there are homeless in every city whether the unemployment rate is 10% or 1%, it is never counted because they are not polled and counted. So to ask if things are really better if a city has homelessness is slightly naive. There are more people homeless now than there was 20 years ago so does that mean things are not better for the general population? It does not work that way. If Seattle homeless is down or up you cannot imagine some fantasy link then to the minimum wage level on pure opinion. if Seattle raised the minimum wage and businesses are still surviving that have to pay it and there was no massive disruption to the local economy then the city found the right level to raise the wage for the time being.
Seattle has a disproportionately large homeless population relative to many other large cities because of Leftist policies. Whether Leftists policies create homelessness or the homeless are attracted to Leftist policies, there may be basis for some debate. Taxpayers can be adversely affected when city councils downgrade zoning laws to provide subsidized multifamily housing in established communities of single family homes, potentially causing sub-performing real estate values, increased traffic loads, and worse crime rates. In addition, a physical gerrymandering may be possible depending on district lines and party affiliations. Further, there seems to be coordination between national Democratic leadership and local Democratic leadership as appears to be evidenced by similar zoning moves in Kirkland, WA, Portland, OR, and Austin, TX. As far as linking the increased minimum wage to homelessness, sure it’s hard to prove specific examples. However, $15.00 per hour times 20 hours per week for those not living at home usually will mean an alternative living arraignment in a high cost of living area such as Seattle, which in some cases will include at least intermittent or temporary homelessness. As a former security guard at a California technology company, I have seen temporary homelessness first hand as there was an employee who used to sleep near company property under a culvert. Incidentally, he later became a manager. At the core of the homeless situation is whether one political philosophy is better than another, which I tried to address in an other than concise way in my previous post.
Neither GOP nor Dems have ever addressed homelessness successfully which exists in cities and towns all over the country and exists no matter who is in charge. In fact it exists in cities around the world whether leadership is lefty or righty. You can try and use homelessness to bash one political party but it is just because of mentally limiting bias, not because of facts. All cities around the world have homelessness because of the large concentration of people, high cost of living and higher incidence also of mental illness in the collective population (plays as significant a factor in homelessness as does straight out poverty). So the core of homelessness has nothing to do with political party and the location of homelessness has everything to do with geography. Beijing, NY, Tokyo, Moscow, Rio, etc...pick a city and you will find homelessness.
One of the most conservative countries in the world: Egypt According to UNICEF, there are 1 million children living on the streets in Egypt. Other researchers estimate the number to be some 3 million. That is 3-4% homeless just in children. It is not a political issue...it is a poverty issue and no one party or ideology has solved it or made it better or worse.
it only became a political issue because FOX has to hammer "liberal" Cali for it. Trump watches way too much of it so he ran with it.
You make a lot of assertions without any sort of evidence to back them up. Homelessness is an urban issue by and large and has always been part of the urban landscape. Many homeless persons come from outside of the city seeking work and help. Also, a disproportionate number of homeless persons are actually veterans and mentally ill people. People who may be susceptible to substance abuse. This is very much indicative of the Trump groupie mentality. You guys follow the line you see on Fox News without even thinking about where it leads and why. We are actually making inroads on homelessness too. But if you ask a Fox News watcher they think it’s at record highs. My advice is to stop watching Fox News and look at the data. Don’t look for a two sided model either. Find objective data.