So, to recap: we've got plenty of money, we just can't figure out how to spend it effectively.

But, at the same time, the Seattle City Council's proposal is to generate more tax revenue, while continuing to warehouse the most vulnerable in our society in the city's greenspaces and transportation right-of-ways. WTF?

More evidence that lack of money is not the problem.

@1 did you even bother to read the article?

"Why are people waiting so long? The shortage of homeless housing, according to the audit. "

Where are you people getting the idea that lack of money isn't a problem? Did the audit say That? No it did not.

@5

Mathematics. Given the homeless budget (which does NOT include private charity, YMCA etc) over $6,000 per homeless person is already being spent. That is, $63 million in 2017 divided by 11,000 homeless. How many were moved from homelessness to a roof for that money?

I own my house but in property tax and insurance house myself in a 3 bedroom home for $6k a year. How much would dorm style housing cost, if anyone competent were handling the money, per person?

Simple solution to the homeless problem: Don't give homeless people the choice to accept help; Force them to accept help. This will require changing the Constitution. Doable?

@4 If we weren't pissing away hundreds of millions of dollars on poorly managed programs that don't work (and consultants we ignore), we'd have more low income housing. It's not complicated.

@5 Where did you get the idea that lack of money IS a problem? None of the recommendations in the audit suggest a lack of money is the problem. Every recommendation basically boils down to inept leadership.

@6 You are not counting all of the expenditures: we actually spent just over $16,000 per homeless person in 2017. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/how-much-do-seattle-and-king-county-spend-on-homelessness/

"I own my house but in property tax and insurance house myself in a 3 bedroom home for $6k a year.

This is self parody? "I own my house and I don't see why you couldn't live in comfort on $6K / year, if you own your own house. Have you tried just owning your own house?"

That said, it does seem like it has to be possible to house more people per dollar than we're managing. Just let's not assume homeownership mkay.

I was recently in Seattle's PACE program (People's Academy for Community Engagement). One of the speakers we heard from and questioned was Jeanette Blankenship, Deputy Director off the City Budget. She stated we are currently spending 1.2 Billion dollars a year on the Homeless Crises. Using numbers from this article that's $103,000 a year per person. This is where the argument crumbles. Rich, mostly white people who can afford homes will argue the numbers and we get nowhere. Let's move right past that.

Fixing it is answering an existential question and hasn't been done yet in the U.S. really. Unless you live in someplace like Michigan where the weather dictates a city to house people in the winter. We need to do something good with the tax dollars that are being spent, like building housing and rehabilitation complexes near light rail stations that are welcome to everybody. We're on track to spend a million dollars per person over the next ten years. Rich and entitled people, you can argue those numbers or research them. We need to break the mold and do something new, which means something that hasn't been done.

If we invested the money rather than burn it who knows, maybe those property taxes will come down. In that class we also heard from another Deputy that the City is getting plenty of money, it just doesn't know how to spend it. We need news outlets to hold not only our leaders accountable but residents as well, and not just to feel good about venting or complaining. Here's a good read on it

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/11/16/price-of-homelessness-seattle-king-county-costs.html

It's not just King County's problem, Washington's homeless response is a mess too. There are solutions that work, there's an article on the Times today that talks about a solution San Diego developed that worked pretty well.

The problem is, our politicians don't see the wisdom of copying success, the same way our light rail is years behind Vancouver's, our politicians think they know better in spite of all the evidence that they don't.

Unless something changes, nothing changes.

@9

No. This is math. Many liberals are poor at it, I know.

There is no need to build apartments for homeless people. The market and limitations in zoning and available space will dictate new construction and not one thing liberals do will change that.

I have a right to my space because I paid for it. If you live on public charity a bunk in a dorm with communal bathrooms will do just fine and cost quite a lot less.

But if public money goes to house those who can't pay for their own the public gets to make the rules- not those being housed. Don't like the rules? Well. Gee. Maybe figure out a way to house yourself at your own expense? But you don't get to live and eat and defecate on the sidewalks or any open land you see. Unless you want to go to jail.

The behavior homeless people exhibit here would not be tolerated nearly anywhere else in the civilized world. It's long past time to change that tolerance.

Seattle Reality:
Seattle Population: ~725,000 in Seattle Metropolitan Area (3,800,000 inc Tacoma and Bellevue) 2018
Seattle Homeless Population: ~11,643 (estimated based on actual counts counts)
King County also ranks third in the US for number of unsheltered homeless — people living in vehicles, tents and on local streets. The 5,485 unsheltered people counted in the county in 2017 represent a 21 percent increase over last year’s tally. (Again based on verifiable counts)
By the close of November 2017, the King County medical examiner’s list of homelessness deaths has reached 133, surpassing the previous high of 111 from 2006. A national record.
Median Household Income: $67,700 https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Washington/Seattle/Household-Income
Minimum Income Requirement to meet the cost of living: $72,092 http://seattlerefined.com/lifestyle/you-need-to-make-72092-a-year-to-live-comfortably-in-seattle
Population Growth of Seattle: ~1,000/week https://seattle.curbed.com/2017/3/24/15055650/seattle-metro-population-growth

Now I cant tell for sure but unless all these folks moving to Seattle are moving here to make 80k at Amazon, I would say Seattle issues are just going to keep growing and Amazon-backed office space and infrastructure wont mean a hill of beans- unless those office buildings are going to have housing for folks on a $25,000 - $67,000 income. If I were still living in Seattle, I’d buckle up because its gonna be a bumpy ride from here on out for both the already-strapped taxpayer and the vulnerable. Maybe pot will help make everyone feel better.

Please research the legal or official definition of homelessness. That may be a source of confusion on this issue.

@10 From the 1970s through the 1990s the City of Seattle ordered the closure and demolition of ~20 units of single room occupancy living units--esentially "dorm style housing" due to fire code concerns and other public safety. Shabby and bare bones as it was SRO housing was defacto low income housing of last resort to day laborers, impoverished retired people, and people who had otherwise fallen on hard times. Too bad the geniuses who ran our city during that era never once wondered what could go wrong.

@10 Correction. I meant, 'the closure and demolition of ~20,000 units of single room occupancy living units..."