Dori: 2016 levy didn’t solve homelessness
May 8, 2018, 3:30 PM | Updated: 4:56 pm
(Kuan Gebaroff)
(Kuan Gebaroff)
Two years ago, the people of Seattle voted to double the housing levy to “fix” the homelessness crisis. The levy went from $145 million to $290 million over seven years, and took homelessness funding from $20 million a year to $40 million a year.
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The people of Seattle, because of their endless gullibility — I mean generosity — decided to double their housing levy. The city told us that we would finally deal with the problem if we paid this money.
There’s just one problem — two years ago when the people of Seattle were voting on that housing levy, there were 3,000 people on the streets of Seattle. Now, in 2018, has the problem gotten better? No — now there are 5,000 people on the street. While most major cities are seeing a reduction in homelessness, while we are in an economy that is, economically speaking, regarded as full employment, Seattle’s homeless numbers are growing.
Where did the money go? Why do we have, not just the same number, but even more homeless people on the streets? We did what Ed Murray asked us to do. We spend so much money on homelessness every year. And the problem has just gotten worse.
Could it be because a lot of that money has just gone to the homelessness industrial complex? To all of the people making well into the six figures running the Low Income Housing Institute and the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort, one of the most non-transparent agencies you will find? They won’t open their books or tell us anything.
The problem is not a lack of money. The problem is who is spending the money. You could give the Seattle City Council a billion dollars and they wouldn’t be able to fix the problem, because they’re incompetent. Growing the government and rewarding their cronies are all they care about. Councilmember Kshama Sawant doesn’t what crimes happen in these homeless encampments. She wants to make sure we still have the encampments, even after the businesses pay the $75 million head tax.
Encampments have led to tremendous crime, home break-ins, car prowls, bikes being stolen, children being raped. The more drugs we have, the more crime we have, because the users want to continue to feed their habit. The left-wing position, according to Kshama Sawant, is that you are in favor of home invasions, car prowls, your bicycles being stolen, and heroin needles on your kids’ soccer fields.
