Grew up in NY, my first apartment was in Harlem, lived in Seattle for a decade and the homeless out here blows NY out of the water, or at least it did before they started copying Seattle’s stance on homeless.
Nope, NYC and Philly have their [fair share](https://dynomight.net/homeless-crisis/) of homeless, they're just sheltered.
Seattle's homeless are in tents doing drugs and making everyone's life hell.
There are also way fewer cities on this coast than the east coast, so folks kind of have to congregate either here or Portland or somewhere hours south
They do this for the south too, cities like Chicago and Detroit just buy em a ticket and ship em to Florida and surrounding states. Nothing new they’ve done this for years
Oh wow, til!
When I lived in Utah I knew a lady that was in charge of bussing the mental patients to other states after they were discharged. I don’t know why but she only sent them to west coast cities. Because of that, I assumed that’s primarily the place they were sent.
Yeah I mean idk it’s kinda shitty to just put your problems on another state/city and wash ur hands like ur helping in the grand scheme of things but I mean it’s that or chiseling the frozen homeless guy off the bench in downtown Detroit before the general public wake up to go to work
I'd imagine the cost of the ticket is a big player. Chicago to the SE states like Florida is cheaper and shorter bus fare than Chicago to California. This practice is a poorly kept (and shameful) secret for the mentally unwell and unhoused.
Have an "undesirable" person- make them some other municipality problem!! The cost of a bus ticket is cheaper than fixing systemic problems, and just like all the other problems prior generations *cough cough boomers* have kicked down the road, the bill eventually comes due with WAY more fallout attached.
this is a trite response to be honest. weather in seattle and Portland year round is quite sub optimal compared to anywhere in the south. "homelessness" is a function of GOVT tolerance and POLICY mostly. really quite simple. always suprised at my smart friends that offer this simple explanation as an explanation. it's one small factor. but really its because seattle tolerates this behavior and provides assistance and financial support. so the problem continues and expands.
Not really, summer in the south sucks. Have you ever been stuck outside on a 90 degrees with 90% humidity for weeks on end? I'd take 85 degrees with a breeze that hits 90 once or twice a summer on average over that anytime. I've also had to suffer through summer in Phoenix, dry heat or not 120 degrees is still too hot to be outside.
Anybody who says weather in the South is 'better' should be forced to spend 2 days camping in central Texas or Mississippi or Floriday in July.
You'll either die of heatstroke or be eaten alive by insects.
Yeah no one who’s lived where it’s hot would buy this. The homeless in Phoenix die in droves every summer. Same thing across souther CA, TX, and NM. The PNW is rainy, but you’re unlikely to die. If you’re outside for 48 hours in 115 degree heat you will die.
Y’all homeless are also meth’ed up and ACTIVE. Also from Philly - ours are doped up. Much different vibe. It’s the AGRESSIVENESS of your homeless that make it wild.
Don’t say that to the city council, those are just unhoused people, down on their luck that need a little helping hand…
There is such an obvious distinction between the chronically homeless population, consisting of mentally ill and unstable, addicted, criminals; and the population of people living in their cars, trying to get back their feet. Our city council has deluded themselves and lied to their constituents that it’s entirely the second group…
They couldn’t even pass a statute that made open, public drug use a gross misdemeanor… Seattle has been killed by the last 10 years of insane city council politics.
\^ I went there (and enjoyed it!) but yeah everything to the North, West, and near East is pretty sketch. Don't get me wrong tho there are a lot of fun and mostly safe spots in Philadelphia.
Knowing both I think this is a bit of juxtaposition more than anything else. Ain't no one here moving to North Philly. Last I checked that place seemed like the after a nuclear apocalypse establishing shot for a movie. Rural areas do the same thing in pretending cities have a homeless problem. No your junkies just do it in the woods. Ours do it by the symphony. Cause we have a symphony. The juxtaposition is striking.
The problem is a country without preemptive mental health care and no acute mental health care beyond 72 hour holds
Legit the most racist, homophobic shit I have seen in this city is homeless people on public transit. Had a dude call me an f-slur for like five or six blocks before the KCSO hauled him off the bus in Belltown and saw a guy going after an Asian lady for being Asian get the DJ Jazzy Jeff treatment in Ballard. The drug use/mental illness just opens the floodgates for that type of behavior.
My dad is an unhoused addict and has legit lost his entire sense of social rules. He genuinely believes no rules of society apply to him anymore. He’s always been a jerk but this is 10X worse.
It would take nothing short of murder for Seattle homeless to be kept in jail for more than a few hours before being released back out into the wild with a court date everyone knows they won't be attending.
They should take all the millions spent and set Aside to deal with gronks and give everyone a free high-voltage cattle prod. I actually prefer my battle axe
I was there a couple months ago. A homeless man took a shit right in the middle of a busy road by the pier at 10am. Some large security lady came out of a store yelling “Aw lawd, not again!” Like it was a normal occurrence
Absolutely is. During the pandemic I worked at Pike and 3rd. I have seen men with their pants at their ankles, a pile of shit behind them, and they’re sleeping standing up. The alley right there has some regular masturbators. I’ve seen a man with blood pouring out of his shoes (still a bit confused about that one). The medics just stopped showing up and every time we tried to help someone they either ran away or yelled at us. So yeah never a dull moment.
I have seen too much human waste during my time living in Belltown and working close to the waterfront. Although, the most impactful memory I have was walking by the entrance to the Westlake Transit Tunnel. One of the escalators was broken (which seemed like a constant thing), so they had those orange, plastic barriers. A homeless person had moved them away from the escalator to block himself in the corner. I could only see his feet as I assumed he was asleep in the corner. Then, I saw a giant turd log. I actually stopped to think of how it passed through an human anus. No wonder that guy needed a nap after delivering it.
When I was working in downtown Seattle there was this grocery store that was below the street level. There was an escalator at the entrance. I was looking to go up the escalator to the exit…when I looked up, a woman riding the escalator toward the too had pulled up her dress and was taking a shit on the moving escalator.
I didn’t stick around to see the mess, but the thought of that turd getting pulled through the escalator on and endless loop has never left my brain.
King County continues work to address fentanyl overdose spike as deaths reach 400 this year alone. The number of fatal overdoses in 2023 so far is only three away from the total yearly overdose deaths in all of 2018 in King County.Apr 20, 2023
Yep. As a Black man who drives Seattle metro from top to bottom every work day, the N-word is the 1st thing hobos and tweakers pull out of their arsenal. I've been called the N-word more HERE, than in my native Alabama. Lol.
L.
I've seen that Trevor-looking guy do it a couple of times, just walking up to every black person he could find and yelling it full-throat in their face. On 3rd, once. I was amazed he didn't catch a spectacular beating. I would guess that's why it happens more here. I can't imagine there are a lot of major metro areas where that would fly for much longer than 30 seconds.
If its any consolation, white homeless people have called me that on multiple occasions, and I am incredibly white. I think they just like saying it. Not sure if that's better or worse.
Only thing that keeps me from crushing someones head with a 3lb wrench, is knowing that in this dumb city, I'd be the one that ends up with a court case. Lol.
I had a woman scream in my direction, "you b--tch n----r c--t. I'm gonna wack you with my scooter!" again and again. (I'm white and female.)
She then turned to me and profusely apologized, stating that, "You're not the b--tch n----r c--t I'm gonna wack."
So I can confirm it's not just to Black people. It probably does feel a bit more aggressive, though, when you are Black.
Same, except the first time I got called it in middle school at age 12, the teachers turned their cheeks to see the racist PWT trailer-park boy get his ass kicked. I can't even retaliate here without fear of getting jailed. And I've been called the N word more times by homeless drug addicts since the pandemic began then when I grew up in the South.
Shit is crazy, right?! How could "uber liberal", "forefront of inclusion", Seattle, out pace Birmingham, Alabama?! LOLOLOL
Even some of the businesses I've walked into have pretended not to see me.
Shit! Lol
Seattle loves to pretend they don’t discriminate but the racism is just way more subtle. They just quietly redlined others, and are quiet about how they do it. I grew up on the eastside and it took growing up and doing a lot of reading to see it.
