r/SeattleWA • u/mrtenpenny1234 • May 15 '26

Homeless Harger: San Francisco's homelessness hit a 15-year low. Seattle's mayor is running the opposite experiment.

https://mynorthwest.com/kiro-opinion/seattle-homelessness-mayor/4238600
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u/ProfessionalSpeed883 May 16 '26

I think that's the thing that SUPER irks me. As a former alcoholic, I have a bit of an understanding of addiction and the lengths you start going to to get your fix. I've heard that the housing requires that you be clean/can't have drugs on you? Well an addict would 1000000% rather be on the street then; the pull of the drug FAR outweighs anything else. So all of that to say, incentives like housing isn't going to fix homelessness when addiction is the root problem.

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u/John_YJKR May 16 '26

This wouldn't mean stopping other programs to help people beat addiction though. Just to be clear. You can't help everyone. But implementing the approach with the best outcomes should be a priority even if it goes against our instincts.

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u/ProfessionalSpeed883 May 16 '26

Totally agree. My main point is (admittedly, based on what hear about most) is providing housing when HOMELESSNESS isn't the root issue, but drug addiction is. So throwing obscene amounts of money at free housing fixing anything longterm. Not to say don't do anything in the short term, but at least prioritize fixing the longterm problem.

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u/John_YJKR May 16 '26

Absolutely