[D]espite the lack of space in the city’s shelters, Seattle—led by Mayor Jenny Durkan—continued to sweep homeless encampments last month, even after saying it would put a halt to the practice. During sweeps, city employees can destroy tents, throw away belongings the city doesn’t want or is unable to store, issue parking tickets or even impound vehicles....
The result is that Seattle’s unhoused community is now especially vulnerable to Covid-19. Those who lack permanent housing are being forced to choose between self-isolating in unsanctioned encampments and cars—or living in potentially overcrowded shelters....
“We’re seeing the City’s ability to build alternative spaces for our homeless in how they’re responding to our Covid-19 pandemic,” [said ACLU attorney Breanne Schuster]. “We’ve seen a new urgency to build spaces for people to go. Will that urgency exist after the pandemic? Our health crisis might go away, but our homelessness crisis will not.”
April 2, 2020
"Seattle Destroyed Homeless Encampments as the Pandemic Raged/Advocates say the city continued to do unannounced sweeps, even after it was clear that the policy put unhoused people in danger of infection."
Headline at The Nation. Excerpt:
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Stay separate in encampments or crowd together in shelters. WTF. Our leaders are insane.
So, it takes a pandemic for Seattle to actually enforce the law- noted.
How are homeless shelters not super spreading the virus? You have a population that spends most of every daytime hour sharing joints, needles, wine bottles and who knows what else, that does not practice social distancing, and that then gathers and sleeps under a common roof each night.
Why can't they leave them alone. We just had a stabbing at our shelter. I don't blame the homeless for wanting to camp instead. And to take away all their gear...sheesh.
The disease didn't come from them but from our high flyers, Chinese engineers going home for new year's, academics and admins going to conferences, skiers of all stripe, spring breakers,looking at YOU.
when you ignore causation you are going to be ineffective in finding solutions.
I mean the causation of homelessness.
"The result is that Seattle’s unhoused community is now especially vulnerable to Covid-19."
Substitute "drugged-up" for "unhoused" and you move closer to a real statement of fact. And btw, what makes them more vulnerable is that same drug use.
In my view, the principle cause of homelessness is the Cause of Homelessness. As well-meaning non-profits, law-fare and other advocates for homelessness provide increasing food, shelter, needles, etc. the population of homeless increases exponentially, especially in nice places to live such as CA, Oregon and Colorado. Its like feeding the bears, and then wondering why so many bears are showing up in your neighborhood.
Don't kid yourself. This crisis has allowed the city to do what it has wanted to do for the past decade....sweep the camps. The Wokesters want them gone but didn't want to appear heartless....ergo, nothing done. SomEone provides perfect political cover to clean up the streets.
They're addicts, not homeless.
If enough housing were built to make Seattle's "homelessness crisis" "go away", the prices of the places people own would sink (same demand meets much bigger supply). All those people, no matter how much they think they care about the homeless, will oppose that.
They broke it, they bought it.
"Unhoused community." The leftie pseudo-intellectuals really get their jollies reinventing the language and trying to bully everyone into using their new, laughable terms. My Latino battle buddy from the Army who lives in the Rio Grande Valley recently commented with contempt, "I think I'm supposed to call myself or Latinx or something, now? That seems to be what a lot of stupid white people on the internet seem to think."
"Our health crisis might go away, but our homelessness crisis will not.”
Idiot. Of course it will go away.
Socialist government generates problem. "Pandemic" arrives. Never let a crisis go to waste. Problem dies off.
All the mayor has to do now is figure where to burn the corpses.
Dear gods! The carbon footprint that will generate!
Did they first ask a medical ethicist if it was the medical ethical thing to do? If not, that would be bad.
Jack, call your latinx friend “amiguey” and see how he likes it. Pro tip: Don’t try that with anyone you aren’t absolutely sure won’t knife yuu.
I recall reading that some of the encampments in California have also been destroyed and burned over.
These "homeless" are almost all mentally ill or drug users, or petty crooks. They need help, not sympathy and "oh, the poor dears". They need to be taken off the street and given treatment.
I'm waiting for people who venture out of their homes in the bay area to start getting harassed by police and law enforcement while there is a hobo camp in plain site in the background. This is par for the course in the blue states. Boss around people inclined to follow the law while ignore flagrant law breakers "because the DA won't prosecute"
3.5 hours; 19 comments. This one's a dud, Althouse. You know why? Because of Ray's cysts.
Homeless has been covered before, Seattle is Dying is a great video.
What is different now, is Coronavirus, is a lot bigger issue than Homeless.
And if the homeless start being a disease vector, you will see a lot more dramatic action.
I'm surprised the limited infections of Coronavirus among the homeless so far. Perhaps because Homeless are not usually overweight? Or it is not being measured. Or being outdoors?
limited infections of Coronavirus among the homeless"
telling ya, it started among the elites. The homeless don't generally go where elites meet. One of our first infections was a university system trustee who just had to go to bumfuck Montana for a conference.
The virus/homeless correlation is spurious at best.
This is situation normal with the Seattle police. In the last thirty years of studying Seattle's homeless population, the sweeps come in regular cycles.
Seattle's position on vagrants has remained unchanged; for a city built on tourism, "clean streets" is a necessity. The virus scare is a good time to do it again. After all, who's on the streets except those who live there.
Boo, Seattle.
It is interesting how fast this happened.
There was a huge movement, uncovered of course by the press, to get these people out of those camps. It was causing real rage out here.
The "Homeless Problem" is actually just a giant slush fund for some fairly wealthy people. It is an entirely corrupt industry working with criminals and drug addicted people against tax payers.
And everyone also noticed they kept the buses going and made them free to use and the only people using them were homeless people.
I think the government leaches they are beginning to understand how much we hate them.
Subsidize something and you will get more of it.
Tax something and you will get less of it.
NYC secretly exports homeless to Hawaii and other states without telling receiving pols
I'm surprised the limited infections of Coronavirus among the homeless so far. Perhaps because Homeless are not usually overweight? Or it is not being measured. Or being outdoors?
They don't go anywhere and nobody gets within 6 feet of them.
Nothing will happen with the "homeless" until we get serious about mental health again.
Nothing will happen with the "homeless" until we get serious about mental health again.
And then what? Lock up people who are not a danger to anyone because they are unpleasant?
The disease didn't come from them but from our high flyers,
Quite true - international travelers and people visiting ski resorts spread the cooties.
Complain all you want, but Washington has seen an infection rate reduction. After the first cluster of deaths, WA has fallen in the COVID-19 infection standings.
Homeless people in Democratic-controlled cities is a tax on the middle class.
We see a human tragedy.
Democratic politicians see a way to drive unpredictable voters from the district.
Democratics don't want to follow the Central Voter Theorem and chase voters where they live.
They want to chase voters from the city and lock-in a Democratic constituency of the very poor and the very wealthy.
That is why the homeless are an asset to Democratics.
And it's sickening.
The bums need to be dispersed lest the Althousian joggers infect them as they pass by.
From a different perspective, the distribution of landowners, renters, and those without a fixed domicile follows a geographical distribution. We have people living in tents in WA State and people in New York City with the virus housed in tents in Central Park. Both groups are clamoring for drugs. People in quarantine are going bonkers and self medicating. Both groups are considered risks.
Maybe the SPD is confiscating the tents to use in New York? The wealthier classes in the domicile distribution are becoming social pariahs (to each other) just like the WFDs on the street. Interesting times.
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