Charles, the cost of my tabs for a 1997 Camry I once owned went from around $175 to around $400 when our state started its double valuation scheme to draw more revenue from tab renewals. I know you dream of a utopia where we dont need cars but right now most people still do. Especially, the poor and working class who need to commute from where they can afford to live to where they work. Why doesnt this bother you? Its now one of the largest single expenses a poorer person will have to pay outside rent.

You can talk abstractly about root causes but this is something we could fix real fast.

And don't forget that GOLDMAN SACHS owns Smith Tower.
So GOLDMAN SACHS would like your 17k a month plahse.

That Smith Tower penthouse would be pretty sweet if it were in Bellevue.

Just wait until the mass evictions happen nationwide. Given Seattle's obscene rents, it's a guarantee it will top the list of forcing people into homelessness.

I find it massively depressing that GS owns Smith Tower.

Charles, thanks for the clip of Harold Nicholas dancing. That's one I haven't seen.

He was half of the Nicholas Brothers, who often performed together. They were amazing dancers. If you have not seen it, look for their dance at the end of the movie Stormy Weather. It is the most amazing dance sequence I think I've ever seen put to film. They performed it live with the Cab Calloway orchestra, filmed in a single take, and apparently unrehearsed(!!!). Gregory Hines once said there isn't a dancer alive today that could perform that sequence. The clip pops up on YouTube frequently, then gets deleted (presumably over copyright), then pops up again elsewhere, otherwise I'd provide a link. It shouldn't be hard to find.

The same commenters who @7 and @8 want permanent psychiatric care or prison for the homeless are also of the same mindset of commenters like @3 who's complaining about car tab taxes going up.

"I demand we do these incredibly expensive things but I also refuse to pay for them."

Though actually, that has been the mantra of the republican party for as long back as my memory goes.

I used to hear people say the republicans were "the party of fiscal responsibility." I rarely hear it nowadays. I guess even THEY'VE finally realized that's always been bullshit.

re the moral turpitude theory of homelessness: what's the source of the trends? Did the diabolical syncopations of Jazz Music finally take effect?

At least with the economic theory, there's a measurable economic phenomenon correlating with it. And that beats boojie pomposity walking away.

@7 -- Bullshit. There is a big connection between the cost of rent and homelessness. Here is a local report:

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-cities/the-economics-of-homelessness-in-seattle-and-king-county.

Here is a national study:

https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordability-22247/

You are a dipshit who doesn't understand the problem. All your information is anecdotal. You can't point to studies to support your argument, because there aren't any. You are no different than an isolated white kid who attends his first basketball game and concludes that all black men are tall. I mean sure, there are a few white guys that are tall, too, but every last black person you have ever seen is tall. Therefore, they must all be tall.

You really need to stop living in your ignorant fucking cocoon and get a clue.

Thanks, @13, for the dose of reality and much-deserved scorn.

@16,

Ok, so lifetime 24 hour psychiatric care for some homeless and prison for the rest.

After some quick google searches:

Seattle has about 12,000 homeless
Let's put half in prison and half in psychiatric care
Prison costs about $40,000 for one person for one year (Wash state)
Psychiatric care is far more expensive. Rates are all over the place, but it seems reasonable to say about $1000 per day per person.

Add all that up and your grand total for 1 year of putting the homeless in prison or psych wards is:
$2.4 Billion.

$2.4 Billion per year. That's just Seattle, mind you. And I generously put fully half of them in prison, when it's far more likely most would be on the psychiatric qualification side instead.

How would you propose raising that money?

@15 I did live in Seattle for years and still have many, many friends who live there. And so what? There are numerous commenters on this forum who don't live in Seattle. At least I have and I live in the PNW and I have a vested interest in what happens in Seattle.

We do know exactly what will happen when the moratorium ends, people will be evicted. Nationwide people have been being evicted ANYWAY, in defiance of the moratorium, so even a troll like you can easily add 1+1 and see that it equals 2. Seriously. you and your bullshit make me roll my eyes so hard I am going to eye roll myself into another dimension.

You present your bullshit as fact and it is not fact.

As for the Smith Tower. I find it depressing that GS owns it. That's it. That's what an opinion is. Arguing with me about my opinion and asking me stupid questions is just trolling.

