Local Issues

Homelessness

A problem in every major American city and in every city of the Puget Sound region. The cause can be racial inequity, economic disparities, mental health issues, rising housing costs, addiction etc. Drug overdose the leading cause of death among homeless people. The rising housing and living costs makes it impossible to catch up once they lose everything. Over the past 6 years, rents have increased by 57%. Affordable housing development cannot serve people's needs while affordable units continue to decrease. A recent analysis has found that 47% of households that rent in the Seattle metro area are "housing cost burdened," meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent alone. People of color experience homelessness is the result of racial disparity. Of the 21,500 applications to the 2017 SHA Housing Choice Voucher program, more than 35% came from people of color.

https://www.seattle.gov/homelessness/the-roots-of-the-crisis

The video "Seattle is Dying" displays the citizens reaction on the homelessness issue, hypothesizing on the phenomenon "if Seattle is really dying". 

Crime:
Father killed by son after ignoring warnings to stay away.

https://komonews.com/news/local/father-fatally-shot-by-son-as-deputies-were-on-scene-at-maple-valley-home-police-say

In Maple Valley, WA. A 74 year-old father was fatally shot by his son after ignoring deputy's warnings not to engage with him while his son was in crisis. The 41-year-old man threatened to hurt people around noon Tuesday. Police says they had been to the home before for mental health checks on the same man, and when they arrived on Tuesday afternoon the man refused to leave the house. When they were getting ready to go, the man's 74-year-old father arrived home and avoiding the police warnings he went into the house where he was shot and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. The son gave himself up to the authorities.

Drugs

https://mynorthwest.com/1287189/dori-dan-satterberg-prolific-offenders/?

An opioid more deadly than fentanyl found on Seattle streets.
Seattle is in the midst of the opioid crisis, another illicit drug has been discovered. Experts say it is more potent and deadly than other opioids. Two people  in Washington state overdose on opioids each day. "With these new synthetic opioids, which we think are coming in from China, they're so potent you only have to ship a little bit," Banta-Green said, further noting that the synthetic drug has arrived in the area because it's profitable. The DEA calls it a significant threat. t's an issue nationwide with counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. While he believes the drugs are possibly entering the US by way of China, it first surfaced on the East Coast. He said there's been a significant increase in fentanyl, and other fentanyl-related drugs, on the East Coast and in the Midwest for several years.

Sources:
https://www.seattle.gov/homelessness/the-roots-of-the-crisis
https://komonews.com/news/local/father-fatally-shot-by-son-as-deputies-were-on-scene-at-maple-valley-home-police-say
https://katu.com/news/local/carfentanil-deadly-drug-has-been-detected-in-seattle