The Homelessness Blame Game: Let's Challenge That
Just about everyone in Seattle knows why we have a homelessness crisis. Or they seem to. In fact, these confident observers don’t just have vague ideas; they have firm convictions informed by what they see on the streets, what they hear from housed neighbors, and what they gather from TV anchors and Talk Radio Jocks. We, however, think these armchair quarterbacks are wrong, and we write to offer an alternative explanation that Seattle homeowners won’t instinctively embrace.
But first, why do we reject the conventional wisdom?
First, very few of these local pundits seem to have read any of the academic literature on homelessness, and even fewer have ever bothered to talk with someone who is unhoused. In addition, and perhaps more telling, they have wildly different answers to the “why” question. It’s like watching a Jackson Pollack painting: What will stick to the canvass?
On social media, we hear that the primary cause of homelessness is:
Substance abuse. Repeatedly we are told that rough sleepers in Seattle are drug addicts and alcoholics. The evidence is visible: “open air drug markets,” needles, bottles, tin foil left in camps, homeless people behaving erratically.
-more-
https://www.postalley.org/2026/05/06/the-homelessness-blame-game-lets-challenge-that/