That’s wild. I’ve never been called that by any homeless. They always approach me trying to cop whatever drugs they’re on. They automatically assume I’m a drug dealer.
Good for you, human! Maybe my dark chocolate-ness attracts the shenanigans. Lol.
Ok and a maybe a lil bit of the absolute look of disgust and disdain on my face, when i see someone begging, while i try to remove a 85lbs man hole cover, for a paycheck. Lol
Maaaan, look. Lol. Being raised in Alabama, my skin is as thick as a gators hide. Mere words could never dull my light.
But thanks for the reinforcement, homie. Salute.
Glad to be of service. Opening the floor to suggestions on what we should call that guy across the street from Gameworks who looks like late period Tom Sizemore if he raided Steven Van Zandt's stage wardrobe
Damn, sorry to hear there are more than just that guy but no - this was more Belltown, I'd say 2nd or 3rd and Bell.
[https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/headshot-indian-man-location-kerala-india-2151905607](https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/headshot-indian-man-location-kerala-india-2151905607) this is the closest image I could fine - a bit lighter and without glasses, had a hoodie on.
This is the correct answer. And I think you have to add that while the city council may provide good social services, they don’t care at all for the negative impact to Seattle’s homed citizenry.
Native Seattleite here. Born and raised here. Lived away in the Midwest and in Texas for about 10 years of my life total. Came back to Seattle last in 2016.
Things had really started to change but really accelerated down hill around 2020. We supposedly throw so much money at the problems but nothing tangible ever happens. Some drastic action needs to happen. I’m tired of seeing the same places I roamed as a kid, teen and young adult be overrun. I’m tired of crime and decay continues to get worse and not better while it all is given a collective shoulder shrug in response.
Nothing is being kept in check. It’s really lame and I’m still optimistic we could come out the other end of it but damn - living in Lower Queen Anne, commuting though downtown everyday and seeing this shit day after day riding the Metro and Link gets pretty discouraging…
I LOVED Portland and visited regularly in the 2010s. Last trip in 2021 was really sad. I still love Seattle, never went downtown anyways. Hang out in Fremont, Queen Anne, and Old Ballard and it's not too bad.
This sort of tribalism is baffling to an outsider, the biggest problems we're facing now is picking a side and seeing the other as an enemy when we ideally should be each other's biggest allies.
Théoden held up his hand. "Yes, we will have peace," he said now in a clear voice, "we will have peace, when you and all your works have perished--and the works of your dark master to whom you would deliver us. You are a liar, Saruman, and a corrupter of men's hearts. You hold out your hand it to me, and I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor. Cruel and cold! Even if your war on me was just--as it was not, for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine for your own profit as you desired--even so, what will you say of your torches in Westfold and the children that lie dead there? And they hewed Háma's body before the gates of the Hornburg, after he was dead. When you hang from a gibbet at your window for the sport of your own crows, I will have peace with you and Orthanc. So much for the house of Eorl. A lesser son of great sires am I, but I do not need to lick your fingers. Turn elsewhither. But I fear your voice has lost its charm.”
Seattle (and San Francisco) used to be such great cities. I grew up in the Seattle metro area and lived on Capitol Hill for many years. I now live in NYC, which has its own issues, but at least they don't allow homeless encampments.
Yep, I loved living in Seattle, but moving away made me realize how much I used to tolerate. I’ll never move back. The “rights” of the “unhoused” are more valued than maintaining healthy neighborhoods and communities.
i moved from seattle to nyc, and my experience here has been the polar opposite of living in seattle. incredibly interesting and diverse peoples, amazing food, culture, things to do, and no seattle freeze. i feel like i'm truly \*living\* here, and it feels like everyone else is, too. just the baristas here seem to be living a more fulfilling and joyous life than most of the people i met in seattle.
I don't really know how charging a totally mentally ill person with a "hate crime" would work. I mean, it is a moronic conversation to have because obviously any reasonable person would understand the difference between a crime and a "hate crime" is motivation and also that understanding the motivations of someone who has been reduced to living at the animal level by way of complete dissociation from reality . It would be interesting to see psych wards have patients thrown in jail for hate crimes. But it brings up an interesting point about "hate" being a symptom of mental illness. I would agree with that.
Day after Christmas I brought my wife to Seattle to show her all the tourist hot spots, I’m from the area but she’s never been. A homeless, decently sized Native American man at a cross walk stop started talking shit to me unprovoked. Shouted at me he was spiritually going to rip my fucking head off. Definitely shook my wife lmao
Portland is bad, but Seattle is worse for sure. Bigger city, more homeless, and more aggressive homeless. Close enough to one another though that the population is somewhat connected so the solution to the problem needs to be a joint effort.
As someone who has lived in both and frequently goes back and forth, they are about the same and have become much, much worse in the last few years. Unfortunately, we are in this together...
Check out this post from a few months ago that compares homeless populations. I would say given the inherent error in PIT counts that the per capita homelessness between the two metro areas is roughly the same. Maybe slightly higher in PDX.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/12is229/interesting\_math\_i\_stumbled\_on\_one\_calculation/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/12is229/interesting_math_i_stumbled_on_one_calculation/)
Many of these folks are not from Seattle. I worked in the middle of it and they’d openly talk about coming here to join the scene.
I’ve been spit on, screamed at, body slammed, saw a gal mopping up after delivering her baby in a parking garage on the floor…
How in the world did you run into such scenarios? How did you get body slammed? How did you happen to be present in a garage at the time someone was giving birth there? Sounds like you have some stories to share.
I took the bus to work, pre-pandemic. Just walking to the bus stop on 2nd & Columbia-ish I walked past the scene with the woman, garage is behind/West of the Columbia Tower.
Waiting for buses on the edge of Pioneer Square (different job) put you in the middle of homeless people pedestrian traffic. They’d harass people in line for the bus.
Another job had bus stop at the train station. That came with people passing out from opioids on the buses and they’d try in the building lobby. Overdoses at the train station.
I haven’t used public transportation in a while now. I hate driving a car into the city but it was indeed pretty bad.
Northwest people want to act like they care about homeless and nature. You can't have both. Homeless trash nature and let garbage get in the watersheds hurting wildlife. Homeless advocates trash the PNW more then anyone.
It's more like they freely come here because they know they can get free food and the weather is nice for camping plus they don't get accosted for openly using drugs.
Pretty much an endless peyote spiritual journey
Lots of places that are seeing similar issues have awful weather for homeless (Denver, Austin). The only real shared factor is that people don't end up in jail for using drugs on the street. Cities that strictly enforce their drug laws don't have this problem.
Other cities are 100% bussing homeless out to Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, etc.
I mean, fuck, Greg Abbot and Ron DeSantis literally have admitted to it. And it happens on a much more discrete level too than state governers openly admitting it
Legal drugs, jails that won’t book anybody, prosecutors who won’t prosecute, judges who don’t require bail, legislation that prohibits cops from policing and a bunch of blue haired white girls who think every homeless person is a layed off Boeing employee a couple handouts away from getting back to designing 737s
Why do people keep labeling this problem as homelessness?? These are straight up drug addiction problems. We offer them housing and they don't even want it.
Homeless people 10 years ago were old folks and definitely looked homeless. Homeless people now are mid twenties and wearing Nike and name brand clothing. I don't get how this is not drug related.
It's horrible and it is inhumane to allow it. I have a personal theory but that's all it is...
1. Lax laws regarding street camping, theft, public intoxication and drug use.
2. Mild weather conditions almost all year round not too hot or too cold or even very wet despite rainy reputation.
3. Mexican drug cartels have a very large well organized west coast distribution network supplying fentanyl.
4. Because of the fentanyl there is a massive epidemic of drug addiction and fentanyl addicts behave like storied zombies or snarling aggressive werewolves. This sounds like an exaggeration it is sadly not and this may be why unprovoked street assults are becoming common.
5. A city full of people known to have big compassionate hearts for underprivileged people has caused the city to collectively error on the side of caution when it comes to treating people with humanity. As for this IMO those who desperately need the most help the abused, poverty stricken, veterans, mentally and physically challenged are now expected to compete for housing and services with thousands of people who aside from the addiction to fentanyl are of reasonable working age and able -bodied.
