Housing alone won’t fix WA’s homeless crisis. The state should follow Pierce County’s lead

Washington spends tens of thousands of dollars per homeless person every year. That doesn’t include what counties and cities spend. Still, we have the fifth highest homeless population in the country. Some say that’s because we’re not spending enough, and that the only way to end homelessness is for the state to spend more building affordable houses. That would help some people, but our problem is bigger than the cost of housing.

Both the United Health Foundation and Mental Health America identify glaring problems in our state. Mental Health America ranks Washington 46 out of 50 states for the prevalence of adult mental illness. The United Health Foundation ranks Washington among the worst states for non-prescription drug use. Government statistics compiled by WaletHub rank Washington third highest for adult drug users, but 49th in drug arrests, and third in adults with unmet addiction needs. You can’t own these statistics and then be surprised when they spill out onto our streets.

For over two decades I’ve witnessed the reality of these statistics as a volunteer overnight manager of a shelter, and as an elected official. Over and over I saw that for many not having housing was the result of their problem, not the problem. Ending homelessness will require us to address their underlying problems, not the result, otherwise we’ll just spend more money and still have one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country.

To be clear, not everyone who is homeless has an underlying issue. I’ve met people in shelters who were there because they lost their job and couldn’t afford rent. Building more affordable housing will prevent those situations, but affordability is not why many are in shelters or on the streets. For some, it’s a choice.

One winter night in the shelter I overheard three guys talking about how once it warmed, they’d move back to their tent. Those guys had jobs, but didn’t want to pay rent and liked hanging out together in the park. If people who have jobs rationally choose to live in a tent, that is their decision, but we should not enable it by tolerating camping in our public spaces.

That seems straightforward, but what complicates an already difficult problem is that not everyone living in a tent can make rational choices. I confronted that reality 12 years ago as president of the Seattle Port Commission when several dozen people camped in one of the port’s waterfront parks. The port explained it could not legally allow camping on that shoreline and gave them a deadline to leave. The night before their tents were to be cleared, I sat with the campers, listened to their stories and assured them the port had arranged shelter for everyone who wanted it. Most accepted that offer, but it was clear to me that some who refused weren’t in any state to decide whether they needed help. The next morning port police cleared the camp.

No other decision I made as an elected official so forced me to reconcile my commitment to social justice with my responsibility to uphold the law. Pope John Paul II urged us to have “a special openness with ... those who are humiliated and left on the margin of society …” For too long here in Washington state, we have failed to provide the humiliated and marginalized with what they need.

That might be changing in Pierce County, where Executive Bruce Dammeier understands helping homeless people requires addressing the reasons they are homeless. Most intriguing is his effort to build a planned community that provides the chronically homeless with shelter, services and training.

According to Dammeier, this project which is modeled after one in Austin, Texas, will be a public-private partnership focused on transforming not enabling. That is the direction we need to head, because, while there are challenges, research shows that combining mental health and addiction treatment with affordable shelter reduces emergency room visits among the chronically homeless and increases the likelihood a person will remain housed.

Building affordable housing, prohibiting camping in public spaces and providing people with shelter that includes personalized drug and mental health services will go a very long way toward reintegrating many into our community. But even that will not be enough to help all who are homeless.

The obstacle blocking us from helping some of those in the greatest need is that they will tell you they are fine, when in reality, many are living in a dank, tangled thicket of abuse, trauma, drugs and mental illness. If we are to help these people, policymakers must answer the uncomfortable question: How do we help people who don’t think they need it?

Washington law provides for involuntary treatment of those who present a serious threat to themselves or others, or who fail to provide for their own essential human needs as a result of substance abuse or mental conditions. Legislators in the 2023 session should compassionately explore how these laws are being used, and what facilities and services we would need to provide if the laws were used more broadly to help the most difficult to reach.

Fortunately, for many, such extreme measures will not be necessary if we focus more on building shelter that includes needed services. Pierce County appears to be moving in that direction.

It’s the direction communities across Washington must move in If we want to stop having one of the largest homeless populations in the country.

Bill Bryant, who served on the Seattle Port Commission from 2008-16, ran against Jay Inslee as the Republican nominee in Washington’s 2016 governor’s race. He is chairman of the company BCI. Since the late 1980’s he has been appointed by U.S. Democratic and Republican administrations to advise on our nation’s trade policy. He is a founding board member of the Nisqually River Foundation, and was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to serve on the Puget Sound Partnership’s Eco-Systems Board.

This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.