Homeless in Seattle (fwd)

[Albert W. Boss]

This came across the urban community development list, cd4urban.  If
anyone wants to write to the author, Ed Schwartz, his e-mail address is
included.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 1997 17:38:17 -0700
From: Ed Schwartz <edcivic at libertynet.org>
Reply-To: cd4urban at u.washington.edu
To: cd4urban at u.washington.edu, urban-leaders at nul.org
Cc: VISTANET at SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Homeless in Seattle

A week ago Monday--April 1st--the Mayor of Philadelphia, Ed Rendell shared the
platform with Mayor Norman Rice of Seattle on a panel in New York City
related to welfare reform. As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rendell
expressed the sort of urgency that I've conveyed here about the need
for a federal jobs program to help employ recipients who will not be
absorbed in the private economy. Rice was more upbeat, however,
arguing that projected job growth in Seattle over the next few years
could handle the problem.

So I looked up data on Seattle from various resources  online (which
I'm soon going to consolidate on one menu in Neighborhoods Online
to facilitate your own research on these matters). Sure enough,
the economic profile was quite positive. In the 1980's, Seattle gained
100,000 jobs, at a time when Philadelphia was losing more than twice
that number. Seattle is expected to gain another 70,000 jobs by the
year 2000.

But then I read the Executive Summary of Seattle's Community Development
program, as submitted to HUD in 1995. There I learn that given rents
and housing costs, thousands of low-income renters are struggling
to find a place to place. In fact, an AFDC recipient has to spend 100%
of her income on housing (hmm..and what happens if that income disappears?).

Later, we learn that there are between 3,900 and 4,300 homeless people
on any given night in Seattle--over 17,000 a year. Seattle has less
than half the population of Philadelphia, but the homeless population
in both cities is the same. Seattle also spends about as much money
on the homeless as Philadelphia--$17 million--to support more than 43 shelter
providers. This is hardly the "upscale" image that City projects
to itself or to the country.

Now I know that the immediate response that
many people online want to make
to such observations revolves around what 
government should or should not do. We all
want to debate solutions--which is fine.

But I have an even more basic question: at 
this point, do  most people even
consider homelessness a problem--or have they
just come to accept it? There *were* no large
numbers of homeless people in 1980. But by the mid-
80's, this was a major national phenomenon, and cities
all over the country were in turmoil over how to 
respond. Then a period of "compassion fatigue" 
set in, and those who wanted to "clear the homeless
from the streets" and to block "aggressive panhandling"
became the loudest voices. So now many cities have
"cleared" them. There are shelters. There are "transitional
housing units."  But the homeless are still with us--
unlamented and unnoticed.....

And is this also what will happen as so-called welfare "reform" 
unfolds?  Over the next five years, cities
and many smaller communities will be in turmoil, as
recipients who fail to find jobs either lose their benefits
 or end up in workfare programs that threaten to reduce
wages of existing workers in the public and private sector.
At first, It will be seen as a  catastrophe, perhaps....with lots
of turmoil and public debate. Then what? Will we reach a point
 where this, too, won't matter--where people will simply grow used
 to women and children by the thousands lying in the streets or 
makeshift shelters set up for them? Impossible? Isn't that what 
America has already done in relation to the existing homeless population?

So I'm curious....how is homelessness is now viewed
where you live. Do citizens now take this for granted? Is
there *any* public debate over what to do about it? Is there
any sign that your community or city is *ashamed* at the number
of homeless that remain in America? Or is this ok now...as
it seems to be in Seattle?

After all, if a social condition ceases to be seen as a problem,
then we no longer have to worry about solutions. Do we.

The relevant passages from the
Seattle Community Development Plan 
Executive Summary passages follow:


                                       COMMUNITY PROFILE

In 1990 Seattle had a population of 516,259. About 15 percent of the city's
residents 
are over 65 years old, while people over 75 are the fastest growing segment.
 Most of the residents (75 percent) are white; minority groups
 grew at a rate four times faster than the white population. 
During the 1980s the number of Asian Americans
 increased by 63 percent; Hispanics increased by 44 percent;
 African Americans increased by 42 percent; 
and Native-Americans increased by 15 percent.

Non-family households are more likely to have lower incomes than family
 households. In 1990 Seattle's overall median  family income (MFI) was 
$38,895. The MFI for family households was almost double that of non-family
households -- 
$49,572 for family households, versus $28,005 for non-family households.

Among the 236,908 households in Seattle, 65,427 (28 percent) are low-income, 
earning 0-51 percent of MFI. Another 44,471 households (19 percent) are
moderate-income, earning 51-80 percent of MFI. 
Only 21,818 households (9 percent)
 are middle-income, earning 81-95 percent of MFI.


Affordable Housing Needs

During the past 20 years, the cost of housing has become increasingly
 burdensome for many renter  and homeowner households. 
Generally, housing costs have increased at a faster rate than incomes. 
The cost of rental housing in Seattle continues to be a major problem 
for low-income households. 
Although construction of new multifamily rental units has been 
at an all-time high, low-income renter
 households still do not have greater housing choices because they 
cannot afford these new units without
 subsidies....


A family of four receiving assistance from the Aid to Families With 
Dependent Children program would  need to spend 100 percent of
 their monthly income on housing. In 1990 families living at the poverty
level 
needed an annual rent supplement of $4,300 to afford current average market 
rate rents for a two-bedroom  apartment.

Furthermore, the gap between public assistance income and
 housing costs is increasing. Rental housing 
costs increased by 82 percent between 1980 and 1990. 
The Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) and other
 nonprofit housing providers cannot meet the demand for affordable 
housing. More than 13,800 households
 are on SHA's waiting list for subsidized housing, and few households
 can access existing SHA housing in
 less than 3 months. Large families of five or more often wait several
years for housing.

Homeless Needs

Homelessness continues to be one of the most persistent problems facing
Seattle. 
Conservative estimates project that there are between 14,000 and 17,000 
homeless persons annually.  On any given night, between 3,900 and 4,300 
individuals are without a home, and this number is growing.
 Furthermore, emergency service providers report that more people 
are being turned away from shelters. 

Members of ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented 
in shelters and transitional housing programs.
 Almost 25 percent of shelter clients are children,
 and at least 50 percent of these children are under 6 years old. 

To meet the needs of the homeless, Seattle has 43 shelter providers, 
offering more than 2,300 emergency
 shelter beds. Of these shelter providers, more than half are 
city funded. In 1993 the city allocated more than 
$17 million in Federal, State, county, and city funds to more
 than 74 programs that provide emergency shelter,
 meals, and support services. Nevertheless, shelters and transitional 
housing providers report that finding 
affordable housing for their clients is becoming more difficult. 
Barriers to securing permanent housing include
 insufficient income, availability of low-cost or subsidized housing,
 and inadequate access to needed support systems.


Ed Schwartz, Institute for the Study of Civic Values, 1218 Chestnut St.,
Rm. 702, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 215-238-1434 edcivic at libertynet.org

The ISCV home page can be reached at
http://libertynet.org/~edcivic/iscvhome.html
Also check out  "Neighborhoods Online" at
http://libertynet.org/community/phila/natl.html. 

"Citizenship is the American ideal. There may be an army of actualities
opposed to that ideal, but there is no ideal opposed to that ideal."
                               --G.K. Chesterton







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