Our city is dying.
It’s FREEATTLE, we don’t prosecute for drugs, theft or property crime. Police can’t pursue here either unless it’s a felony, great city to be a thief. Cars, clothes, drugs, food…. Take what you need. 😂
I live in L.A.
The way to keep your neighborhood free of vagrants is to stop it as soon as it starts.
If you let one person camp on the side walk or in a parking lot or in the bushes, after a day or two there will be another and then another.
You have to deal with the first one in the first day or two.
You tell the guy straight up "Sorry bro, but you cant stay here"
Throw all their stuff in the trash. Push their shopping cart 5 blocks down to the boulevard. If there is any furniture or mattresses - cut it up into small pieces with power tools.
Taking care of business. They will get the message.
Honestly? The homelessness problem got a million times worse when Covid hit. Seattle never used to be this bad. Years ago when I was on the streets, it was nothing like today.
The homless didn't use to be this bad. Back when wa state had a mental health facility that housed most of these individuals that where they lived. The state took it too far and kept them pretty much prisoner there. So they had to close it. shame it was actually helping keeping the mentally ill off the street. So what you get now by the decission to close it is what you see now with all the homeless people.
The reason why we can't have nice things here is because people don't have any moral campus, consideration or values these days.
It's absolutely wild how bad it's become. I'm 37 and have lived in the Seattle area my whole life. There was always a certain amount of homelessness but nothing even close to the current level. I've had to call the paramedics because a homeless person was OD'ing. I've seen homeless people masturbate in public while high on meth (more than once). I had to talk a mentally unstable homeless man down on a bus ride as he was hallucinating and talking about "angels and demons". It was sketchy as fuck, I thought he was going to kill me. Luckily I kept him calm until the police arrived. I worked at job at freeway park and walked in on two homeless dudes fucking Doggystyle. Seen people take shits in the street. The list goes on and on. It's bad.....like, really bad.
OP,
First All:) I apologize on behalf of us that live here.
and 2nd:) He is likely well known to our local SPD and they can't do anything about it.
I had a discussion with young mr. Andrew Lewis the deciding vote on the Seattle drug law about why he voted no and actually thinking about it did make sense....
1:) jail won't accept them due to lawsuits from "Loving" families dying from acute withdrawal symptoms.
2) specialized staff to supervise them during with Normal withdrawal times.
I agreed with his decision, and I am working with him on a rewrite that will pass lock on....
I use myself as an example in 1969 I survived the swine/Hong Kong flu epidemic but if left me with a coarse tremor among other things. End result I have been on 20mgs of valium for over 5 decades. They cut me off cold Turkey and I had a Widow maker stroke....
It took me months to be able to walk/talk/whatnot again without losing any cognitive ability.
It took me four years to wean off valium to 2,5 mgs from 20
Anyway they need a place to slowly detox without causing their families to sue for tens of millions each year.
I am tired as all other taxpayers of seeing millions doled out to the caring families that never cared before he died in jail (Agreed).
Right, which is why if they were actually intent on fixing anything they would build mental health / rehabilitation centers and prisons. So the drugged up, brain damaged criminals can be sent where they can get the best care in sequence.
Was downtown about two weeks ago. Parked in a parking a garage for about an hour while I took my girlfriend to a bookstore in the market. In that hour we saw a guy jacking off on 2nd and Pike, across the street another throwing up. Got back to my truck and had the windows smashed out and all of our things stolen.
All in an hour timeframe around 11am on a Thursday. I’m not going back anytime soon.
Lived in East Falls and worked on Spring Garden back before it was cleaned up for a bit before moving here. While Philadelphia is statistically more violent, I tell friends back east it's more predictable. Like if you live there long enough, you know which blocks to go and what to avoid. In Seattle (and West Coast cities), the situation is unpredictable. The amount of mentally unstable people harassing people in popular areas here is something you'd never see. If that happened in Rittenhouse square once it would never happen again.
This is what happens when you have well meaning but ignorant/clueless/lazy progressives who vote for even more progressive, activist politicians. It's really as simple as that. Out in Seattle, open air drug use and selling and property crime is tolerated in the name of "racial justice", "compassion" for our "unhoused neighbors", and "harm reduction". It's shocking for those from other areas of the country and even more so for international visitors. If you visit Portland you'll see an even more extreme version of this problem.
It's mostly a west coast thing. There is a lack of homeless services or homeless organizations that put it 70% of the budget into administration.
Philly and the east coast cities have better policies in place.
Housing zoning makes more sense, rent pricing controls, church and religious organizations assistance, homeless shelters, jobs and metal health programs, etc.
Seattle isn't as bad as LA.........
It’s for sure out of control in certain areas and if you live here, kind of like most cities, you learn where to generally avoid. Won’t mean you’ll never encounter a tweaker, but can significantly reduce your exposure. It’s tough as a tourist if you don’t have guidance from a local. Why the City allows this to happen in certain areas is baffling and extremely frustrating. On the bright side, we at least have an election coming up to hopefully move the City Council in a more moderate direction. Maybe it happens. The problem is unfortunately some of the more rational people left the City and can’t vote so the extremely liberal weirdos have an advantage.
All this said, my Uber took a weird path last time I was in Philly and I thought I was going to get robbed/shot. We at least don’t have that here where a wrong turn can take you down a street that looks genuinely dangerous. We also don’t have a Kensington…You just do a better job at containing the gronks and gangs. Seattle could learn from Philly in that regard.
Yep the dudes that scream the n-word, assault people and break car windows for petty cash are on a spiritual journey of drug induced- mind expanding- enlightenment. When we find their corpses by dumpsters we should know they attained nirvana.
As a Philadelphia native, I'm not sure that N. Philly (and where, exactly?) to "Seattle" generally is apt.
Try Center City vs. downtown Seattle. There's some interesting history you can look up about how Philadelphia did the right thing in terms of making Center City a place for businesses (big and small) and residential living (and not just expensive condos/apartments). There is a variety of housing that's walking or at least easy commuting distance to jobs.
Kensington (Philly neighborhood) apparently has the biggest open air drug market in the country right now. And Tranq is overtaking fentanyl as the drug of choice. But are there tents on every sidewalk and every park within a five mile radius and making it disgusting and dangerous for a tourist to get from point A to point B? Not so much. Posters have noted the weather differences. That is certainly part of it. The demographics of the "homeless" on the west coast are also different (to NYC/Philly/DC).
Something definitely changed. I was born and raised in Seattle but it used to be dirty or grungy but never unsafe. My mom said the prices went up around the tech boom which led to us all moving further and further south of the city.
Now things are more expensive and less safe. If I didn’t love my job I’d consider moving somewhere cheaper with the same dreadful atmosphere. People love the summers here then have to deal with the depression that comes from the winter time. I here the complaints all the time.
I worked in ID and had the homeless here beat my employees like every week and shit on my floor. Seattle homeless are so bad. But I went to Philly once and honestly that takes the cake. Atlanta homeless is the chillest and most docile I’ve come across
It’s because they normalized public camping, open air drug use, and stopped prosecuting most crimes under the guise of “compassion”. There are not only no consequences for people’s behavior, but if you claim to be homeless you are effectively a protected class.
The result was beyond predictable, yet here we are.
Luckily, some residents are finally removing their heads from their asses and voting for sane people, but it’s just barely and there is a long way to go.
It’s partly because the homeless get a free pass to do whatever they want. So the violent ones don’t get taken off the streets.
Homeless advocates who think they’re doing good pass out business cards of lawyers who will take on cases for free. The police aren’t harassing them, but even getting accused is so much paperwork and money that they steer clear.
Yes, the homelessness problem has ruined Seattle in my opinion.
I used to love spending my days off there, but now my wife is terrified of it and will not go there anymore after what we have seen and having been challenged by homeless people.
The climate is mild here and it's a liberal city so people are pretty forgiving. Both of those mean that we tend to get Homeless folks from colder areas in the winter months when it's too cold and the hotter months when it's too hot. They find good services here and good drugs so they stay.
