“People living on our streets are living harsh and dreadful lives.”
Minutes before Mayor Murray said those words in his live speech to the city about the homelessness emergency – they had been underscored.
Five people were shot in the unauthorized freewayside encampment known as “The Jungle.” Two did not survive. No one’s been arrested yet.
#Seattle Mayor #EdMurray discusses #Sodo homeless encampment shooting (@deanrutz) Story: https://t.co/C9NCldHxkm pic.twitter.com/3ujO4FQLKh
— Seattle Times Photo (@SeaTimesPhoto) January 27, 2016
While the attack – called “targeted” by Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole – suddenly overshadowed the mayor’s speech, you might want to watch it, with West Seattle taking another spotlight role in the homelessness crisis shortly, as an RV “safe lot” is readied in Highland Park.
(Updated) You can watch it on the Seattle Channel website by going here – or below:
We watched and listened for key points:
“This is what income inequality looks like … We are dealing with an extraordinary crisis. … Emergency responses alone are not the answer. … We must shift the focus to long-term solutions.” He said he will pursue “a new strategy based on outcomes … (to) shift more resources to (keep people) from ever becoming homeless.” Once people do become homeless, “we know very little about the people living in those tents.” Murray vowed to change that. And he said affordable housing is key to the solution; he promised citywide meetings and also a doubled housing levy, saying that “as a city there is nothing more important we can do this year than to pass this levy.”
He repeated throughout the speech that the federal government must do more, that our city already is spending almost $50 million a year and can’t solve it alone. To get the remaining 3,000 people into emergency shelter would require another $50 million, he said.
And finally, he challenged Seattleites to face the problem “without denigrating each other,” decrying how people have vilified and dehumanized homeless people: “In one tent on our streets you might find a family that lost their home in a personal financial crisis. Go to an encampment, you might find someone struggling with addiction. Go to another you might find someone committing crimes to feed their habit. Polarized one side fits all rhetoric we hear from both sides is unhelpful.”
He also said that the claims the city is doing nothing, or that it’s doing the wrong thing by sweeping encampments, are both wrong.
And – chillingly, knowing what had happened just before his speech, he spoke of people dying on the streets, living in “encampments where some have been murdered or raped.”
He mentioned the “safe lots” to be opened for people living in vehicles, one of which will be in West Seattle, on a Highland Park paved lot adjacent to a former unauthorized encampment closed more than two years ago. Tomorrow night, Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim and City Councilmember Lisa Herbold will be among city reps at the Highland Park Action Committee meeting to talk about it and to listen; 7 pm at HP Improvement Club (12th SW/SW Holden).
ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: As noted in comments, tonight’s HPAC agenda – including questions for the city – can be seen here.
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