From: JFox-Seattle Displacement Coalition
To: Seattle Displacement Coalition J-Fox
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 1:29 PM
Subject: Outside City Hall: Homelessness - City leaders ignore root cause
Please circulate
Outside City Hall: Homelessness - City leaders ignore root cause
- Carolee Colter and John V. Fox (reprinted from March 2016 issue of
City Living and other Pacific Publishing newspapers)
Back in 1980, just three years after the Seattle Displacement Coalition was
formed, there was no such thing as “homelessness”.
At that time, Seattle’s downtown had about 10,000 low-cost housing
units--nearly all unsubsidized--inhabited by a diverse multi-racial mix of
low income men, and some women, many on Social Security or getting
disability payments.
Those wanting work could walk a few blocks to the day labor office and
likely pick up part-time work on the docks or waterfront warehouses. If you
were retired, there were bars, pool halls, hotel lobbies, and long-time
restaurants like the Turf, where you could just hang out, see friends and
get a cheap, filling meal.
Yes, there were an estimated 300 or so “skid road” denizens, mostly men,
some with alcohol and addiction issues, who called the streets of downtown
and Pioneer Square home. The missions helped these people and there was
little need for subsidized housing or a multi-million dollar social service
delivery system. Folks had built-in support systems intrinsic to the
community.
But something dramatically changed. In Seattle as in cities across the
country, in a little over half a decade, office and commercial development
exploded. Spurred in part by lucrative tax breaks and supply side monetary
policies during the Reagan administration, capitalists rediscovered the
downtown core of major cities, including Seattle. The economy moved from
blue collar to white. Real wages for many fell, the day labor offices
closed, dock and warehouse jobs evaporated.
Local politicians actively abetted the trend, shoveling our tax dollars
downtown and upzoning for another 20 million square feet of office space.
From 1980 to 1985 over 4000 units were demolished or abandoned awaiting
redevelopment. The hotels, the pool halls, the working class bars and
restaurants were nearly all wiped out as well. Nationally, a million and a
half downtown low-income units were lost during this period.
Federal budget cuts during the Reagan years compounded the problem. It was a
perfect storm and the coincidence of these forces gave rise to homelessness
as we know it today.
By the late 80’s, it was estimated there were a half million people homeless
nationally and about 3000 to 4000 locally. The area’s first “one night
count” showed the problem had spread to affect families, women with kids,
children, youth, seniors, not just a few skid roaders.
Some did point a finger at the rise in addiction and lack of mental health
beds due to federal budget cuts, as the cause. These factors certainly
contributed. But displacement and gentrification, along with callous
disregard for their impacts in the inner city by locally elected officials,
were the root causes of homelessness back then, as they are now in 2016.
By the end of the 90’s the city had spent $150 million from two housing
levies to stabilize low-income downtown housing at about 6000 units, where
it remains today, nearly all subsidized. And we now have an elaborate
multi-million dollar social service network filling the gap left by the
irrevocable loss of more organic support systems prior to the 80’s.
Benevolent city leaders didn’t bring about this stabilization. Low-income
people, tenants, the homeless and their advocates marched, demonstrated and
took over abandoned habitable buildings demanding the city commit funds to
acquire and reopen them.
Jumping to today, the Ten-year Plan to End Homelessness is now in its
eleventh year. Made up of United Way, corporate, county and city electeds
(and only a few advocates), the effort did add 6300 units (we’re not
knocking that) by cobbling together additional public and private
contributions. More people and families were served. Yet we now have 12,000
to 15,000 homeless countywide, most in Seattle.
In 2005, the Seattle Displacement Coalition said that unless our leaders put
a stop to the continued accelerated loss of our existing stock of low-income
units due to market forces, homelessness only would rise. For every one unit
the Ten Year Plan produced, we’d lose 3 to 4 times that amount to
demolition, condominium conversion, speculation and increased rent.
Since then, easily 20,000 low cost units were lost to redevelopment in
Seattle alone. But instead of addressing displacement head-on, the only
change in the Ten Year Plan’s direction we’ve seen, has been rebranding
itself “All Home”.
Once again there is high profile coverage of the rise in homelessness, this
time highlighted by the tragic shootings in the Jungle, the push for more
tent cities, and resident fears--sadly conflating homelessness with crime
and scapegoating the homeless themselves.
Our Mayor, other political leaders and the press are pointing fingers,
blaming the feds for a lack of funding, not enough services, shelter beds or
mental health facilities: all true. But it’s shocking that almost nothing
has been said linking homelessness to unprecedented levels of growth and the
staggering loss of existing low-cost units we’re now seeing in Seattle.
The Mayor seems to care about solving homelessness. But he’s also hell-bent
on upzoning for more growth while offering absolutely nothing to combat even
greater levels of displacement that will follow. Unless this changes, brace
yourself. We could double spending on homelessness, but expect even more
people pushed onto our streets.
- City Living News copy can be found here
http://www.citylivingseattle.com/Content/News/Opinion/Article/OUTSIDE-CITY-HALL-The-growth-in-Seattle-s-homelessness-problem-/22/207/91473
- Seattle Displacement Coalition's website can be found here:
http://www.zipcon.net/~jvf4119/