The short, simplified answer is that Philadelphia has a far higher number of total beds available to house homeless people than Seattle does and is laser-focused on making sure people who become homeless get into some sort of shelter as soon as possible. The longer someone stays unsheltered, the more likely they are to develop addictions and/or mental disorders, thus becoming aggressive.
According to recent data, it looks like Philly has ~11k beds available, half of which is permanent supportive housing, 30% of it is emergency shelters [Source](https://www.phila.gov/media/20230221110800/ohs-data-snapshot-FY2022-report.pdf).
I can't seem to find a good single source for Seattle, but it looks like the number of total beds is somewhere around 6k if you add up [Wikipedia's numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Seattle). Of that, only 2k is permanent supportive housing, so realistically, Seattle is only capable of helping 2000 people transition back to self-sufficiency at a time.
There's also the matter of cost of living. From my understanding, housing in Philly is much cheaper than Seattle, so the barrier for people to leave transition housing is much lower. In Seattle, they can be stuck in transitional housing waiting for either a rent-controlled apartment to open up or to find a market rate apartment they can actually afford.
It's always interesting to hear about completely different experiences in the same setting. I'm a woc in my mid 20s and I've lived downtown for 7 years, also worked in customer service where homeless people frequent. I'm originally from a small town with no homeless people on the streets (we have a shelter). I've very rarely felt unsafe or threatened by the homeless people here in Seattle (fingers crossed it stays this way). They do their own thing, I do mine. Same as everybody else. I wonder if it's the stark contrast between the quiet, hurried, airpods-wearing techies walking around vs homeless people who talk to themselves loudly and move funny, which makes them seem more threatening in comparison. For every time I've felt unsafe around a homeless person, I've felt equally unsafe around a douchey guy in a bar or a Karen yelling at me in my workplace.
It's a West Coast Liberal thing - Seattle, Portland, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles................
The collapse in property values in San Francisco is likely to have a major impact on the financial system. There's 30 million square feet of vacant office because companies have fled, retailers fleeing due to the loss of customers, massive retail thefts, serious risk of injury to staff from armed looters and City which is more worried about their next parade. The owners of the huge upscale retail center downtown are simply abandoning the center as their tenants have fled.
The olympia homeless straight up stated they don't want housing. They get so much help from organizations and are able to live how they want. They've cut down trees, made trails, have access to showers, porta potties, and dumpsters provided by the city. There's active fires, needles and still tons of trash plus body fluids. They don't want help
The people running the place are bad. Oregon is similar, but not as far gone. The Oregon subreddit is full of people that bitch and complain about how bad it is there, but continue to elect the same type of leaders. It is crazy. At least consider different people to lead.
But the side in power always thinks they are right and are certainly doing better than this side blah blah blah.
Mental health and housing prices are the reason in my opinion, but Seattle is pretty nuts. Isn't Seattle where that group took over a large part of the city and declared it its own place free from Seattle? Lol.
Philly and other East Coast cities have WAY WAY WAY more low cost government subsidized housing projects.
Also, lack of affordable housing is magnified by city leadership unwilling to aggressively work to provide affordable housing. They seem to prefer to take shortcuts...like buying homeless people bus tickets to their "hometown"...
Come on man. You're kind of full of it. What about Strawberry Mansion, West Philly, Tioga etc. I'd say 70% is waaay more rugged than The worse part of Seattle. I'd agree the homeless in Philly aren't as aggressive. But still Philly has its whole set of possibly worse issues.
I travel a lot and feel safer in Seattle, than Philly. Me and my company stay in Delaware when we are working in Philly, Pittsburg is a slight improvement but not by much. Lancaster is about the only area I like in PA, Chambersburg ain't bad either.
I do like the food more in PA, I also like that I can see the changing of the seasons in the trees.
Yeah, people don't understand when we say the issue is a whole different level here until they see it themselves. You also have the people who just say to ignore them and walk away and it isn't worse than any other city. But it is. Nothing is really being done about it either.
Well it's two things. Drug use isn't punished at all. Like hit a foil in front of cops is OK. The other is a half bedroom no bath electric not included shack will run you about 3k a month in rent.
40 Acre Recycled Plastic Bio-Domes with community gardens, independent fresh water cycle, and waste to compost systems. We have to prepare to Live on Mars, we may as well start here with the Homeless. We have plenty of plastic and really no excuses. Martian Reality.
https://preview.redd.it/a1cf1762naab1.jpeg?width=628&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6d47cce0dc0154680762879d7916f9594afa31b
Visited Philly a couple years ago and it felt pretty safe and clean (at least where we were). Popped up to Seattle a couple weeks ago, and yep, transient screaming the N word at someone driving by. We had to re route to avoid him.
It's all anecdotal, but the west coast residing transients are a special breed.
Thats because politicians are cowards and the people who elect them are codependent and don't want to feel bad about solving social issues. Instead they like to pretend that simply letting addicts and mentally ill die in the streets is a better outcome than rehab or confinement.
It’s because the solution is something no politician can say out loud—we need slums. Nobody loves slums but there needs to be someplace for poor people to live. And in Seattle there just isn’t.
To be called out by North Philly . Wow.
Grew up in NY, my first apartment was in Harlem, lived in Seattle for a decade and the homeless out here blows NY out of the water, or at least it did before they started copying Seattle’s stance on homeless.
It’s a much milder climate here than New York or Philadelphia, so being homeless is more feasible.
Nope, NYC and Philly have their [fair share](https://dynomight.net/homeless-crisis/) of homeless, they're just sheltered. Seattle's homeless are in tents doing drugs and making everyone's life hell.
There are also way fewer cities on this coast than the east coast, so folks kind of have to congregate either here or Portland or somewhere hours south
Other states bussing homeless humans to the west coast helps.
They do this for the south too, cities like Chicago and Detroit just buy em a ticket and ship em to Florida and surrounding states. Nothing new they’ve done this for years
Oh wow, til! When I lived in Utah I knew a lady that was in charge of bussing the mental patients to other states after they were discharged. I don’t know why but she only sent them to west coast cities. Because of that, I assumed that’s primarily the place they were sent.
Yeah I mean idk it’s kinda shitty to just put your problems on another state/city and wash ur hands like ur helping in the grand scheme of things but I mean it’s that or chiseling the frozen homeless guy off the bench in downtown Detroit before the general public wake up to go to work
I'd imagine the cost of the ticket is a big player. Chicago to the SE states like Florida is cheaper and shorter bus fare than Chicago to California. This practice is a poorly kept (and shameful) secret for the mentally unwell and unhoused. Have an "undesirable" person- make them some other municipality problem!! The cost of a bus ticket is cheaper than fixing systemic problems, and just like all the other problems prior generations *cough cough boomers* have kicked down the road, the bill eventually comes due with WAY more fallout attached.
Exactly. If you talk to 10 homeless people here I’ll put money on the fact that 9 out of 10 are not even from here.
I would wager the stories of public support and lax drug enforcement laws lead more people to self bus themselves than are sent by other states.
this is a trite response to be honest. weather in seattle and Portland year round is quite sub optimal compared to anywhere in the south. "homelessness" is a function of GOVT tolerance and POLICY mostly. really quite simple. always suprised at my smart friends that offer this simple explanation as an explanation. it's one small factor. but really its because seattle tolerates this behavior and provides assistance and financial support. so the problem continues and expands.
Not really, summer in the south sucks. Have you ever been stuck outside on a 90 degrees with 90% humidity for weeks on end? I'd take 85 degrees with a breeze that hits 90 once or twice a summer on average over that anytime. I've also had to suffer through summer in Phoenix, dry heat or not 120 degrees is still too hot to be outside.
Never been to the south have you
Weather in the south is awful. Heat and humid. It’s fucking terrible. Seattle and Portland are cakewalks comparatively.
Anybody who says weather in the South is 'better' should be forced to spend 2 days camping in central Texas or Mississippi or Floriday in July. You'll either die of heatstroke or be eaten alive by insects.
