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Okay, while I get the idea behind this "cost savings" I don't know if I agree with it from a moral stand point. If alcoholics get their place to live, then shouldn't hopeless junkies, crack addicts, crank heads, etc all get a place too?
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No one requires you or anyone else to agree with it from a moral standpoint. In direct answer to your question, it is the homeless alcoholics that are attempting to survive at Pioneer Square. (Junkies are found elsewhere.) If you are unfamiliar with downtown Seattle, Pioneer Square is a tourist destination point. The math is simple once a person looks beyond the "outrage" that this article promotes and considers the importance of the "image" that Seattle wants to project to visitors.
Seattle is very much a progressive city, but it is also aware of it's own self-interest. For that reason, Seattle chooses to be proactive in resolving a problem that solves more than one agenda:
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These apartments fit into the "housing first" philosophy, newly adopted by many cities, intended to give permanent housing and intensive services to long-term homeless people. Local officials have already approved other buildings for the mentally ill and people with chronic medical conditions, said Adrienne Quinn, director of Seattle's Housing Office.
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A third of the residents, including Mr. Littlebear, are American Indian; an estimated 20 percent are military veterans. The average age is 45. Most receive state or federal disability payments, and all residents pay 30 percent of their income as rent under HUD's guideline for low-income housing.
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Does anyone here object to supporting our military veterans that have fallen through the cracks? Is anyone in the PNW not aware of the alcoholism problem among the Nations? It appears that many are paying their way with their disability checks. Cyn, your "morality" is not relevant, compared to the basic "humanity" of this project. It will pay for itself in a number of ways whether you and others approve of it or not.
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Thanks, Snowy, for your PNW perspective.
