Will Seattle really become the next San Francisco?

:robot: was referring to Elizabeth Warren.

Who the hell is she? Did not strike a chord… :rofl:

She’s top 5 on Trump’s hit list.

That’s just a show. Trump would love to have Warren on the other ticket.

Elizabeth Warren is an important figure in the Democratic Party, whether you like or not. She wants to represent the Democratic Party and it seems to be less likely this year and the next. However, she represents a good portion of extremist democrats. The extreme leftists are taking off their gloves and showing their real color more and more. They will attack you ruthlessly even if you voted for her

She is 1/1024 Indian. About the same as Trump :sunglasses:

Take that SF. I bet you don’t give criminals money to make bail.

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Good job. Seattle is making to the big league now. :+1:

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Not that I necessarily agree with it, but the idea behind the community bail fund is to save the time spent in jail BEFORE the yet-to-be-proven-guilty suspects are due for trial for LOW-level crimes. Inability to pay for complete bail costs jobs, care of their family, fines paid to for-profit prisons or possibly forced guilty pleas from the accused. It also turns out that those who can afford bail are several times more likely not to be convicted, for whatever reason.

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Here’s some good PR for Seattle, especially if certain other companies join in: Microsoft’s $500 million commitment to affordable housing could help ease the Seattle area’s affordability crisis and make way for more diverse communities.

In Microsoft’s Hometown of Redmond, WA, Just 22% of Homes Are Affordable to Its Own Engineers—The Company’s Affordable Housing Pledge Could Help Change That - Redfin Real-Time

The price of a typical home in the Seattle area has more than doubled in the last seven years. In contrast, the median household income in the Seattle area rose about 15 percent from 2012 to 2017 (the last year for which numbers are available). Home prices rising faster than wages is contributing to an affordability problem throughout most of the Seattle area, where it has gotten more and more difficult for low- and middle-income residents to afford housing, especially housing that’s close to where they work.

The affordability gap is partly due to local tech companies’ growth. They’re adding high-paying jobs and bringing skilled workers and immense prosperity to the area. As a result, many parts of Seattle and its suburbs that were once affordable are no longer within reach for most middle-class residents. Microsoft’s affordable housing pledge was made partly to address its role in the issue. The commitment consists of $25 million in donations to programs combating homelessness in the area, $250 million in market-rate loans to build affordable housing for low-income families and $225 million in below-market-rate loans to develop middle-income housing (targeted toward those earning $62,000 to $124,000 per year).

I finally watched it. Wow. I don’t get how anyone can really argue that drugs and crime aren’t a problem. Anyone arguing that the homeless are contributing a disproportionate about of crime couldn’t pass basic math. The data on percent of cases that get prosecuted is terrible too.

Sometimes I think it’s not a bad thing. America has too much compassion, to the point that it cannot handle. People have to realize that there is a cost to have the compassion, and eventually we all pay for it. You can slap a 70% tax on the wealthy so it feels like it’s not our (the rest of us) problem, but it still is and it will come back to us in a big way.

As an immigrant I cannot understand why there is so much compassion for the homeless in SF or Seattle. I understand and respect their rights, but nobody can deny that they are putting a huge burden on the rest of us, and frankly if anyone tells me with a straight face that they love the homeless as much as they love everybody else I would tell him/her to not be a hypocrite and invite homeless to be guests in their own homes for as long as the homeless wants. Compassion needs to have an upper limit, and the limit should not be as much as we can afford to pay (or even cannot afford to pay). We need to associate a cost to the compassion and let everyone make a fair judgement.

Society needs to protect the vulnerable and the weak. Make a lot of sense. But does anyone ask the question why they are vulnerable and weak? When you hear news reports of how government comes up with new ways to help the vulnerable and weak, it’s rarely mentioned why they are the way they are. It’s always “you are in trouble, and here is the help”. Of course a lot of people really deserve the help they receive, but honestly if you tell me that number is 50% or higher out of all the help we dish out I am not sure if I believe that.

Usually things will get worse before they get better, which is why I think it may not be a bad thing. It will likely take some extreme situations to happen before people can really wake up and see the truth. Before that we are in the build-up stage, and maybe we should all help make it go faster so that we can get to the end result sooner.

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Trying being in Starbucks when a homeless person throws a cup of urine on people. The cops just shrug, since they know the DA won’t file charges. I don’t even pretend to be polite to them anymore.

