Ending homelessness in Seattle plausible if more companies stepped up

Mary’s Place, which is operating a temporary homeless shelter in a former Travelodge, will move into a permanent home within one of Amazon’s new buildings in the Denny Triangle by 2020. There, the nonprofit will continue the fight against homelessness thanks to Amazon’s generosity.

RELATED: Seattle hiring to clean up after the homeless

Executive Director of Mary’s Place, Marty Hartman, says that six floors of the building will be dedicated to the shelter and will have room for dozens of families experiencing homelessness.

“We could never operate that or pay for it ourselves,” she told Seattle’s Morning News.

The gift from Amazon has been described as worth “tens of millions” of dollars.

It’s a gesture that we pointed out earlier this week as a great start for something that could be even greater. The argument was that if more of Seattle and King County’s tech companies dedicated a bit of space to people in need, it would have a positive impact on the homeless epidemic. But Hartman had some insight on Friday on just how much of a difference that could make.

Hartman told KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross that if wealthy companies stepped up, the homeless problem could be solved.

“Absolutely,” she said. “We would end this tomorrow.”

Hartman says residents stay in their family shelter an average of about 86 days. Some longer. Their goal is to move people into permanent housing even faster.

To do that, Hartman says they need cooperation from landlords, the real-estate industry, and developers.

Listen to the entire conversation below.

Follow @https://twitter.com/mynorthwest