In order to bring housing affordability to our city we need investors and builders to know their Seattle projects will make money.
In order to bring jobs to our city center neighborhoods we need employers to want to keep and to bring new companies to Seattle.
The cause of this crime is not mysterious. The Democrats have dismantled our law enforcement system and our system of addiction treatment and mental health.
Constant crime, unreported in crime stats, and driven by addiction and mental illness, creates fundamentally unsafe city center neighborhoods and an unsafe transit system.
Instead of law enforcement and real treatment to stop the crime, politicians continue to tell us that building more housing for the addicted and the mentally ill is the answer .
This crime, the thousands of incidents a day of public drug use, shoplifting, theft, assault, burglary, prostitution and sales of stolen goods, is the source of the empty buildings and the inability of Seattle to recover economically after the pandemic.
If Seattle is unable to solve the crime problem none of our other efforts matter. Our tax revenue will continue to fall. Politicians will continue to propose ever more taxes to try to make up for lost revenue. All to keep expensive housing and other social programs afloat Which will drive more businesses and wealthy individuals to leave. This is why I say the addiction epidemic is the No. 1 issue.
How will Rachael Savage end the addiction and mental illness epidemic in Seattle? By working tirelessly to write and pass the legislation needed, and to be loud in order to bring the rest of the council aboard to accomplish these goals:
Public Camping Ban: Jail or Direct to Detox-Treatment-Shelter.
Our detox beds, treatment centers and shelters are empty while late stage addicts use drugs in the streets of our city center neighborhoods. Banning camping is necessary to get addicts into detox, treatment and shelter. I filed a ballot initiative for the city of Seattle to ban camping in all public spaces. We have started collecting the necessary signatures. Together, we will let the Council know what Seattle really thinks. I will take this successful initiative with me to the Council and we will pass this initiative into law.
Public Drug Use Ban: Jail or Direct to Long Term Residential Treatment
The severely addicted use drugs on the streets of Seattle with no fear of arrest. Public drug use creates open air drug markets in our city center neighborhoods. Open air drug markets make the streets unsafe and destroy neighborhood businesses creating a destructive loop.
SPD is currently blocked by the Mayor and Council from arresting for public drug use. All European cities that have successfully closed open drug markets use arrest as the first step to moving the addicted into treatment and removing drug dealers from the streets. Seattle must do the same.
On the council, I will amend Seattle’s current public drug use law to enforce arrests and the 364 day penalty to make residential treatment the attractive alternative for addicts. I will write the law needed to build a temporary city jail, and two temporary secure treatment centers for the addicted and the severely mentally ill.
End Housing First: No More Free Apartments for Active Addicts
Thousands of apartments have been purchased by the city and are being run on the “Housing First” model. This means that apartments are given to the most severe addicts with no requirement for them to stop using drugs or to participate in treatment of any kind.
The Housing First model in the city of Seattle is why you see groups of addicts using in the streets clustered around each of these Housing First buildings. Housing First buildings create open drug scenes and increase crime in neighborhoods.
In addition, addicts die from overdose in these buildings at an incredible rate with 40% of all fatal overdoses over the last 4 years occurring in Housing First buildings. Federal funding to Housing First buildings has just been ended.
On the council, I will end city and county funding of Housing First and transform these buildings into safe and affordable low income housing for working adults and families and those successfully exiting treatment.
Close the Wage Vs. Rent Gap For Minimum Wage Workers
Building housing is not automatically the best solution for every problem. Many of our minimum wage workers are still paying 50% of their wage to rent. We can directly subsidize studio apartments in the city for minimum wage workers working full time. We can tie the subsidy to average Seattle rent adjusted bi-annually. At current rates this would average $300 per unit. We can fund this from existing Jump Start taxes. This is direct aid that does not require the city to build housing. This program will immediately give relief and stability to our hard working minimum wage workers.
Adjust M.F.T.E Program to Reward Builders for Building More Studio Apartments
The very successful MFTE program rewards builders with a tax break for building subsidized apartments in market rate buildings. Currently the program is encouraging the building of two and three bedroom apartments but is having difficulty in making those apartments worth the effort for developers. I will support an emphasis on making it profitable for studio apartments to be built as quickly and in as many neighborhoods as possible.
Build The Jail and Treatment Centers We Need
Seattle is suffering from not having control over our jail. On the council I will work to build first a temporary and then permanent Seattle City Jail so we are never again at the mercy of political decisions made by King County Executives that reduce jail capacity.
We can create a new, state of the art system of care, away from our city neighborhoods that will change the outcome for the citizens and businesses and for those who are suffering from addiction and mental illness. Using the money we already spend, I will do what is needed to build temporary facilities.
July’s Executive Order on Crime and Disorder shows the current administration is dedicated to ending the fifty year plight of the mentally ill, and the suffering of the addicted by dedicating funding to treatment facilities and creating the legal framework needed to help people in the streets.
I am the only candidate calling for these facilities and I will create the legislation and the funding from existing city housing taxes and from federal funding for permanent facilities.
No New Taxes. Again, No New Taxes
We can accomplish these goals without taxing city residents or business one more dollar. We will be able to save money in the long term by offering the appropriate treatment. Helping half of those addicted now to become productive members of society rather than residents of Housing First buildings.
Return to A System of Certain Law Enforcement
Seattle became famous for creating a compassionate jail or diversion system and getting the addicted into treatment. As the “criminal justice reform” movement took over in the 2000’s we took out the threat of jail and our diversion system lost its teeth. I will pass legislation that outlaws pre-trial diversion and moves Seattle to post-trial diversion of the non-violent into our city run long term treatment.
We can return the police and the courts to their proper role of firmly moving the addicted towards change and rejoining society. We can ensure that those who are committing crimes in Seattle know that arrest and charges and prosecution are certain.
Everything I have proposed so far and everything I will work on in council will further this goal. By accomplishing this goal we can restore meaning and purpose to the difficult jobs done by our law enforcement officers and jail personnel. This will make retention and recruitment far more effective.