Before it was extended by the Biden administration the end to the moratorium was going to mean 40 MILLION homeless.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/12/24/covid-eviction-moratoriums-could-eventually-leave-americans-homeless/4018226001/

For Black Families, Evictions Are Still At A Crisis Point — Despite Moratorium
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/970190910/for-black-families-evictions-are-still-at-a-crisis-point-despite-moratorium

Oregon expects flood of evictions when moratorium ends
https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2021/02/21/oregon-experts-anticipate-flood-evictions-when-pandemic-rent-moratorium-ends-july-1/4406264001/

When the Eviction Moratorium Ends, the Toll on Black Households Will Be Extraordinary
For the average Black household to pay just one month’s back rent by saving 10% of its earnings would take 5.7 months.
https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/02/17/when-the-eviction-moratorium-ends-the-toll-on-black-households-will-be-extraordinary/

A landlord’s assault reignites questions about D.C.'s eviction moratorium
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/03/24/landlord-attack-dc/

Pittsburgh Landlord Group Says City-Wide Ban On Evictions Is ‘Unconstitutional’
It is truly a tug of war between local renters and landlords.
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/03/19/landlord-group-says-city-wide-ban-on-evictions-is-unconstitutional/

Loophole in eviction moratorium lets landlords evict tenants
Attorney says eviction filings have recently increased throughout the pandemic
https://www.3newsnow.com/news/coronavirus/omaha-landlord-exploits-loophole-in-cdc-eviction-moratorium

Housing in Brief: Judge Says CDC Eviction Moratorium Overstepped Authority
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/housing-in-brief-judge-says-cdc-eviction-moratorium-overstepped-authority

well, xinia, you're a Woman and ole jakkky cannot Abide a Woman -- specially one with Strong Opinions. he finds you Frightening

and so he attacks.

Washington sucks. It rains 300 days a year, there are active volcanoes and it's full of roving packs of laser-bears with chlamydia. Stop moving here.

@7 -- Sir Toby II, you often try to present a voice of reason here, but today you very badly miss the mark.

The cures you propose are profoundy ineffective and unlawful as applied to the homeless -- just as they would be if applied to the homeful.

People in homes also suffer addictions and mental illness, and commit crimes of every description. People"experiencing homelessness" are somewhat more likely -- not a whole lot more likely -- to experience serious mental illness. They are more likely to experience addiction, but effluent sampling will tell you there's a lot of that behind closed doors too.

Homelessness itself is a powerful contributing factor in most of the addiction, mental illness and criminal behavior evident in public.(extensive details elided)

And the roots of contemporary addictions are mostly economic, not recreational.

Most people (housed or otherwise) with opioid problems are victims of a manifestly evil economic drugs-for-profits scheme. They followed doctors' orders, and now they're hooked.

Most people with meth problems got hooked trying to keep up in the rat race -- working impossible schedules with impossible commutes with impossible family demands, and now they're hooked.

As causation, good old-fashioned alcoholism is not that big and not that new. Seattle has been producing drunks forever. As an effect of homelessness, however, it is big. Enforced idleness, profound misery, and lack of other social connections can and do drive people to drink and drugs.

And an economy where a few hundred people hold half the wealth is bound to leave millions on the margins.Marginality is out there, picking off stragglers, and as trends continue, larger and larger factions of the herd can't possibly keep up.

"But you need to understand that it is perfectly reasonable and rational to come to the decision that these urban campers need to be dislodged from their campsites and that their needs are the last needs that should be considered in the process." --@STII

right.
they forfeited their Humanity
when they became Homeless
the Least of Us we just Trash
'cause they're Weak. Catcha
Twenty Two.

sorry, folks but ya just
shouldda been Stronger
oh and better Luck 'next' time!

@23,

I'm just saying, locking the homeless away from society is very expensive. Lots of people advocate it. Lots of people just want the homeless to disappear. Ok, that can happen, but you've gotta pay for it. And it ain't cheap. And then they complain how expensive it is. I guess it comes down to people just complaining for complaints sake because they're human. But in any case, you want the homeless gone? Start forking out the bucks. And shut your yap, cause it's goddamn expensive to do it. Here's your solution, it costs a fortune, put up or shut up.

@24,
"Oh Urgutha you forgotten demon you."
You've found me! :)

My user name here was mostly me getting frustrated trying to find an untaken name when registering and finally just settling on something that I was reading at the time and that would be available and that I figured no one would have any idea what it was referring to.

Neat story though if you're a D&D fan. Urgutha Forka is a complete throwaway. I should have registered as Drizzt Do'Urden. The Dark Elf Trilogy by R. A. Salvatore is nicely engaging if you're into fantasy novels. I'd recommend it.

@30,

Are you though?

2 Billion.

I'll even Jimmy it down to 1 Billion for whatever reasons. And that's a huge decrease. Is Seattle really ponying up what it costs to deal with the homeless (in your eyes)? Are they really?

I gotta say... it just feels like the same old same old... republican talk of "we've got to spare no expense to deal with blah blah blah!!! But you can't increase taxes to pay for it AAAAHHHHGGGG!!!!"

Republicans got nothing. Nothing. All they do is complain. You got anything but complaints? You got any actual solutions?? Lemme hear em.