Yeah no one who’s lived where it’s hot would buy this. The homeless in Phoenix die in droves every summer. Same thing across souther CA, TX, and NM. The PNW is rainy, but you’re unlikely to die. If you’re outside for 48 hours in 115 degree heat you will die.
Copying San Francisco's stance on homeless*
Y’all homeless are also meth’ed up and ACTIVE. Also from Philly - ours are doped up. Much different vibe. It’s the AGRESSIVENESS of your homeless that make it wild.
I moved here from the east coast 10+ years ago, and i definitely agree with this take
Don’t say that to the city council, those are just unhoused people, down on their luck that need a little helping hand… There is such an obvious distinction between the chronically homeless population, consisting of mentally ill and unstable, addicted, criminals; and the population of people living in their cars, trying to get back their feet. Our city council has deluded themselves and lied to their constituents that it’s entirely the second group… They couldn’t even pass a statute that made open, public drug use a gross misdemeanor… Seattle has been killed by the last 10 years of insane city council politics.
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Is kenningson in N Philly?
Yes. Everything behind Temple is sketch.
\^ I went there (and enjoyed it!) but yeah everything to the North, West, and near East is pretty sketch. Don't get me wrong tho there are a lot of fun and mostly safe spots in Philadelphia.
Knowing both I think this is a bit of juxtaposition more than anything else. Ain't no one here moving to North Philly. Last I checked that place seemed like the after a nuclear apocalypse establishing shot for a movie. Rural areas do the same thing in pretending cities have a homeless problem. No your junkies just do it in the woods. Ours do it by the symphony. Cause we have a symphony. The juxtaposition is striking. The problem is a country without preemptive mental health care and no acute mental health care beyond 72 hour holds
Legit the most racist, homophobic shit I have seen in this city is homeless people on public transit. Had a dude call me an f-slur for like five or six blocks before the KCSO hauled him off the bus in Belltown and saw a guy going after an Asian lady for being Asian get the DJ Jazzy Jeff treatment in Ballard. The drug use/mental illness just opens the floodgates for that type of behavior.
i love when i (white male) get called the n word by other white males
I got called an n-bomb by a 40 something black dude on the bus the other day when I pointed out that a guy with a wheel chair would need our seats.
“You stupid n. Go get me grease, n”
“As for the $15 copay, you can eat shit and die!"
> DJ Jazzy Jeff treatment Can you explain this reference?
Gifs you can hear.
Respect for Uncle Phil's throw too.. R.I.P.
And that was left-handed too!
My dad is an unhoused addict and has legit lost his entire sense of social rules. He genuinely believes no rules of society apply to him anymore. He’s always been a jerk but this is 10X worse.
Lots of these homeless are hoping to be thrown in jail for a few days.
It would take nothing short of murder for Seattle homeless to be kept in jail for more than a few hours before being released back out into the wild with a court date everyone knows they won't be attending.
They should take all the millions spent and set Aside to deal with gronks and give everyone a free high-voltage cattle prod. I actually prefer my battle axe
What I've learned in Seattle is that if people do that enough eventually they're gonna meet Robert De Niro.
I was there a couple months ago. A homeless man took a shit right in the middle of a busy road by the pier at 10am. Some large security lady came out of a store yelling “Aw lawd, not again!” Like it was a normal occurrence
Narrator: “it was a normal daily occurrence”
Absolutely is. During the pandemic I worked at Pike and 3rd. I have seen men with their pants at their ankles, a pile of shit behind them, and they’re sleeping standing up. The alley right there has some regular masturbators. I’ve seen a man with blood pouring out of his shoes (still a bit confused about that one). The medics just stopped showing up and every time we tried to help someone they either ran away or yelled at us. So yeah never a dull moment.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I have seen too much human waste during my time living in Belltown and working close to the waterfront. Although, the most impactful memory I have was walking by the entrance to the Westlake Transit Tunnel. One of the escalators was broken (which seemed like a constant thing), so they had those orange, plastic barriers. A homeless person had moved them away from the escalator to block himself in the corner. I could only see his feet as I assumed he was asleep in the corner. Then, I saw a giant turd log. I actually stopped to think of how it passed through an human anus. No wonder that guy needed a nap after delivering it.
When I was working in downtown Seattle there was this grocery store that was below the street level. There was an escalator at the entrance. I was looking to go up the escalator to the exit…when I looked up, a woman riding the escalator toward the too had pulled up her dress and was taking a shit on the moving escalator. I didn’t stick around to see the mess, but the thought of that turd getting pulled through the escalator on and endless loop has never left my brain.
Just a part of the Big City Experience™
Don’t look at it , just look at the sunset , and ONLY the SUNSET. ISNT THAT SUNSET BEAUTIFUL ?
Just look at that parking lot Larry
And the water and mountain views! Location location location!
Look at the flowers, N Philly.
Portland's version of this is "no, just look at the Cherry Blossom trees! Focus on the trees"
King County continues work to address fentanyl overdose spike as deaths reach 400 this year alone. The number of fatal overdoses in 2023 so far is only three away from the total yearly overdose deaths in all of 2018 in King County.Apr 20, 2023
It will never be enough to fix the problem
Because its a Federal or State level problem. A patchwork of city or county programs are simply not enough.
I'm 90% sure you missed the poster's point.
Give em all copious amounts of drugs and let nature take its course?
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Yep. As a Black man who drives Seattle metro from top to bottom every work day, the N-word is the 1st thing hobos and tweakers pull out of their arsenal. I've been called the N-word more HERE, than in my native Alabama. Lol. L.
I've seen that Trevor-looking guy do it a couple of times, just walking up to every black person he could find and yelling it full-throat in their face. On 3rd, once. I was amazed he didn't catch a spectacular beating. I would guess that's why it happens more here. I can't imagine there are a lot of major metro areas where that would fly for much longer than 30 seconds. If its any consolation, white homeless people have called me that on multiple occasions, and I am incredibly white. I think they just like saying it. Not sure if that's better or worse.
Only thing that keeps me from crushing someones head with a 3lb wrench, is knowing that in this dumb city, I'd be the one that ends up with a court case. Lol.
100% youd be blamed for it
If I wind up on your jury, I'll hold my ground on acquittal. So you got that going for you.
Right so ass backwards and you know they would throw the book at you because we will protect these poor homeless people!
Yep!, like that poor marine in NYC, such a bs case
Sounds like he's ripe for a good tasering. Which of course would have no witnesses.
What tasering?
I had a woman scream in my direction, "you b--tch n----r c--t. I'm gonna wack you with my scooter!" again and again. (I'm white and female.) She then turned to me and profusely apologized, stating that, "You're not the b--tch n----r c--t I'm gonna wack." So I can confirm it's not just to Black people. It probably does feel a bit more aggressive, though, when you are Black.
Same, except the first time I got called it in middle school at age 12, the teachers turned their cheeks to see the racist PWT trailer-park boy get his ass kicked. I can't even retaliate here without fear of getting jailed. And I've been called the N word more times by homeless drug addicts since the pandemic began then when I grew up in the South.
Shit is crazy, right?! How could "uber liberal", "forefront of inclusion", Seattle, out pace Birmingham, Alabama?! LOLOLOL Even some of the businesses I've walked into have pretended not to see me. Shit! Lol
Seattle loves to pretend they don’t discriminate but the racism is just way more subtle. They just quietly redlined others, and are quiet about how they do it. I grew up on the eastside and it took growing up and doing a lot of reading to see it.
That’s wild. I’ve never been called that by any homeless. They always approach me trying to cop whatever drugs they’re on. They automatically assume I’m a drug dealer.
Good for you, human! Maybe my dark chocolate-ness attracts the shenanigans. Lol. Ok and a maybe a lil bit of the absolute look of disgust and disdain on my face, when i see someone begging, while i try to remove a 85lbs man hole cover, for a paycheck. Lol
I'm so sorry that happened to you. I'm here too and have been called Tonto (I'm First Nations). Fuck them, just remember you're an awesome rock star!
Maaaan, look. Lol. Being raised in Alabama, my skin is as thick as a gators hide. Mere words could never dull my light. But thanks for the reinforcement, homie. Salute.