Of course people do ask. All you have to do is take a few minutes to look at the studies. It is more helpful than throwing out random numbers (50%) without any basis. Sorry if this sounds rude :slightly_frowning_face:. Do you think someone with health conditions (which could be disabling) “deserves” treatment? Unfortunately, whether or not any particular homeless individual deserves it, the problem is that we do not have the option of asking the homeless to pay for their current state when they clearly are unable to. Society cannot expect by sweeping these problems under the rug they will take care of themselves. This does not mean I support throwing money at the problem either, but I just think it’s better not to discuss or jump to conclusions about divisive topics without being more familiar with the issue at hand.

I wonder, do they have national health insurance in your home country?

Health conditions
Approximately 70% of Count Us In Survey respondents reported living with at least one
health condition. The most frequently reported health conditions were psychiatric or
emotional conditions (44%), post-traumatic stress disorder (37%), and drug or alcohol abuse
(35%). Twenty-seven percent (27%) of respondents reported chronic health problems and
26% reported a physical disability.
Over half (53%) of survey respondents indicated that they were living with at least one health
condition that was disabling, i.e. preventing them from holding employment, living in stable
housing, or taking care of themselves.

Housing needs
Ninety-eight percent (98%) of Count Us In Survey respondents said they would move into
safe and affordable housing if it were offered.
Prior to losing their housing, 70% of Count Us In Survey respondents reported living either in
a home owned or rented by themselves or their partner, or with friends or relatives.
Approximately 21% of survey respondents indicated that issues related to housing
affordability were the primary conditions leading to their homelessness, including eviction
(11%), inability to afford a rent increase (6%), family or friend could no longer afford to let
them stay (2%), and foreclosure (2%).
When asked what would help them to obtain permanent housing, 80% of Count Us In Survey
respondents cited more affordable housing and rental assistance as key to ending their
homelessness.

Richest metro: San Jose
Second: San Francisco
Third: Seattle

After watching “drugs, inc”, I’m out of tolerance and patience. These people lie, steal, and hustle to support their $100-200/day drug habit. If they were truly poor, they wouldn’t be able to afford the drug habit.

Saying the issue is lack of “affordable housing” without defining affordable is useless. People are turning down shelter beds, because they can’t use drugs in the shelter. The shelters are literally free and safe housing, and they won’t accept it. They’d rather live in a tent under the highway and use drugs. 98% saying they’d accept affordable and safe housing is complete BS. When the Northgate encampment was cleaned up, 29/30 rejected housing in a shelter and help. That’s what actually happens.

If people are truly disabled, then social security provides monthly income.

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I guess you’ve read the news about the billionaire Sackler family settling in the lawsuit where they profited for decades by pushing the sale of Oxycontin while knowing about its addictiveness, and then continued to build their business by blaming patients and selling the treatment for it. Who is lying and stealing?

Out of the 12k homeless surveyed in 2018 posted, 8% were in unsanctioned tent encampments such as Northgate. So, it’s very possible that others would be more receptive to moving to permanent housing.

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There is plenty on affordable housing just not in the BA. The middle class has already been pushed out. The homeless have no more rights than they do. Relocate and thrive. Stay and live a miserable short life on the street. Compassion means helping the homeless relocate.

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No it’s not rude at all. We are here to have a discussion and everyone is free to express an opinion. :slight_smile:

I am a section 8 landlord so I do have my own firsthand experience about some of the help government offers. I also have some experience from helping to run a small boarding house (one of my tenants used to run that). My sample size is small (statistically insignificant) and it only helps me form an opinion and not anyone else. The 50% number is just a placeholder with no scientific evidence behind it. All I was trying to express is in my opinion the number is low.

I don’t know about Seattle, but I have read many articles about homeless in SF. It seems to me that every homeless in SF who actually does not prefer to live on the street has found help to move out of the street, and what’s left are the ones loving the lifestyle so being a homeless is not really an issue for them (except an eyesore for everyone nearby). The government is throwing so much money at the problem on such a narrow focus that it makes you wonder whether anyone in the government has ever had qualms about being held responsible later for squandering money like that.

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So now it’s pivoted to permanent housing. The issue was getting people off the streets. Temporary housing and shelters do that. People still on the street refuse the help. It’s time to stop blaming everyone else for the homeless on the street. Those people are there because they choose to be.