[yeahbutiguess]

Eastside also buses homeless folks out (or at least used to). They very much care about the facade of cleanliness on the Eastside but not about people nearly as much.

And yeah, agree with you and the parent poster - the issue isn't unique to Seattle, local areas aren't doing enough, and housing has not met demand.

[seanmcdirmid]

They don’t bus anymore. They just enforce laws really strict so Seattle looks appealing (where laws are more loosely enforced), and then metro won’t stop you from boarding if you can’t pay the fare.

[whateveracct]

The Eastside just externalizes its homelessness to Seattle by way of King County jail

[seanmcdirmid]

If only. KC judges and prosecutors are loathe to put people in jail these days. They were even talking about releasing that guy who bashed in the head of an Amazon worker in beltown.

[whateveracct]

Doesn't matter - if they get bussed there and released, they're now in Seattle and no longer Redmond and Bellevue's problem.

[seanmcdirmid]

In Seattle you can throw up a tent and you might have to remove it a few weeks later. In Bellevue, you lay down on a bench and swat is out in 5 minutes (even if you won’t go to jail, the police will harass you enough that you’ll leave). Bellevue makes it annoying to do illegal things, Seattle makes it convenient, so of course they are going to head to Seattle, it’s simply the path of least resistance.

[roguecoder]

It is illegal to ban camping unless free housing is available: https://mrsc.org/stay-informed/mrsc-insight/october-2022/new... It's Bellevue that is violating the law by enforcing an unconstitutional ordinance, rather than the people sleeping on benches.

[whateveracct]

So basically, the Bellevue homelessness policy is Not In My Back Yard.

[seanmcdirmid]

It’s basically enforce laws aggressively, and make the problem go to the more permissive city. It wouldn’t work if Seattle police started enforcing laws, Bellevue would be screwed at that point.