Give the homeless (and the homed, FWIW) a UBI and you effectively eliminate the excuse that they're unable to afford rent. Throw up 10-15 low/no-barrier facilities offering dirt cheap studio apartments & SRO's and you'll at least have a slightly more viable case for detaining those who are capable but unwilling to absolve themselves of the opportunities presented them. Could probably even set up some sort of a system wherein people could request to have their modest monthly "rent" payments automatically deducted from their UBI. Just spitballin' and there'd be a ton of kinks to work out, but I really think a solution incorporating a UBI could be viable.

Not that it matters as it'd never generate enough support to implement on a workable scale, but it's sometimes nice to dream.

@6: What?!? You've already grown tired of your private gated little Archie Bunker hole, Swifty? I guess you must be running out of trolling ammo on the Eastside. Flammable cargo is prohibited on I-90 and on SR520. Are you among the pearl clutchers scared shitless of squatters taking over Hunts Point as well as Mercer Island?

If anyone complains about immigrants just remind them that immigrants work the jobs americans typically don't care for, pay their fucking taxes, and are essential to keeping our population from plummeting (not 100% a bad thing but does have economic ramifications). There are more reasons of course but I think three is a good number for memorization.

@Toby

You are wrong in every way.
Homeless is caused by overpriced housing, not addiction.
Every community has addicts.
Only communities with overpriced housing have homelessness on a scale like Seattle or San Francisco.
That is a fact.

I live in Detroit.
We have cheap housing and plenty of addicted people, but we don't have the rampant homelessness that Seattle has.

People like you claim that addicted people can't or won't work, while at the same time complaining that they commit huge amounts of petty crime. The number one stupid complaint I hear like that in Seattle is "rampant bicycle theft".
(The horror!)
In case you didn't know, bicycles don't steal themselves, they don't disassemble themselves, and they don't sell themselves.

Let's not forget, most people become homeless first and then become addicts after facing the desperation of living on the street.

Here in Detroit drug addicts can't afford to live in a crappy apartment and by drugs (and food!) by working a minimum wage job (which pays about $9 an hour here in Michigan).

Have you ever met an addict?
Believe it or not, they don't want to be homeless; and they are more than willing to work to buy the things they need. The problem isn't the desire or ability to work, it is the ability to afford housing.

If you think affordable housing won't solve homelessness than you are a fool.

@38 correction

"Here in Detroit drug addicts CAN afford to live in a crappy apartment."

My ex-wife's mother was a heroin addict. She died of an overdose.
She was able to hold a job and pay for housing until the day she overdosed.
It was a tragedy, but not as big a tragedy as homelessness or imprisonment.

Charles; do you think Gotham City would be less plagued by crime had Batman only given Scarecrow, Penguin, and everyone else a monthly income stipend instead of spending his billions on body-suits?
I bet you do. Lol

@31:

"Do you pay any Washington State, King County or Seattle Taxes? If no, then you have No Vested interest any more than I can have wherever you currently live just because I spent some time there. You Left! Whether you were squeezed out or not doesn't matter. YOU LEFT and its no longer your call."

Now, to be fair I hope you intend to apply this same principal to all the dipshit out-of-town trolls who come here and think their opinion about our home means squat. And just for shits and giggles, you should publicly tell them so.

@40:

Thank you, meant to say basically the same thing myself.

@34,

I stay up late playing GTA V since it's the only time I get to play it. It's got ridiculously long loading screen times, so when I get one I look around on different news aggregator sites while I'm waiting. SLOG's only one of them, but it's the one with the fewest comments per post so it's easy to browse.

Where do you come up with your bullshit? I mean seriously, it would be beyond laughable if you didn't present it with so much vitriol and bluster in an attempt to make your OPINION more relevant than others (especially when throwing your opinion up against actual FACTS).

The #1 entity purchasing real estate in Seattle, Chinese investors who live in China. They can't vote in WA or even the U.S. According to you they don't count, huh? No vested interest in Seattle because they don't live and vote in WA? (ppsssstttt - those GS fucks who own the Smith Tower, they don't live in WA or vote in WA either)

Tens of thousands of students (many of them International students) who attend any of the colleges or universities in Seattle or elsewhere in WA have a vested interest in Seattle and while students are allowed to vote in the state in which they attend school, many do not and many others can't - and yet they still have a vested interest in Seattle.

I could continue, but I won't.

Again one's opinion (plus a bunch of bullshit and nasty comments) does not equal fact. And your opinion about me not only does not equal fact, it is merely irrelevant.

I have a vested interest in Seattle now and I will have a vested interest in what happens in Seattle, always. I will continue to comment if and when I please, as I please, about what I please and your insistence that I am of no consequence will remain of no consequence.

K thx BYE! LOL

Remember, every time a troll posts, an turd gets it's wings (or something like that).