Housing First

Bellevue repeat offender Merrell James Gorham-Craig just went on another rampage through the city. The Plymouth Housing/PorchLight campus resident is accused of ransacking a Walgreens and QFC late Monday evening. But even more disturbing, cops let him go back to his apartment without booking him into jail and are now refusing to answer my questions. A.K.A. “Manny” Gorham-Craig is also known as “Manny” by Plymouth workers and residents. He has a lengthy rap sheet and is well known to Bellevue cops. The @FactoriaLLS team and I have been watching his name pop up on numerous police reports this year. A Menace Inside the Facility Gorham-Craig is also accused of being a menace to Plymouth Housing workers and neighbors.

Harm Reduction In Action Plymouth Housing continues to be a blight on the downtown Seattle community. Look at all the drug action in front of the Stewart Street location. This is “Housing First” and “Harm Reduction” in action. Staff give out free drug supplies and no one is required to go into detox or find jobs. So they hang out all day in their apartments and do fentanyl. In some cases, dealers actually live in the units. It’s one stop shopping and a death trap. If any of these so called “permanent supportive” apartments are pitched for your community, fight like heck to keep it out. Unless you like to live next to crime, chaos, and death everyday. 911 calls Read More ›

Michele Steeb joined a weekend edition of Morning Wire, presented by Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley and co-host Georgia Howe, to discuss the recent federal reforms that offer hope for our homelessness crisis. Steeb covers how faith-based programs used to spearhead the fight against homelessness, how the Obama administration changed the federal approach for the worse, and what the Trump administration’s recent reforms mean for the homeless and communities nationwide.

“We Call Every Week, But They Just Keep Ignoring” Christmas shopping is underway in downtown Seattle. But if you are looking for a good deal on stolen items, head to Chinatown-ID. Late Saturday evening, 12th Ave & Jackson St remains a total train wreck. Drug addicts are passed out in vestibules, the mentally ill are flailing in the streets, and cops are driving by without enforcing the law. The vast majority of the people admit they are not homeless. They are here to score drugs. Outgoing Mayor Bruce Harrell has failed this Asian American community after pushing “Housing First” and “harm reduction” policies that are not working. He allowed this neighborhood to turn into a containment zone and human dumping Read More ›

SEATTLE, WA — “Federal reforms have finally created space for local leaders to put treatment and recovery back at the center of homelessness policy,” says Discovery Institute President Steve Buri. “Real compassion means helping people reclaim stability and dignity, not leaving them trapped in addiction and illness without a path to restoration.” Following a newly-released reformed funding package from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Discovery Institute published an essential policy brief calling on local governments, Continuums of Care (CoCs), and service agencies to leverage these new federal reforms and make treatment and recovery central to local homelessness solutions. The brief outlines how “Housing First” and “Harm Reduction” policies failed the homeless by misdiagnosing the crisis as primarily Read More ›

Chaos Continues at Plymouth Housing The cancer continues to spread in Bellevue’s Eastgate community. The @FactoriaLLS team and I have gone through dozens of 911 calls to uncover another horrific incident at the Plymouth Housing/PorchLight campus. On October 30, a PorchLight worker called cops to trespass a homeless man who threatened to kill employees and police. The unhinged individual claimed to be infected with HIV after a tussle with the worker. When will City Manager Diane Carlson and Mayor Lynne Robinson finally admit this permanent supportive housing project and homeless shelter are destroying the community with crime, chaos, and death? Some neighbors believe these elected officials are running cover for the homeless industrial complex. What an epic failure. Anthony Williams Read More ›

Michele Steeb appeared on Furthermore with Amanda Head on November 4 to discuss California’s failed Housing First strategy and its growing homelessness crisis.

Booted Jennifer Friedenbach is the queen of San Francisco’s homeless industrial complex. Looks like she’s getting booted from the “Our City Our Home Oversight Committee.” This collective is responsible for looking after a billion dollars in homeless and housing services. I spoke to Friedenbach earlier this year. She took shots at recovery advocates like @Twolfrecovery and defended the failed Housing First and “harm reduction” policies that have led to record drug overdose deaths in the city. Final Vote Nov. 11 The Board of Supervisors will take a final vote on Friedenbach’s future with the committee on November 11. At Odds with New Mayor Friedenbach’s approach to fixing the city’s homeless drug crisis did not align with Mayor Daniel Lurie’s game Read More ›

Homelessness in California — and across America — has reached a breaking point. The crisis has climbed to the highest level ever recorded, even as billions more are poured into housing subsidies and bureaucratic programs that promise compassion but deliver only despair. No one bears the consequences more cruelly than the homeless themselves. Their death rate has soared by 77% in the country’s largest urban areas, a devastating indictment of a system that prioritizes housing units over human healing. Communities, too, shoulder the burden — streets overrun, neighborhoods destabilized and taxpayers funding a model that fails everyone it claims to help. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order marks the first real course correction in over a decade. By directing federal Read More ›

In a catastrophic miscalculation that exposes his continued attachment to failure, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 255 on Oct. 1. It was a bipartisan measure designed to expand access to recovery housing for homeless individuals struggling with substance use disorders. His veto comes at a time when California’s homeless can least afford more failure. AB 255, authored by Assembly member Matt Haney, would have allowed up to 10% of state homelessness funds to support abstinence-based recovery housing. These programs integrate shelter with sobriety requirements, accountability and supportive services that help people reclaim stability. Newsom dismissed the bill as “unnecessary,” insisting that current guidelines already permit sober housing and warning against “duplicative” categories. His reasoning rings hollow. California mimicked Read More ›