Homelessness

85 Stories

Seattle wants the legal right to sweep

The practice of sweeping encampments of unhoused people is controversial. A federal circuit ruling made it illegal in certain circumstances and went as far as to describe the practice as cruel and unusual. But now, progressive cities on the west coast are hoping the conservative Supreme Court will intervene. Seattle Times reporter Greg Kim is here to tell us why officials in Seattle and other cities want the ruling overturned, and what they’d plan to do without restrictions.
Patricia Murphy

Vaughan Jones

Matt Martin
Bellevue leaders ‘not proud’ of delays to open parking lot for people living in vehicles

After months of delays, the city of Bellevue is still waiting to open its first parking lot for people living in cars and RVs. City leaders say no viable human services organization has applied to run the site.
Casey Martin
Why is liberal Seattle appealing to the conservative U.S. Supreme Court over homeless camp sweeps?

The city of Seattle, the liberal paradise of legal weed and autonomous zones, is asking for help from the most conservative U.S. Supreme Court in almost a century. Seattle joined a dozen other cities, including Tacoma and Spokane, to ask the justices to overturn two Ninth Circuit Court rulings that restrict when they can sweep homeless encampments, known as Grants Pass v. Johnson and Martin v. Boise.
Libby Denkmann

Hans Anderson
Residents and staffers voice safety concerns about some homeless housing facilities

Since 2015, Seattle has seen a big push to develop supportive housing facilities. These units are available to residents living with mental illness, substance abuse orders, physical or mental disabilities, and extreme poverty. But residents and staffers have voiced concerns over the safety at some of these residences.
Mike Davis

Amy Radil

Noel Gasca
Burien bans camping

Burien City Council took the latest step in its debate over how to respond to a camp of 40 unhoused people Monday. It banned camping in the city. There are no nearby shelters, which may make relocation difficult for 40 or so residents living outside. Publicola Editor and Publisher Erica Barnett is here to tell us what it could mean.
Patricia Murphy

Clare McGrane
Program pledging to get every unsheltered person off downtown Seattle’s streets comes to an end

In February of 2022, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority announced an ambitious program promising to reduce unsheltered homelessness in downtown Seattle to zero — potentially within a year. But 19 months later, the organization announced the end of Partnership for Zero, after only meeting a fraction of its goal.
Sarah Leibovitz

Mike Davis
The toll of a homelessness 'experiment'

In the last year or soa program from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority moved hundreds of people from the streets into housing. This week, the authority said it’s ending that effort. In a minute, Seattle Times reporter Anna Patrick will lay out what happened and detail the broken trust left behind.
Patricia Murphy

Clare McGrane
King County's hotel shelters help address one crisis while potentially hiding another

Seattle and King County have been experimenting with using hotel rooms to house people rather than directing them to crowded homeless shelters. But some service providers fear the hotel rooms could be hiding another crisis: drug overdoses.
Kevin Kniestedt

Katie Campbell
Burien considers camping ban and first homeless shelter

This month the Burien City Council is set to vote on an ordinance that would make sleeping on public property a misdemeanor. If passed, the law would make life even more difficult for homeless people in a city that doesn't offer any shelters.
Casey Martin
A failed hotel shelter program left nearly 300 people scrambling for housing. Who’s to blame?

The Lived Experience Coalition rolled out a program last winter that worked directly with unhoused people, moving them into four hotel shelters across King County and Tacoma. But shortly after its launch, the program collapsed. Seattle Times Project Homeless reporter Anna Patrick joined Soundside to unpack the breakdown leading to the program's demise.
Libby Denkmann

Hans Anderson

Liz Brazile

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