Murder in Seattle homeless camp feels like déjà vu

Here we go again. Another announcement about closing down a homeless encampment.

It doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots between this and the murder of a 31-year-old homeless man on Tuesday in the same area that is being swept.

It’s déjà vu all over again.

Remember when “The Jungle” was finally shut down? It was after a murder.

Now be honest, what’s your reaction to the news of a homeless man being shot to death? A shoulder shrug? A tisk-tisk of judgment? Lukewarm sympathy?

If I’m honest, I saw the headline, paused for a moment, and took another sip of my morning coffee. It doesn’t phase me anymore.

The real question I keep asking myself is why local officials continue to blatantly ignore the number one piece of advice given to attack this problem? Housing first. I’m not just talking about the City of Seattle. I’m looking at Bellevue and Everett. Hey, Puyallup, I see what you did there. Tacoma, you’re not exempt either.

Say it with me: Housing First. Before the rehab, before the counseling, before the job training. Housing first.

What’s better, a person living in a tent in your neighborhood or that same person living behind some kind of door in your neighborhood? I get the NIMBY (not in my backyard) mentality. I really do. Feeling safe and secure in your home is priority number one. But are we really saying there is zero space in our area to place people?

I remember about five years ago I brought up the idea of modular container homes and was summarily laughed at from all sides. Can we please revisit some not-that-radical ideas about housing? Things such as containers, LEGO-like block housing, and self-contained movable units?

We should be treating this more like disaster relief. Look at how Mississippi houses people after a hurricane. Homeless relief should look more like that and less like camping on the shoulder of I-5.

How many more times are we going to just shrug our shoulders when a homeless person ends up dead? We’re better than this, aren’t we?