It’s no secret to any of you that Seattle is in bad shape, but you may not be aware of just how dysfunctional the situation is – and it may only get worse if there isn’t a change in course.

The level of dysfunction was revealed in a recent Seattle Times story that we’ll be covering in several pieces. Despite an enormous amount of money spent on homelessness by both the city and county, the county is on track this year for the greatest number of homeless deaths. So far 100 homeless people have died in King County in 2022. By comparison, the record for homeless deaths was 195 in 2018.

However, for all we know that record has already been broken.

According to the Seattle Times, the official death count is “likely an undercount, as the medical examiner investigates less than a fifth of deaths in the county, and misses anyone who died in a hospital.”

This needs to change. All homeless deaths, regardless of where or how they occur, need to be included in the county’s official figure. Without it, the official figure is meaningless and offers no helpful information.

The cooking of statistics isn’t just with homeless deaths. The King County Regional Housing Authority was initially going to cancel its homelessness count for the second year in a row to “conduct qualitative engagement with people living unsheltered,” until they reversed course.

Make Your Voice Heard!

Contact Seattle – King County Public Health at 206-296-4600 and tell them to include homeless deaths in hospitals as part of the county’s official homeless death figure!

The article then includes a stunning claim that show the problem remains misunderstood by many.

King County’s rise in homeless deaths mirrors what’s happening around the country, and health officials point to a few likely reasons, including the nation’s opioid epidemic, barriers to health care created by the pandemic and the increase in encampment removals.

The article then goes on to quote Katie League, a National Health Care for the Homeless policy team member:

League said intensified encampment removals nationwide have added another challenge.

“Access to care is severed,” League said. “There’s disruption in lifesaving treatment and medication. And very often, providers are reporting that they lose complete touch with the person who they had been engaging in that encampment.”

If you’re speechless after reading this, rest assured you’re not alone.

Although we’ve critiqued Mayor Bruce Harrell’s homelessness plan, so far he’s followed up on his promise to remove homeless encampments. These sites are a source of crime, shootings, are unsanitary, and deprive regular citizens of access to public spaces. They’re also an eyesore in what should be a beautiful city.

The idea that their removal is causing overdose deaths isn’t out in left field. It’s not even in the ballpark. 

While League argues these homeless people are deprived of services, the Seattle Times story offers this admission:

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s administration has cleared dozens of encampments since he took office in January. The city says it has offered shelter to everyone staying in those encampments, but often, people don’t take the offer because it doesn’t meet their needs, and they move to a different encampment.

The notion that homeless people turn down city-provided shelters because it “doesn’t meet their needs” the way a drug encampment does, tells you everything you need to know. They clearly don’t want to be helped, because that would come with accountability about what drove them to the street in the first place.

The Seattle Times article shows that there’s still work to be done changing the narrative. We must keep emphasizing again and again that homelessness is really a substance addiction problem among people incapable of caring for themselves. There are some who will seek help, and others who want to remain as they are and have no problem getting government freebies.

Removing drug encampments isn’t contributing to drug overdosing by the homeless, rather those who have make it easier for them to avoid seeking the treatment they need as if their lives depended on it.

More on this coming soon….

Contact Seattle – King County Public Health at 206-296-4600 and tell them to include homeless deaths in hospitals as part of the county’s official homeless death figure!