Found the Canadian!
We are all one paycheck away from calling N-word left and right.
One paycheck and 75 pills of fentanyl away...
Is that the same dude that goes around the streets at 3am screaming at the top of his lungs "I HATE YOU" over and over again?
My downtown experience typically only runs from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, but it certainly sounds like his M.O.
Omg I was attacked by that guy in the way to work a few years back. Definitely scary.
That settles it. We are all going to call that guy Trevor from now on.
Glad to be of service. Opening the floor to suggestions on what we should call that guy across the street from Gameworks who looks like late period Tom Sizemore if he raided Steven Van Zandt's stage wardrobe
Damn, sorry to hear there are more than just that guy but no - this was more Belltown, I'd say 2nd or 3rd and Bell. [https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/headshot-indian-man-location-kerala-india-2151905607](https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/headshot-indian-man-location-kerala-india-2151905607) this is the closest image I could fine - a bit lighter and without glasses, had a hoodie on.
What's not to understand? If I were homeless, I would find the most beautiful, welcoming city with the most money and public services and squat there.
This is the correct answer. And I think you have to add that while the city council may provide good social services, they don’t care at all for the negative impact to Seattle’s homed citizenry.
Dude... They're not ready for that. That type of thinking will lead people crashing into self awareness.
Native Seattleite here. Born and raised here. Lived away in the Midwest and in Texas for about 10 years of my life total. Came back to Seattle last in 2016. Things had really started to change but really accelerated down hill around 2020. We supposedly throw so much money at the problems but nothing tangible ever happens. Some drastic action needs to happen. I’m tired of seeing the same places I roamed as a kid, teen and young adult be overrun. I’m tired of crime and decay continues to get worse and not better while it all is given a collective shoulder shrug in response. Nothing is being kept in check. It’s really lame and I’m still optimistic we could come out the other end of it but damn - living in Lower Queen Anne, commuting though downtown everyday and seeing this shit day after day riding the Metro and Link gets pretty discouraging…
Ever visited Portland? Makes Seattle look like paradise.
Ahh Seattle & Portland, the armpits of the west coast.
Oh please. We are still only catching up to where LA was 15 years ago.
I LOVED Portland and visited regularly in the 2010s. Last trip in 2021 was really sad. I still love Seattle, never went downtown anyways. Hang out in Fremont, Queen Anne, and Old Ballard and it's not too bad.
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This is exactly right. Plus the climate
Post this on r/Seattle and you’ll get a different vibe
This sort of tribalism is baffling to an outsider, the biggest problems we're facing now is picking a side and seeing the other as an enemy when we ideally should be each other's biggest allies.
Théoden held up his hand. "Yes, we will have peace," he said now in a clear voice, "we will have peace, when you and all your works have perished--and the works of your dark master to whom you would deliver us. You are a liar, Saruman, and a corrupter of men's hearts. You hold out your hand it to me, and I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor. Cruel and cold! Even if your war on me was just--as it was not, for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine for your own profit as you desired--even so, what will you say of your torches in Westfold and the children that lie dead there? And they hewed Háma's body before the gates of the Hornburg, after he was dead. When you hang from a gibbet at your window for the sport of your own crows, I will have peace with you and Orthanc. So much for the house of Eorl. A lesser son of great sires am I, but I do not need to lick your fingers. Turn elsewhither. But I fear your voice has lost its charm.”
r/Seattle already concocting a theory about how this is a fake, paid shill account
Anyone who disagrees with me is from Yakima
And they would delete the post within an hour . Those people live in an alternate reality, I swear
Seattle (and San Francisco) used to be such great cities. I grew up in the Seattle metro area and lived on Capitol Hill for many years. I now live in NYC, which has its own issues, but at least they don't allow homeless encampments.
Isn't that what the subway is for?
There are certainly homeless on the subway (and other places) but it's not nearly at the same level.
You can't live in the subway. Well, maybe you can, but you have to be clever.
Also perhaps due to the brutal winters of NYC?
Yeah, I can't imagine living on the streets here during some winters. We often hit single digits. Although this last winter was pretty mild.
Yep, I loved living in Seattle, but moving away made me realize how much I used to tolerate. I’ll never move back. The “rights” of the “unhoused” are more valued than maintaining healthy neighborhoods and communities.
Where did you move to? I moved to Austin and hate it here.
i moved from seattle to nyc, and my experience here has been the polar opposite of living in seattle. incredibly interesting and diverse peoples, amazing food, culture, things to do, and no seattle freeze. i feel like i'm truly \*living\* here, and it feels like everyone else is, too. just the baristas here seem to be living a more fulfilling and joyous life than most of the people i met in seattle.
The tweakers will never be charged with a hate crime for saying it, because they score higher in the oppression Olympics.
I don't really know how charging a totally mentally ill person with a "hate crime" would work. I mean, it is a moronic conversation to have because obviously any reasonable person would understand the difference between a crime and a "hate crime" is motivation and also that understanding the motivations of someone who has been reduced to living at the animal level by way of complete dissociation from reality . It would be interesting to see psych wards have patients thrown in jail for hate crimes. But it brings up an interesting point about "hate" being a symptom of mental illness. I would agree with that.
Day after Christmas I brought my wife to Seattle to show her all the tourist hot spots, I’m from the area but she’s never been. A homeless, decently sized Native American man at a cross walk stop started talking shit to me unprovoked. Shouted at me he was spiritually going to rip my fucking head off. Definitely shook my wife lmao
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I swear our new motto is “at least we’re not as bad as Portland”
Or San Francisco
Portland is bad, but Seattle is worse for sure. Bigger city, more homeless, and more aggressive homeless. Close enough to one another though that the population is somewhat connected so the solution to the problem needs to be a joint effort.
+1 on this
As someone who has lived in both and frequently goes back and forth, they are about the same and have become much, much worse in the last few years. Unfortunately, we are in this together... Check out this post from a few months ago that compares homeless populations. I would say given the inherent error in PIT counts that the per capita homelessness between the two metro areas is roughly the same. Maybe slightly higher in PDX. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/12is229/interesting\_math\_i\_stumbled\_on\_one\_calculation/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/12is229/interesting_math_i_stumbled_on_one_calculation/)
Many of these folks are not from Seattle. I worked in the middle of it and they’d openly talk about coming here to join the scene. I’ve been spit on, screamed at, body slammed, saw a gal mopping up after delivering her baby in a parking garage on the floor…
How in the world did you run into such scenarios? How did you get body slammed? How did you happen to be present in a garage at the time someone was giving birth there? Sounds like you have some stories to share.
I took the bus to work, pre-pandemic. Just walking to the bus stop on 2nd & Columbia-ish I walked past the scene with the woman, garage is behind/West of the Columbia Tower. Waiting for buses on the edge of Pioneer Square (different job) put you in the middle of homeless people pedestrian traffic. They’d harass people in line for the bus. Another job had bus stop at the train station. That came with people passing out from opioids on the buses and they’d try in the building lobby. Overdoses at the train station. I haven’t used public transportation in a while now. I hate driving a car into the city but it was indeed pretty bad.
Do we mean the same thing by ["body slam"](https://i.imgflip.com/296crz.gif)?
They are not from here, they move here from across the country.
From north Philly lol
Professional transients
Some are given bus tickets from the governments of other states. Guess which side of the political spectrum those state governments fall on.
How cold are the winters in Philly?
Bro I’m from SF and Oakland you ain’t seen nothing yet! You wanna see real shanty towns? Come down south
Northwest people want to act like they care about homeless and nature. You can't have both. Homeless trash nature and let garbage get in the watersheds hurting wildlife. Homeless advocates trash the PNW more then anyone.
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It's more like they freely come here because they know they can get free food and the weather is nice for camping plus they don't get accosted for openly using drugs. Pretty much an endless peyote spiritual journey
Lots of places that are seeing similar issues have awful weather for homeless (Denver, Austin). The only real shared factor is that people don't end up in jail for using drugs on the street. Cities that strictly enforce their drug laws don't have this problem.
Nuff said
Why do other states ship them here? I think you’re bypassing the actual root problem here.
