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Sleeping rough in Seattle: homeless crisis exposes dark side of hi-tech city (Guardian)
Sunday 31 January 2016 00.02 GMT
As drugs and high rents put thousands on the streets, mayor’s unity plea splits the city, home to Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft
With its progressive politics and thriving tech industry, Seattle is a city with a swagger. Yet beneath the shiny surface, there is a darker side to America’s fourth richest city, the home to Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks. The past decade has seen a sharp rise in the number of homeless people – around 3,000 sleep rough, with thousands more in shelters and transitional housing. The search for a solution is dividing the city and pulling on its liberal heartstrings.
After hearing that 47 homeless people had died on the streets last year, in November Mayor Ed Murray declared a state of emergency on the homeless crisis as he asked for more state and federal funding to tackle the problem. Last Tuesday, he made an impassioned, televised speech in which he called for Seattle to unite to solve the problem.
Murray has faced criticism both for being too lenient – encouraging more homeless to come to the city – and too tough. The city has opened more shelters, as well as two “safe lots”, where people living in vehicles can legally park, and two authorised camps. Meanwhile, officials have been conducting controversial “sweeps” of illegal homeless camps (the number rose from 80 in 2012 to more than 530 in 2015), with people given 72 hours’ notice to move along.
Blaming “35 years of cuts to federal affordable housing”, lack of access to mental health treatment and a nationwide heroin epidemic, he said: “We are in the midst of a growing national crisis. People are dying on our streets.”
cont'd...
As drugs and high rents put thousands on the streets, mayor’s unity plea splits the city, home to Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft
With its progressive politics and thriving tech industry, Seattle is a city with a swagger. Yet beneath the shiny surface, there is a darker side to America’s fourth richest city, the home to Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks. The past decade has seen a sharp rise in the number of homeless people – around 3,000 sleep rough, with thousands more in shelters and transitional housing. The search for a solution is dividing the city and pulling on its liberal heartstrings.
After hearing that 47 homeless people had died on the streets last year, in November Mayor Ed Murray declared a state of emergency on the homeless crisis as he asked for more state and federal funding to tackle the problem. Last Tuesday, he made an impassioned, televised speech in which he called for Seattle to unite to solve the problem.
Murray has faced criticism both for being too lenient – encouraging more homeless to come to the city – and too tough. The city has opened more shelters, as well as two “safe lots”, where people living in vehicles can legally park, and two authorised camps. Meanwhile, officials have been conducting controversial “sweeps” of illegal homeless camps (the number rose from 80 in 2012 to more than 530 in 2015), with people given 72 hours’ notice to move along.
Blaming “35 years of cuts to federal affordable housing”, lack of access to mental health treatment and a nationwide heroin epidemic, he said: “We are in the midst of a growing national crisis. People are dying on our streets.”
cont'd...
Link: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/31/sleeping-rough-in-seattle-homeless-crisis-exposes-dark-side-of-affluent-microsoft-city
2 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
(Kick of necessity.) 
