Curley: Squatters will keep moving in if Seattle refuses to kick them out

The belief that if you ignore something it will go away does not apply to Seattle’s squatter problem.

After forcing numerous squatters out of the old Seattle Times building, they came right back. Instead of enforcing the eviction, the city is talking about taking action against the owner of the building, The Seattle Times reports.

As KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson pointed out, taking action against the building’s owner is hypocritical. The building had about 60 people living in it, there’s well over that amount of people living on city property.

The way the city is handling the issue also shows how relaxed the city is with homeless people, which could increase the population, KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney and John Curley discuss.

Curley says how the city is handling the issue of squatters sends the signal that it’s not important. It’s just like the growing number of people living in tents along freeways: there are a few, why not a few more?

Curley believes Seattle’s homeless population is growing because the city continues to subsidize programs to help; the population increases as more money is pumped into the issue. However, not enough is being done to actually lower the amount of people on the streets.

Tom argues that, at some point, that will change and the increase of homeless people will taper off.

How?

Tom Tangney: At some point, the city becomes too clogged.

John Curley: So they’re no longer on the side of I-5, they’re in the right lane, blocking traffic.

TT: What do we really want to do? If we get people in a drug diversion program, they wouldn’t be shooting up. But in order to get them in a program, we need to arrest them first.