More people are living and dying on Seattle’s streets today than ever before. It’s a massive failure that Seattle-King County has twice as many people unsheltered as New York City. We can end unsheltered homelessness. We can reduce public disorder and misery by providing the care that people need, in dignified settings — not leaving people in the streets or moving them around endlessly. We know what works. What’s lacking is the political will to bring solutions to scale.

 

On the campaign trail four years ago, the incumbent promised to create 2,000 new units of emergency housing and shelter in his first year. He didn’t deliver — not even close. We can’t afford another four years of inaction, with empty tiny homes sitting in storage lots while people die on the streets.

 

I will open 4,000 new units of emergency housing and shelter in my first term, through a combination of strategies including Tiny House Villages and other shelters, municipal rent vouchers, and rapid acquisition of buildings that will provide deep behavioral health support for people who are currently cycling through the criminal justice system.

 

The incumbent’s administration has had only temporary and superficial success clearing encampments because they are not using an individualized approach to get people the shelter and services they need; for the most part they are merely sweeping people along to the next spot. They cleared 3rd Ave, but the drug dealing and drug use moved to Little Saigon. We can do better.

 

During the COVID emergency, after months of local government inaction, the JustCARE partnership came together to effectively resolve the large encampments that formed in Pioneer Square, the CID and the downtown core by providing enough shelter that actually worked for those living on the streets. This successful and widely supported model was forced to wind down when COVID relief funding ended, and City officials have not prioritized re-establishing it. I will restore and scale up that model, making it a priority in my first year to resolve our most unsafe and persistent homeless encampments.

 

I will treat debilitating drug use as the crisis it plainly is. I will ensure a large investment in evidence-based low-barrier shelter with intensive case management, recovery housing, mobile treatment services, and scaled-up law enforcement assisted diversion — a real plan to tackle the addiction crisis ravaging our city.

 

I will work to stabilize the affordable housing sector, which is now facing unprecedented strains. We cannot end unsheltered homelessness if the housing we are placing people in has a revolving door back into homelessness. Right now, far too many people in low-income and supportive housing are being evicted due to rental debt or behavioral health issues, and they are landing back on the street. Non-profit affordable housing providers are in a financial free fall, and some have started selling off buildings to make up the loss, which constitutes a permanent loss to the City’s affordable housing stock. 

 

I will create a housing stabilization fund to ensure that the sector remains financially viable while we address the underlying causes of evictions. I will work with affordable housing providers and other stakeholders to create an Eviction Prevention Initiative and Eviction Response Team that can chart a path to safe, stable housing for all.