Thread by @timeshomeless

Homelessness is complicated, but some reporting last weekend made it look pretty simple.

If you’re interested in going deeper, here are stories that Project Homeless @seattletimes has done over the past 16 months. 1/11

First, are some people homeless because of drug and alcohol use? Sure. But research shows there’s a delineating factor between people with those struggles who are homeless and people with those struggles who aren’t: poverty.
More in our story today:
seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 2/11

Many people in King County are tired of seeing homeless camps.
But when we did a poll about how people want to respond, more favored long-term strategies than a zero tolerance policy for tent camps.
seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 3/11

It’s also a question of perspective. Many campers have moved from places like the Jungle to neighborhoods like Ballard, which aren’t used to such high numbers of homeless people. seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 4/11

A lot of people think homeless camps = more crime, and while a few neighborhoods have seen crime go up (seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h…)--particularly North Seattle neighborhoods
--in general, crime across Seattle is down.
(This one’s from @genebalk, not us)
seattletimes.com/seattle-news/d…
5/11

Seattle has in fact increased removals of homeless encampments in the last year, but we haven’t cracked down as hard as some cities…
seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 6/11

…Like San Francisco, which has gotten extra aggressive on cleaning up homeless camps and moving people along.
We went to San Francisco to see how it works — and it brings its own set of challenges: seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 7/11

There’s a sense among Seattle’s elected officials — especially the city attorney — that Seattle can’t arrest its way out of the problem like it did in the past.

We tackled that question here: seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 8/11

Of course, it’s hard to convince people to take shelter, and it’s hard to know if that strategy is working.

Seattle's Navigation Team is on the front lines of that work: seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 9/11

Meanwhile, we often forget that more people are living in their cars in King County than camping outside.

Seattle government has consistently struggled to find a solution to the problem: seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… 10/11

That’s a common thread in our reporting — governments, organizations and people struggling to find solutions.

Here are a few other things we’ve learned from our time spent in this problem.
Thanks for reading! seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h… /END