The chamber and friends are focused on homeless sweeps and pinning blame on progressive councilmembers, rather than housing solutions.
On Monday, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce released a poll and proceeded to spin the findings to promote their long-time agenda of increasing police spending and seeking to make homeless people disappear by confiscating their tents. The Seattle Times editorial board was all too happy to pile on and had an editorial ready to go early Monday morning based — working off with an advance copy of the poll and a preconceived narrative, it would seem.
“These findings should be a cold-water shock to any political leader still deluded that the city’s degeneration has escaped voters’ ire,” Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen and his editorial board cohorts wrote. “The poll adds to evidence that people aren’t looking away from the persistent tent encampments under Interstate 5 and in Woodland Park, the closure of Little Saigon fixture Seven Stars Pepper Szechwan Restaurant or the drug-centric lawlessness plaguing grimy downtown streets.”
The numbing power of Szechuan peppers may have helped Blethen weather the pain, but he’ll have to look elsewhere. It’s tough being heir to an oligarchic dynasty living in a hellscape of degenerates who just won’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps or inherit a fortune like he did.
As convenient as it would be if encampment removals, tough talk, and positive vibes were enough to eliminate homelessness, this oft-tried policy incantation has yet to deliver. Abracadabra, we say, but alas homeless people do not disappear or magically get housed after their encampments are destroyed without enough supportive housing to shelter them. Often, they just relocate.
Overall homelessness has climbed in Seattle, even with a steady diet of sweeps early in the administrations of both Jenny Durkan and now Mayor Bruce Harrell. Aggressive measures to boost affordable housing and social services have been much slower in coming than sweeps and tough talk. Voters, however, are ready for housing solutions that drive down costs. In fact, they are increasingly considering moving elsewhere if they don’t get that relief. Crime and public safety was the second most cited reason for thinking of leaving Seattle, but most of the Chamber and Blethen conversation centered around it.
Voters overwhelming favor adding more housing near transit by a 82% to 17% margin, which is up 3% since the Chamber’s last poll. And in Seattle that’s the majority of the city. Moreover, Seattleites are supporting changes to single family zones in increasing numbers, favoring triplex zoning in most areas by a 61% to 39% margin. The only subgroup to oppose this change is people who identify as Republicans.
That shift didn’t happen because Seattleites read about it in Seattle Times opinion pages. The Seattle Times editorial board has a long history of defending single family zoning and housing exclusion. But people are feeling higher housing prices and living costs in their pocket books and appear increasingly frustrated about the lack of progress. Housing prices jumped double digits across the region this past year. Most of the Eastside has exceeded $1 million for the average home price, and Seattle isn’t far behind.
