Stats show Seattle’s tent cities have failed, so why build more?

As the city of Seattle prepares to open its third homeless encampment, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson wonders how well all the compassion is actually working. According to numbers from the Seattle Times, not so well.

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Officials with the Low Income Housing Institute told the Times that the Ballard and Interbay encampments have served 239 individuals or families, and though 231 have accepted case-management services, only 13 have moved into permanent housing and five into shelters.

Dori says that means only 18 people, or 7.8 percent, have seen their housing situation improve.

“Wow, what a success rate that Seattle has with these tent cities,” he said.

Dori also cited a KOMO report where a homeless man living under the Magnolia Bridge claimed California police gave him a one-way bus ticket to Seattle. He feels that the city’s homeless crisis is like a giant game of whack-a-mole.

“Where other places in the country are smacking down their homeless and they’re all popping out of the same hole here in Seattle,” he said.

However, whether police are actually handing out one-way tickets to Seattle, or that the homeless are coming from outside the state is up for debate. According to All Home King County, of the more than 4,505 people found to be unsheltered county-wide on Jan. 29, 87 percent were from King County, with 97 percent from Washington state.

One way or another, Dori believes that tent cities are no way to live and that it’s time for the city to come up with some new solutions.

“You have to reevaluate if you have a 92 percent failure rate and your solution is, ‘Hey, let’s open another one,'” he said. “Then the other cities and states around the country will replace every person we truly help with 10 more who are beyond help; give them a one-way bus ticket to Seattle. The descent of this region is shockingly quick right now.”