‘Scambition’: Spike calls out Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson as 500 shelter bed goal falls short at 75

The City of Seattle is 425 shelter beds short of its goal to open 500 before the World Cup. Officials said 75 pallet homes will open in Interbay, with an open house Sunday, according to KOMO News. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said that while the goal was ambitious, it got the ball rolling.

KIRO host Spike O’Neill called Wilson’s promise “scambition” on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. He explained the term means officials set an impossibly high goal, knowing it will never be reached.

“You use this, ‘Man, we’re gonna reach for the stars, we’re gonna have 500 by … ‘ and they know there’s no way, but they use that dream of a number, that lofty goal, that ambitious target,” Spike said.

“It’s like when Sound Transit says, ‘We’ll build you a light rail system for $53 billion,'” Jake replied.

Jake said Seattle voters aren’t as cynical as they should be, arguing they continue to approve new measures and tax themselves without ever seeing the results they were promised.

“They’re not as cynical as they should be in Seattle, because they keep approving these things and voting for these things and self-taxing for these things, and they never get these things, but they keep approving them,” he said.

We Heart Seattle calls Wilson’s shelter bed goal ‘aggressive’

Andrea Suarez, founder of We Heart Seattle, told KOMO News Wilson’s promise of 500 shelter units was “aggressive.”

“Treatment first, find the people that want to get off the street and actually want more from themselves than living in a place intended for a lawn mower,” Suarez said.

Jake said Suarez has posted videos from inside the tiny homes, revealing drugs, rats, and filth. Spike noted that while Wilson didn’t hit her goal of 500 shelter units, she’s still aiming for the original goal of 1,000 shelter units by the end of the year.

In March, Wilson unveiled three bills to aid her goal that would give more leeway to use land for transitional housing, make funding available, and expand the number of people allowed in transitional encampments.

Even if 1,000 shelter units are built, critics argue they won’t work to keep people sober. Spike pointed to San Francisco’s new approach that requires sobriety to take part in federal or state services. San Francisco’s preliminary 2026 Point-in-Time Count showed unsheltered homelessness down 22% since 2024, the lowest level since 2011.

“It’s shown incredible results,” Spike said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3