlooked Communities Bearing the Brunt of Homeless Shuffle Less than 24 hours before the first FIFA World Cup match is played in Seattle. But parts of the city look like a zombie apocalypse. Mayor Katie Wilson is accused of pushing homeless drug addicts outside of the downtown tourist corridor so fans do not get upset or inhale second hand fetty smoke. Problem is, the addicts have all been pushed to vulnerable minority communities like Chinatown-ID. And business owners are pissed.

SEATTLE, WA — “The homelessness crisis has been misrepresented as a housing problem. It’s not,” says Tom Wolf, homelessness and drug policy expert. “For many people living on the streets, the underlying issues are addiction, mental illness, or both.” Discovery Institute is pleased to announce that Tom Wolf has joined its Fix Homelessness initiative as a Senior Fellow. A leading advocate for treatment-centered responses to homelessness and addiction, Wolf brings both policy expertise and deeply personal experience to the role. Wolf’s journey into advocacy began with his own struggle. Following foot surgery in 2017, he was prescribed opioid pain medication. What began as a medical treatment developed into addiction, eventually leading to homelessness on the streets of San Francisco and Read More ›

Worse Than Ever Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson wants these homeless drug addicts far away from the FIFA World Cup stadium in SODO. Imagine if fans and visitors saw the open-air drug use, tent encampments, and permissive street culture. What would they think of the city? We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez and I are checking in on the city’s problematic hot spots. Right now, it looks worse than ever as Wilson pushes the addicts further away from the downtown tourist corridor. For whatever it’s worth, there’s another mega sweep scheduled for Friday in SODO. Will it make a difference?

T-4 Days Until World Cup Comes to Seattle Just days before the FIFA World Cup in Seattle, someone is firing steel BB’s at homeless drug addicts near Dr. Jose Rizal Park. This area is just minutes from the stadium where soccer matches will be played. Neighbors say they are seeing a cluster of new tents after Wilson aggressively swept encampments near the downtown tourist corridor. The mayor is accused of trying to mask the city’s drug crisis by pushing addicts to other parts of the city like Beacon Hill, Chinatown-ID, and now the East Duwamish Greenbelt. As long as fans do not see the urban decay and human suffering, the Wilson administration likely believes that’s a win.

Homeless INC Protests Changes Friday afternoon, far-left activists targeted Cicero Institute’s Homelessness Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Most of these professional protesters are aligned with Homeless INC and are deathly afraid of losing their gravy train. That’s because the Trump administration defunded Housing First, one of the greatest public policy failures in American history. It’s made the street crisis worse and cost taxpayers billions of dollars. But now the vast majority of that money will be flowing into treatment and recovery focused providers. Discovery Institute and Cicero Institute played a massive role in helping craft the direction of this new approach that will save lives. We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez, Tom Wolf, and North America Recovers Grant Denton are on Read More ›

Unable to Intervene San Francisco: A Shoplifting Paradise for the homeless. I visited San Francisco to document the homelessness crisis and witnessed some of the most blatant shoplifting I’ve ever seen. Every store I entered, someone was actively stealing while security guards stood by, often appearing unable or unwilling to intervene. Shoplifters Openly Admit to Theft I interviewed several shoplifters afterward. Nearly all admitted they steal because they believe nobody will stop them. Only two said they planned to eat the food they took. Most intended to resell the merchandise. Hands Tied California treats theft under $950 as a misdemeanor, and many offenders clearly see that as a green light. Store employees and security guards repeatedly told me their hands Read More ›

When environmental destruction, abuse, violence, and public disorder emerge from homeless encampments, many of America’s most vocal advocacy organizations suddenly fall silent. Recently, a major stretch of Interstate 110 in Los Angeles was shut down for nearly 24 hours after a fire erupted inside a homeless encampment beneath the freeway. As emergency crews battled the blaze and cleared the aftermath, the broader impact came into sharp focus: mountains of debris and trash removed, emergency personnel diverted from other critical duties, millions of gallons of water consumed, commuters stranded across one of the nation’s busiest urban corridors, and concerns raised about potential damage to public infrastructure. Thankfully, no fatalities were reported. But the broader implications were impossible to ignore. This was Read More ›