Homelessness dominates discussion at first council forum

Speak Out Seattle’s first in a series of open forums for city council candidates kicked off Thursday evening in West Seattle, with the five candidates from District 1 taking the floor to discuss a variety of issues. The one topic that dominated the night’s discussion, though: Homelessness.

RELATED: Seattle City Council candidates prep for first forum

Forum host and KIRO Radio’s own Mike Lewis opened things up by asking each candidate one, simple question: Why are you running for city council?

The answers from each candidate each carried a common thread in acknowledging Seattle’s homeless crisis.

“I serve on the state advisory committee on homelessness because I was homeless when I was a kid, and so it is something that I’m very passionate about solving,” Uncle Woody’s Popcorn owner Jesse Greene said.

“The issues of homelessness and addiction and public safety are very much on the forefront of people’s minds,” noted District 1 incumbent Lisa Herbold.

That thread picked up with the next question from Lewis, asking what the current council had done right — and wrong — on the issue of homelessness.

“I’ve seen no urgency — to call it a crisis but not act with urgency is an issue,” said public defender Phil Tavel.

“I’ve seen too much emphasis on unsustainable, undignified solutions,” said former Seattle police lieutenant Brendan Kolding.

The third question cited a recent study released in February, detailing 100 ‘prolific’ homeless offenders, that have combined for 3,562 criminal cases in the State of Washington, 1,612 misdemeanor cases in Seattle Municipal Court, and 636 total bookings into King County Jail in the last year.

RELATED: Almost half of ‘prolific’ homeless criminals return to jail

With that study at the forefront of the homelessness discussion — after it was recently revealed that 40 of those 100 offenders have already been booked back into King County jail — solutions from candidates focused on strengthening the city’s support system

“Instead of kicking them out [of jail], we give (offenders) a case manager or a service worker to help them rehabilitate themselves,” said lifetime Seattle resident Isaiah Willoughby.

“This is why we need to properly fund probation services and social services, because people can’t just get released back on to the street,” Tavel answered.

You can check out the entire almost two-hour forum here.

The next candidate forum will take place on Saturday, March 30, featuring candidates from District 4, followed by District 2 on April 4, and District 7 on April 17. The schedule for the remaining districts’ forums has yet to be announced.

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