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Seattle Area Considering Funding To Send Homeless Back To Their Families

   DailyWire.com
A homeless man, who said he was aware of the forecast for extreme weather, rests in a park while covered with snow on February 8, 2019 in Seattle, Washington.
Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images

On Wednesday in Washington state in King County, which has been suffering from a burgeoning homelessness crisis, the King County Council considered a proposal that would spend $250,000 to send homeless people back to their families.

As KOMO News reported, the program, titled Homeward Bound, was proposed by Councilmember Reagan Dunn, and would give a homeless person a meal stipend and a pre-paid ticket to anywhere in the continental U.S. providing they have proof of family in that target city. The only places they could not move are the counties next to King County.

Dunn stated, “If we are going to have a meaningful reduction of the number of homeless people on our streets, the elected officials need to do their job and make tough choices, and I’m asking them to make those tough choices today.” Dunn mentioned over 10 cities with similar programs. Among them was San Francisco, which transferred 800 people through Homeward Bound initiative.

Dunn stated, “We want to make sure that there is someone there that can care for them, that there is a roof over their head, that they’re stable, and they’re in a position to provide care.”

The Blaze noted, “Seattle is among the cities hardest hit by the homeless crisis, which some critics say is the result of liberal law enforcement policies.” KOMO added, “In a 2019 point in time count, a one-night count of all of the homeless people in King County, Dunn said 9%, or roughly one thousand homeless people, said they would benefit from reunifying with family.”

In 2018, the City-Journal reported, “In its 2017 point-in-time count of the homeless, King County social-services agency All Home found 11,643 people sleeping in tents, cars, and emergency shelters. Property crime has risen to a rate two and a half times higher than Los Angeles’s and four times higher than New York City’s. Cleanup crews pick up tens of thousands of dirty needles from city streets and parks every year. At the same time, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, the Seattle metro area spends more than $1 billion fighting homelessness every year. That’s nearly $100,000 for every homeless man, woman, and child in King County.”

In August, Fox News reported, “In an effort to address the homeless crisis, Seattle’s City Council has looked at different ways to raise money. In May 2018, they unanimously approved a $275 tax per employee on Seattle’s largest employers. Pitched as a progressive revenue source aimed at tackling homelessness, the tax was estimated to raise $47 million a year.” Fox News added, “A 2019 Seattle Times poll showed that while there’s strong support for the city to expand mental health and substance abuse treatments for the homeless, there’s skepticism of the elected officials’ ability to do it.”

San Francisco’s Homeward Bound program stated, “Through the Homeward Bound Program, HSH can provide bus tickets home to individuals that are: homeless/low income and living in San Francisco; and have family or friends at the destination that Homeward Bound staff can verify as willing and able to provide a place to stay and ongoing support; and are medically stable enough to travel unassisted to the destination; and are sober and able to abstain from alcohol or using other substances en route.”

 

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