A failure of government, or a testament to how awesome tent cities are?

@3, how many chronically homeless people are in King County compared to Utah ? Your article indicates Utah has less than a few thousand.

72 percent decrease in the number of the chronic homeless, from almost 1,800 to less than 500.

Can the council show that *any* progress has been made, for the millions of wasted dollars?

I just want a story of one capable person, who was down on luck ( job loss, illness ) who was able to get services ( cause the backlog is years ) and rise back to where they were before.

Otherwise we might as well just make being homeless illegal and arrest them all, at least then we know they are getting food and shelter.

@3: i'm very tired of seeing Utah's program trotted out as the cure-all for homelessness. just give them homes! Utah's internet-legend success is not easily replicable.

the question in Seattle is, WHERE? we're not swimming in low-rent vacancies, homeless and low-income housing providers can barely finance new housing. more homeless are emigrating to Seattle, attracted by our comparatively-generous services. the waiting list at the SHA and Housing Authorities in surrounding areas is a mile long. did you know the waiting list at the Peninsula Housing Authority in Port Fucking Angeles is a 1000 applicants long?

@6: The obvious answer is to ship all homeless people to Utah.

@7: Perhaps part of Utah's "success" was doing exactly that. Nevada was buying homeless people one-way tickets to Honolulu.

Nice job illustrating a story about tent cities in UNINCORPORATED King Co. with a photo of an encampment alongside I-90 in Seattle.

Seattle needs a plan, and homes first makes sense and is being replicated. NYC couldn't have more available housing and less homeless. The key point is people need homes to climb out of poverty, and it is a good investment. I'm sick of these empty slogans "end homelessness" "end hunger".

@8: Yeah, I can't picture what it would look like in unincorporated King County with that picture of a tent city in Seattle in the way! OUTRAGE! #GAMERGATE

@6,

Also, Utah's program targets chronically homeless people. There are many people who wind up homeless in a given year who don't meet that definition.

Until the mayor and the city council are homeless nothing will change.



There, I WIN THE INTERNET!!!!