Moving on Up: LA and Seattle Homeless Will Be Relocated to Taxpayer-Funded Luxury Apartments
By A.J. Kaufman Oct 05, 2021 4:15 PM ET
Three glistening new buildings in downtown Seattle with 165 studio apartments — originally to be rented at market rates — will instead house the homeless.
The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) is buying the buildings with taxpayer dollars for about $50 million, with federal COVID-19 relief funds splitting the cost equally. Seattle City Hall is contributing about $25 million, while also using “American Rescue Plan Act” funds. A large portion comes from Washington State’s Department of Commerce.
Left-wing Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, so unpopular she can’t run for re-election, claims the deals will house people quickly and cheaply, compared to the time and cost required to develop similar projects from scratch. The three upscale buildings should be occupied by the end of the year.
Tent encampments in public spaces have grown in Seattle for decades, especially during the pandemic, due to poor leadership and unaffordable housing. Durkan recently extended Seattle’s so-called eviction moratoriums for the sixth time.
“The city and county have been enabling the homeless for a couple decades, and that’s what’s made the problem worse,” a lifelong Seattle-area resident told PJ Media Wednesday. “They destroy the hotels they get put in and have turned the city into a place that rivals a third world country. The homeless are far more dangerous than the gangs are in Seattle, and yes, Seattle has a big gang problem.”
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