Why do so many people live in tents and RVs in Seattle?

May 23, 2019 / 12:04 am

caption: Adrian Anthony moves some of his belongings to another area four blocks away after the encampment where he was living under the I-5 overpass was swept on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle. Anthony estimated that a sweep caused him to move from one area to another around 20 times.

SoundQs listeners have asked us lots of questions about homelessness. In this episode, we try to answer them.

Usually on SoundQs, we answer one listener question at a time. But we often get several questions from listeners, all asking about the same topic. And recently, we've been getting lots of questions about homelessness in Seattle.

There is a big tension at the core of these questions: How is it that so many people are living in tents and RVs on the street, even as the region gets wealthier and we spend more money to end homelessness?

In part one of our two-part series, Anna Boiko-Weyrauch talks with two reporters focusing on homelessness in the region: Kate Walters from KUOW and Vianna Davila from the Seattle Times.

Have a question about the Seattle region for us to answer? Drop it here:

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Anna Boiko-Weyrauch
Reporter

Anna Boiko-Weyrauch is a general assignment reporter focusing on public health stories.
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Jeannie Yandel
Special Projects Editor

Jeannie Yandel is a special projects editor focusing on podcasts and broadcast shows. She created and co-hosted the KUOW podcast Battle Tactics For Your Sexist Workplace and ran and edited KUOW's podcast about local curiosity, SoundQs. She also co-created and co-hosted KUOW's YouTube interview series, Are We Going To Be OK?. Previously, she was senior producer for The Conversation and KUOW Presents, and was Executive Producer for The Record.
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