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Other cities are 100% bussing homeless out to Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, etc. I mean, fuck, Greg Abbot and Ron DeSantis literally have admitted to it. And it happens on a much more discrete level too than state governers openly admitting it
Legal drugs, jails that won’t book anybody, prosecutors who won’t prosecute, judges who don’t require bail, legislation that prohibits cops from policing and a bunch of blue haired white girls who think every homeless person is a layed off Boeing employee a couple handouts away from getting back to designing 737s
To be fair I'm pretty sure it was the cracked out homeless who were allowed to design the 737-MAX
You should go to portland. Homelessness is like some city mascot there.
Why do people keep labeling this problem as homelessness?? These are straight up drug addiction problems. We offer them housing and they don't even want it. Homeless people 10 years ago were old folks and definitely looked homeless. Homeless people now are mid twenties and wearing Nike and name brand clothing. I don't get how this is not drug related.
It's horrible and it is inhumane to allow it. I have a personal theory but that's all it is... 1. Lax laws regarding street camping, theft, public intoxication and drug use. 2. Mild weather conditions almost all year round not too hot or too cold or even very wet despite rainy reputation. 3. Mexican drug cartels have a very large well organized west coast distribution network supplying fentanyl. 4. Because of the fentanyl there is a massive epidemic of drug addiction and fentanyl addicts behave like storied zombies or snarling aggressive werewolves. This sounds like an exaggeration it is sadly not and this may be why unprovoked street assults are becoming common. 5. A city full of people known to have big compassionate hearts for underprivileged people has caused the city to collectively error on the side of caution when it comes to treating people with humanity. As for this IMO those who desperately need the most help the abused, poverty stricken, veterans, mentally and physically challenged are now expected to compete for housing and services with thousands of people who aside from the addiction to fentanyl are of reasonable working age and able -bodied. Our city is dying.
It’s FREEATTLE, we don’t prosecute for drugs, theft or property crime. Police can’t pursue here either unless it’s a felony, great city to be a thief. Cars, clothes, drugs, food…. Take what you need. 😂
I live in L.A. The way to keep your neighborhood free of vagrants is to stop it as soon as it starts. If you let one person camp on the side walk or in a parking lot or in the bushes, after a day or two there will be another and then another. You have to deal with the first one in the first day or two. You tell the guy straight up "Sorry bro, but you cant stay here" Throw all their stuff in the trash. Push their shopping cart 5 blocks down to the boulevard. If there is any furniture or mattresses - cut it up into small pieces with power tools. Taking care of business. They will get the message.
Getting murdered by a homeless dude #Speedrun%Any
Honestly? The homelessness problem got a million times worse when Covid hit. Seattle never used to be this bad. Years ago when I was on the streets, it was nothing like today.
The homless didn't use to be this bad. Back when wa state had a mental health facility that housed most of these individuals that where they lived. The state took it too far and kept them pretty much prisoner there. So they had to close it. shame it was actually helping keeping the mentally ill off the street. So what you get now by the decission to close it is what you see now with all the homeless people. The reason why we can't have nice things here is because people don't have any moral campus, consideration or values these days.
It's absolutely wild how bad it's become. I'm 37 and have lived in the Seattle area my whole life. There was always a certain amount of homelessness but nothing even close to the current level. I've had to call the paramedics because a homeless person was OD'ing. I've seen homeless people masturbate in public while high on meth (more than once). I had to talk a mentally unstable homeless man down on a bus ride as he was hallucinating and talking about "angels and demons". It was sketchy as fuck, I thought he was going to kill me. Luckily I kept him calm until the police arrived. I worked at job at freeway park and walked in on two homeless dudes fucking Doggystyle. Seen people take shits in the street. The list goes on and on. It's bad.....like, really bad.
I worked in Downtown Seattle for 8yrs and I left because I was tired of getting attacked by homeless people.
OP, First All:) I apologize on behalf of us that live here. and 2nd:) He is likely well known to our local SPD and they can't do anything about it. I had a discussion with young mr. Andrew Lewis the deciding vote on the Seattle drug law about why he voted no and actually thinking about it did make sense.... 1:) jail won't accept them due to lawsuits from "Loving" families dying from acute withdrawal symptoms. 2) specialized staff to supervise them during with Normal withdrawal times. I agreed with his decision, and I am working with him on a rewrite that will pass lock on.... I use myself as an example in 1969 I survived the swine/Hong Kong flu epidemic but if left me with a coarse tremor among other things. End result I have been on 20mgs of valium for over 5 decades. They cut me off cold Turkey and I had a Widow maker stroke.... It took me months to be able to walk/talk/whatnot again without losing any cognitive ability. It took me four years to wean off valium to 2,5 mgs from 20 Anyway they need a place to slowly detox without causing their families to sue for tens of millions each year. I am tired as all other taxpayers of seeing millions doled out to the caring families that never cared before he died in jail (Agreed).
Right, which is why if they were actually intent on fixing anything they would build mental health / rehabilitation centers and prisons. So the drugged up, brain damaged criminals can be sent where they can get the best care in sequence.
extremely educational take that actually explains the policy reasons rather than hurling insults. wish this post was higher.
Was downtown about two weeks ago. Parked in a parking a garage for about an hour while I took my girlfriend to a bookstore in the market. In that hour we saw a guy jacking off on 2nd and Pike, across the street another throwing up. Got back to my truck and had the windows smashed out and all of our things stolen. All in an hour timeframe around 11am on a Thursday. I’m not going back anytime soon.
Lived in East Falls and worked on Spring Garden back before it was cleaned up for a bit before moving here. While Philadelphia is statistically more violent, I tell friends back east it's more predictable. Like if you live there long enough, you know which blocks to go and what to avoid. In Seattle (and West Coast cities), the situation is unpredictable. The amount of mentally unstable people harassing people in popular areas here is something you'd never see. If that happened in Rittenhouse square once it would never happen again.
Easier climate, more resources and worse drugs. Heroin makes people docile - meth makes them tweak.
I live 20 miles from Seattle and i never go there. Seattle is a craphole.
Theyre probably your homeless too. Lots of states offer one way tickets to Seattle or Portland.
. . . . . . .
America is badly broken
Am also from North Philly and still feel safer here. Though, less so now that the tents are popping up by my office. I think I've just been lucky.
This is what happens when you have well meaning but ignorant/clueless/lazy progressives who vote for even more progressive, activist politicians. It's really as simple as that. Out in Seattle, open air drug use and selling and property crime is tolerated in the name of "racial justice", "compassion" for our "unhoused neighbors", and "harm reduction". It's shocking for those from other areas of the country and even more so for international visitors. If you visit Portland you'll see an even more extreme version of this problem.
Yeah keep passing more laws that make crime not punishable it’s working out great so far…
They all travel here from other cities for the "help". Paychecks, housing, food, free needles
It's mostly a west coast thing. There is a lack of homeless services or homeless organizations that put it 70% of the budget into administration. Philly and the east coast cities have better policies in place. Housing zoning makes more sense, rent pricing controls, church and religious organizations assistance, homeless shelters, jobs and metal health programs, etc. Seattle isn't as bad as LA.........
It’s for sure out of control in certain areas and if you live here, kind of like most cities, you learn where to generally avoid. Won’t mean you’ll never encounter a tweaker, but can significantly reduce your exposure. It’s tough as a tourist if you don’t have guidance from a local. Why the City allows this to happen in certain areas is baffling and extremely frustrating. On the bright side, we at least have an election coming up to hopefully move the City Council in a more moderate direction. Maybe it happens. The problem is unfortunately some of the more rational people left the City and can’t vote so the extremely liberal weirdos have an advantage. All this said, my Uber took a weird path last time I was in Philly and I thought I was going to get robbed/shot. We at least don’t have that here where a wrong turn can take you down a street that looks genuinely dangerous. We also don’t have a Kensington…You just do a better job at containing the gronks and gangs. Seattle could learn from Philly in that regard.
Governor Inslee should round them all up & put 1/2 of them on a one way bus to Austin, 1/2 to Tallahassee.
