Crime/Drug Addiction/Homeless

[Mark V]

Maury,
Thank you for posting a link to that video documentary!! Apparently the guy who made it, Eric Johnson is a 15 yr+ anchor of a local TV station News show, KOMO News in the Seattle area.

I like the way you titled this thread "Crime/Drug Addiction/Homeless" because the #1 myth this documentary will help to fix is the myth that homelessness is mainly about homelessness. It isn't.

Watch the video--it's compelling and fair. Share the video with about everyone you know. If enough people watch this video we'll understand the problem. We will start to turn the tide by voting differently on state laws and local politicians; we will get them to un-handcuff our police, and to re-build/build our law enforcement systems and facilities including rehab ranches. If we do that we'll begin to decrease the number of people living in crime/drugs on the streets and in the creeks.

MV

[JasonB]

While mental health issues, along with substance addiction, are major contributing factors to homelessness; it would be short sighted to address them as one and the same. While they often related, they are not mutually interchangeable are not interchangeable. Addiction isn’t the only important factor creating the homelessness crisis, and not all homeless people have mental health or substance problems. Lots of factors contribute, and most of them are not trivial.

Housing costs in particular are a very real issue too. Very quick off the top of my head math shows that a single person working 40hrs/week at minimum wage will have take home pay neighborhood of $1500-1600/month. Trying to spend no more than 30%-40% of that on housing is pretty tough these days, spending more than 50%-60% of ones income on housing alone is obviously not a sustainable situation, though I’m sure many do. Even a two income family is very limited in options if both are minimum wage earners.

Hell, my wife and I have had real challenges trying to find housing that didn’t break us financially! We don’t have kids, or debt, or major medical issues (yet), and the only mental health or addiction issues we struggle with are fly fishing. While we don’t make a lot of money, we are hardly in the same situation as people working minimum wage jobs; and the difficulties we’ve had at times finding housing that wasn’t far outside our budget makes me appreciate that it is a very real issue for many people.

I think Darian is right that no matter which solutions we persue this will not be cheap. On the other hand, not addressing the problems (plural) will turn out far more costly over time. We all pay those costs in various ways, and they will only get more and more substantial if left unaddressed. I do hold out some hope; as the scope of the problem has grown to such extent, I think the level of honesty and sincerity, and commitment to deal with it will also grow. We have a tendency to only deal seriously with issues when they become seriously urgent... so here we go.
JB

[Mark V]

Hi Jason,
Not sure what your point is in turning the focus away from drugs & crime.

We need more people like Eric Johnson & co to interview the cops who deal with the homeless every day, and the homeless themselves. From the video/doc, in the Seattle area the conclusion was 100% of the homeless are on drugs, and I think safe to say the "income" for the vast majority is from property theft. Do you agree?

What % of homeless ppl in the Sac area do you think got into the filth lifestyle because they couldn't afford rent, got evicted... and then just headed over to the nearest bridge over a waterway and started making friends with the other homeless ppl? Do you think most of them tried hard drugs after they made the big lifestyle switch?

Doesn't it make more sense that the main reason they choose to bear the frigid winters, the scorching summers and all the filth... is because they can use drugs like meth & heroin without consequences from the police?

Remember a couple years ago CA voters approved ballot initiatives that softened the enforcement of property theft? Here's a common-sense editorial about that:

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/opinio...203172149.html

What is the current truth about the laws against drug possession in the Sac area? Has possession of 3 grams of Meth been decriminalized? Have Sac police and county sheriffs become handcuffed by elected officials from enforcing drug and property theft laws that are still in place?

I get that you want to avoid oversimplification, at the same time this isn't rocket science. Are we tip-toeing around the issues?
It'll be expensive and difficult, but... we can get started simply by changing the laws and rebuilding the law enforcement. We can stop growing the number of homeless if we take away the enticement/cause-- take away the nastiest drugs like Meth that makes ppl willing to live on the streets, and fries their brains until they're like the walking dead.

