Yet we outlaw sub-standard housing and pretend that fixes the problem. I'm sure a lot of these people would love to live in sub-standard housing. Maybe some of them were before the law went into effect a few years ago.

(no, I don't want anyone to have to live in sub-standard housing - but the right way to fix the problem is to offer them standard housing, not outlawing the shitty housing they can barely afford)

And had you slipped and fallen jumping over that barrier Ansel, your handsome face would have been a bloody mess and it would have tied up traffic for hours. Reporters' #1 rule is to ensure they are not the story.
- Concern Troll

this article irritates me. Nothing to be GAINED by stigmatizing IV drug users?

Yeah, but has Capitol Hill lost it's edge?!?!? Dear God people focus on what's important?!?!?

@3, well, what IS to be gained by stigmatizing IV drug users? Tell us, please, how that has helped.

@5, Well, if a person avoids being an IV drug user because of seeing their awful plight, then that person has gained from their stigmatization. Stigmatization can be a good thing.

I think that these people, the ones living in the jungle or along freeway ledges have completely given up on life. The IV drug use gives them temporary escape but soon they wake up and search for more drugs. You could give them a safe place to use, even give them the drugs, but if they are at this level very few will change. Most of them could have gotten some sort of treatment in the early stages but chose not to; now they just waste away.

I must say, this story of homeless advocate Ansel Hertz reporting an encampment to the government is... kind of amusing.

open up your apartment, ansel. there's your safe place to inject.

Safe place to do drugs? Could we start with lounges to consume legal cannabis and work our way up to the injecting addicts? Just a thought about priorities.

"Used needles littered the ground. The man under the blue tarp at the end of the ledge lifted the flap for a moment and looked at me, expressionless, with wide eyes. He appeared to be middle-aged. I called out over the din of traffic, introduced myself, and asked if he was safe. If he said anything, I couldn't hear him. He closed the flap.

As I considered what to do next, another man came up from behind, maneuvered past, and stood between me and the tent. If I wanted to interview him or take another photo, he said, I needed to give him some cash."

Notice something here . . . the first guy didn't give a shit, because he was so strung out. The second guy didn't tell the reporter to leave, didn't ask for help, or ask for food. Nope, he simply wants money (likely to buy drugs).

And that right there is the root of the problem with homelessness in Seattle. It has nothing to do with rising housing costs, or anything to do with lack of jobs - it's about the proliferation and acceptance of junkies and the enabling of their destructive habits.

We can give them safe places to shoot up, and even a roof over their head, but until we find a way to get these people clean and back into regular society, their *only* priority will be to find enough money to get their next hit - be it from pan handling, prostitution or theft.

Right on Mr.Steve007. Right on.

Ansel, I never got addicted to heroin - never even tried it. Sorry that your friends did, but explain to me why I am now responsible for keeping their addictions alive and finding them housing and safe shooting galleries. Where were they during my tough childhood? Helping me? Nope. The addicts can go fuck themselves. I'm tired of their sad, shitty song. Happy to help, but where is the accountability?