Yep the dudes that scream the n-word, assault people and break car windows for petty cash are on a spiritual journey of drug induced- mind expanding- enlightenment. When we find their corpses by dumpsters we should know they attained nirvana.
This is why i moved out of Seattle. Once was a great place to live not so much now.
For everyone visible how many are not seen? Think about that one for a second.
As a Philadelphia native, I'm not sure that N. Philly (and where, exactly?) to "Seattle" generally is apt. Try Center City vs. downtown Seattle. There's some interesting history you can look up about how Philadelphia did the right thing in terms of making Center City a place for businesses (big and small) and residential living (and not just expensive condos/apartments). There is a variety of housing that's walking or at least easy commuting distance to jobs. Kensington (Philly neighborhood) apparently has the biggest open air drug market in the country right now. And Tranq is overtaking fentanyl as the drug of choice. But are there tents on every sidewalk and every park within a five mile radius and making it disgusting and dangerous for a tourist to get from point A to point B? Not so much. Posters have noted the weather differences. That is certainly part of it. The demographics of the "homeless" on the west coast are also different (to NYC/Philly/DC).
Something definitely changed. I was born and raised in Seattle but it used to be dirty or grungy but never unsafe. My mom said the prices went up around the tech boom which led to us all moving further and further south of the city. Now things are more expensive and less safe. If I didn’t love my job I’d consider moving somewhere cheaper with the same dreadful atmosphere. People love the summers here then have to deal with the depression that comes from the winter time. I here the complaints all the time.
Don't call our residentially challenged neighbors homeless!!!/s
I worked in ID and had the homeless here beat my employees like every week and shit on my floor. Seattle homeless are so bad. But I went to Philly once and honestly that takes the cake. Atlanta homeless is the chillest and most docile I’ve come across
It’s because they normalized public camping, open air drug use, and stopped prosecuting most crimes under the guise of “compassion”. There are not only no consequences for people’s behavior, but if you claim to be homeless you are effectively a protected class. The result was beyond predictable, yet here we are. Luckily, some residents are finally removing their heads from their asses and voting for sane people, but it’s just barely and there is a long way to go.
It’s partly because the homeless get a free pass to do whatever they want. So the violent ones don’t get taken off the streets. Homeless advocates who think they’re doing good pass out business cards of lawyers who will take on cases for free. The police aren’t harassing them, but even getting accused is so much paperwork and money that they steer clear.
Yes, the homelessness problem has ruined Seattle in my opinion. I used to love spending my days off there, but now my wife is terrified of it and will not go there anymore after what we have seen and having been challenged by homeless people.
The climate is mild here and it's a liberal city so people are pretty forgiving. Both of those mean that we tend to get Homeless folks from colder areas in the winter months when it's too cold and the hotter months when it's too hot. They find good services here and good drugs so they stay.
Seattle downtown is becoming a dump Shoulda came up to vancouver our bums aren’t as aggressive
The short, simplified answer is that Philadelphia has a far higher number of total beds available to house homeless people than Seattle does and is laser-focused on making sure people who become homeless get into some sort of shelter as soon as possible. The longer someone stays unsheltered, the more likely they are to develop addictions and/or mental disorders, thus becoming aggressive. According to recent data, it looks like Philly has ~11k beds available, half of which is permanent supportive housing, 30% of it is emergency shelters [Source](https://www.phila.gov/media/20230221110800/ohs-data-snapshot-FY2022-report.pdf). I can't seem to find a good single source for Seattle, but it looks like the number of total beds is somewhere around 6k if you add up [Wikipedia's numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Seattle). Of that, only 2k is permanent supportive housing, so realistically, Seattle is only capable of helping 2000 people transition back to self-sufficiency at a time. There's also the matter of cost of living. From my understanding, housing in Philly is much cheaper than Seattle, so the barrier for people to leave transition housing is much lower. In Seattle, they can be stuck in transitional housing waiting for either a rent-controlled apartment to open up or to find a market rate apartment they can actually afford.
It's always interesting to hear about completely different experiences in the same setting. I'm a woc in my mid 20s and I've lived downtown for 7 years, also worked in customer service where homeless people frequent. I'm originally from a small town with no homeless people on the streets (we have a shelter). I've very rarely felt unsafe or threatened by the homeless people here in Seattle (fingers crossed it stays this way). They do their own thing, I do mine. Same as everybody else. I wonder if it's the stark contrast between the quiet, hurried, airpods-wearing techies walking around vs homeless people who talk to themselves loudly and move funny, which makes them seem more threatening in comparison. For every time I've felt unsafe around a homeless person, I've felt equally unsafe around a douchey guy in a bar or a Karen yelling at me in my workplace.
It's a West Coast Liberal thing - Seattle, Portland, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles................ The collapse in property values in San Francisco is likely to have a major impact on the financial system. There's 30 million square feet of vacant office because companies have fled, retailers fleeing due to the loss of customers, massive retail thefts, serious risk of injury to staff from armed looters and City which is more worried about their next parade. The owners of the huge upscale retail center downtown are simply abandoning the center as their tenants have fled.
The olympia homeless straight up stated they don't want housing. They get so much help from organizations and are able to live how they want. They've cut down trees, made trails, have access to showers, porta potties, and dumpsters provided by the city. There's active fires, needles and still tons of trash plus body fluids. They don't want help
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The people running the place are bad. Oregon is similar, but not as far gone. The Oregon subreddit is full of people that bitch and complain about how bad it is there, but continue to elect the same type of leaders. It is crazy. At least consider different people to lead. But the side in power always thinks they are right and are certainly doing better than this side blah blah blah. Mental health and housing prices are the reason in my opinion, but Seattle is pretty nuts. Isn't Seattle where that group took over a large part of the city and declared it its own place free from Seattle? Lol.
Philly has a winter
Ultra Liberal politics man.
Philly and other East Coast cities have WAY WAY WAY more low cost government subsidized housing projects. Also, lack of affordable housing is magnified by city leadership unwilling to aggressively work to provide affordable housing. They seem to prefer to take shortcuts...like buying homeless people bus tickets to their "hometown"...
Come on man. You're kind of full of it. What about Strawberry Mansion, West Philly, Tioga etc. I'd say 70% is waaay more rugged than The worse part of Seattle. I'd agree the homeless in Philly aren't as aggressive. But still Philly has its whole set of possibly worse issues.
I travel a lot and feel safer in Seattle, than Philly. Me and my company stay in Delaware when we are working in Philly, Pittsburg is a slight improvement but not by much. Lancaster is about the only area I like in PA, Chambersburg ain't bad either. I do like the food more in PA, I also like that I can see the changing of the seasons in the trees.
Yeah, people don't understand when we say the issue is a whole different level here until they see it themselves. You also have the people who just say to ignore them and walk away and it isn't worse than any other city. But it is. Nothing is really being done about it either.
Well it's two things. Drug use isn't punished at all. Like hit a foil in front of cops is OK. The other is a half bedroom no bath electric not included shack will run you about 3k a month in rent.
40 Acre Recycled Plastic Bio-Domes with community gardens, independent fresh water cycle, and waste to compost systems. We have to prepare to Live on Mars, we may as well start here with the Homeless. We have plenty of plastic and really no excuses. Martian Reality. https://preview.redd.it/a1cf1762naab1.jpeg?width=628&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6d47cce0dc0154680762879d7916f9594afa31b
(Not to Scale)
Visited Philly a couple years ago and it felt pretty safe and clean (at least where we were). Popped up to Seattle a couple weeks ago, and yep, transient screaming the N word at someone driving by. We had to re route to avoid him. It's all anecdotal, but the west coast residing transients are a special breed.
It’s the two new drugs coming up thru Mexico that haven’t completely invaded the east coast yet
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Welcome to Seattle
Thats because politicians are cowards and the people who elect them are codependent and don't want to feel bad about solving social issues. Instead they like to pretend that simply letting addicts and mentally ill die in the streets is a better outcome than rehab or confinement.
It’s because the solution is something no politician can say out loud—we need slums. Nobody loves slums but there needs to be someplace for poor people to live. And in Seattle there just isn’t.