M

[JasonB]

Hey Mark,
I was offering sincere concerns I have for addressing homelessness, here and elsewhere. I’m assuming we are all hoping to substantially reduce homelessness? In no way am I minimizing the severity of the drug problems we face; I’ve had my share of negative interactions with meth addled zombies. Assuming we could arrest our way through all the drug addicted I still don’t see that being sufficient all by itself.

I found the video missed a lot, and I question the intentions behind it’s production. Statements like “100% of homeless are drug addicted” always make me suspicious. I think that was probably 100% of the crime committed by homeless involved those with drug problems, which seems much more likely. I do not know what percentage of homelessness is due to any one cause, but it seems to me that any and all significant issues need to be addressed. There are increasing numbers of working homeless currently; while I hope few of those are in the kinds of camps along the river we are all familiar with, it does raise the point that there are other factors contributing to the overall problem.

I hope that makes sense, as I do think we are on the same page about most of this. I just hope that we don’t fail to see the full picture as we so often do when faced with similar challenges.
JB

[giantsfan]

The idea that there are a significant number of people that are homeless primarily due to the high cost of housing is ridiculous. The vast majority (99%) of homeless people have severe substance abuse problems. The documentary hits the nail on the head. Nobody, including the homeless benefit from not enforcing the laws. People that are making policy based on how they feel, and not based on observations and research by people who actually work with them are having a horrible impact on our cities and the people they claim to care about. Mark is right. We need more documentaries like Seattle is Dying to educating everyone about the reality that we know exists

[Tony Buzolich]

Guys, This is a really good topic of major concern and importance, BUT, I repeat BUT, It doesn't belong on the "STRIPED BASS" column.

It has nothing to do with STRIPED BASS except for those of us who fish around this trash for them.
Tony

[Darian]

One restriction on enforcement of local anti-camping ordnances was a court decision that established that person camping on public property cannot be evicted or removed if they have no place else to go. Another is that this state is under federal court order to reduce the number of persons incarcerated in prisons and there's no indication that anyone wants to build more prisons. Both of those decisions impact law enforcement, so, it's not likely that enforcement will increase. Nothing in those decisions appears to restrict officers from enforcing illegal drug use laws.

Aside from a constant group, The homeless population seems to've dramatically increased around the time of the last Great Recession (200 ran its course. Slow or non-existent wage growth (living paycheck to paycheck) combined with high cost of housing (price/rents) makes it difficult to maintain a residence without subsidies. Many of the homeless population in this area are employed or underemployed but don't make enough to afford housing. Without a living wage, housing becomes unavailable. So, it seems to me that a blanket condemnation of the homeless being drug addled is inaccurate.

IMO, until the definition of who is actually homeless is uniform, these perceptions will persist. Also, no matter how its sliced, whatever the solutions are, are going to cost a lot of money.

[giantsfan]

Hi Darian,
I’ve read some of your posts in the past and you appear to be a very thoughtful and intelligent person. I’m betting that you’ve put the same thought and consideration into this subject as you have others. The problem with some issues is that it is tough to get honest reporting that is not slanted one way or another. The majority of homeless people I have known over the years have never been a part of the workforce, or have not been in the workforce for many years. The vast majority of chronically homeless people have substance abuse problems.

I agree the solutions are going to be expensive. We need to greatly increase the number of mental health facilities and increase programs to address chemical dependency for people who are open to it. Some people simply can’t be indoors because they don’t want to be, or they cause problems at the places they are housed. So there needs to be a legal place for people to camp. That would also allow law enforcement to enforce the law without violating the case law that you referred to. I don’t think we’re going to devote resources to meaningful and lasting solutions until we recognize the underlying causes. Drug addiction is certainly at the top of the list. We as a society also need to look at what predicated the addiction issues for most people.

[dynaflow]

This social problem is drug related,and the reason the authorities are legalizing it's use is because they've lost control of it.Marijuana a case in point,and I agree with Tony,the subject doesn't belong on a Fly fishing Forum....along with Religion,Flat Earth theorists et al.

[Darian]

Dynaflow, I find it hard to disagree with you and Tony about where this subject should appear but if not here, where??? Well, we're not solving anything anyway. Maybe enough is enough....