Ron Upshaw asks if he has to give ‘every junkie’ a place to go

From cleanup efforts to portable toilets, the City of Seattle has gone back and forth on what to do with the “Jungle” and its residents.

Some argue if the nearly 300 people living in the Jungle are pushed out, they will have no place to go.

Related: Who is living in Seattle’s Jungle

“Time out!” Ron Upshaw shouted on KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don Show.

“You don’t have to give them a place to go. I’m tired of that,” he said.

Ron and Don were discussing the issue of cleaning up the Jungle with KIRO Radio reporter Josh Kerns when Ron couldn’t go any further – he had to get something off of his chest.

“Everybody stop and think about this for a minute,” Ron said. “We have to give them resources? We have to give them a place to go? Really?! Do I have to give every junkie in the state of Washington a place to go? Is that my responsibility because I happen to own property in Seattle and I pay taxes?”

“How about some people step up and say, ‘I have to take responsibility for my life, my loved one, my neighbor, or my son or daughter, sister brother.’ And help them get out of this situation,” he said. “I don’t have to do that, or help them pick up their needles or feces. We don’t have to do that.”

Don is quick to point out that he has resorted to calling some people camping around Seattle just that, “campers.” He does it to note the difference between those experiencing homelessness and people who aren’t.

“It’s hard for all these people who are out there that are truly homeless,” Don said. “That’s why I call them campers, not homeless because some have homes to go to.”

“If they went to those homes or facilities they would have to obey the rules,” he said. “There are rooms and facilities tonight that are available for people in this campground (the Jungle). They don’t want to go because they don’t want to be held accountable. They are not truly homeless, they are just campers.”

Ron believes that Seattle is unique in that it is enabling homelessness rather than act to do something about it.

Related: Seattle City Council member thinks Jungle needs new name

“We have been force-fed this for so long that now nobody even questions that,” he said. “Every city in America is not doing this. We are. We’ve brainwashed ourselves into thinking that it’s a human right that if I’m unemployed and homeless that society should give me everything – a place to live, three meals a day, they pick up my trash for free, do my laundry, and I get all these services and a case worker. That’s not how everybody does it.”

“That came across as harsh or heartless; I have compassion for people down on their luck – I want them to get to a stable point in their life,” Ron said. “What we are doing now is enabling it to go on. We’re not helping anybody transition out of that … if we are going to do resources the goal should be to transition them out of a tent and into stable living. But to say that we owe them, that it’s their right to get handed everything — I disagree with that premise. It drives me crazy.”

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