on this one, I think Horsey got it right.

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/homelessness-by-the-numbers/

#1 Homeless person,
"Look at this... They estimate it would cost $11.5 Billion
to end homelessness in King County!"

#2
"That's a serious chunk of change."

#1
"Hmmmm... If there are about 13,000 homeless people
and you leave out the developers, the Housing Authority,
the social workers, the middle men...
Then divide by 13,000 and..."

"Holy Moley Dude!
If they just gave us the money, you and I both
would get $884,615.39 !"

#2
"You're good with math."

#1
"Seriously!
What would you do with that kind of cash?"

#2
"I'd sure as heck buy more than one of
those tiny houses."

-----------
So did you see one organization finished
building 170 tiny houses.
150 are still sitting empty,,, waiting
for approval and for someone to take charge?

-------------
But the above points out the real problem,
Government plans and actions favor
people just like themselves,
The rule makers are mostly college grads,
and their plans and budgets will be sure
to take care of other government employees
and NGO employees, the employees running
the Housing Authority and social workers.

-----------
And as I witnessed from 1968 to 1975,
the government in all its guises
(Federal, State, King County, Seattle,
HUD etc.) ARE THE WORST PROPERTY MANAGERS
EVER !!! *
And this new thing on your Seattle ballot
is just going to be a waste and boondogle.

* I'm not totally angry about that,
between the government getting out of
property mismanagement and POTUS Jimmy Carter,
I made myself quite financially comfortable.
But these government jerk offs just soak
the average citizen and tax payer.

On 2/9/23 15:44, a425couple wrote:
> on this one, I think Horsey got it right.
>
> https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/homelessness-by-the-numbers/
>
> #1 Homeless person,
> "Look at this... They estimate it would cost $11.5 Billion
> to end homelessness in King County!"
>
> #2
> "That's a serious chunk of change."
>
> #1
> "Hmmmm... If there are about 13,000 homeless people
> and you leave out the developers, the Housing Authority,
> the social workers, the middle men...
> Then divide by 13,000 and..."
>
> "Holy Moley Dude!
> If they just gave us the money, you and I both
> would get $884,615.39 !"
>
> #2
> "You're good with math."
>
> #1
> "Seriously!
> What would you do with that kind of cash?"
>
> #2
> "I'd sure as heck buy more than one of
> those tiny houses."
>
> -----------
> So did you see one organization finished
> building 170 tiny houses.
> 150 are still sitting empty,,, waiting
> for approval and for someone to take charge?
>
> -------------
> But the above points out the real problem,
> Government plans and actions favor
> people just like themselves,
> The rule makers are mostly college grads,
> and their plans and budgets will be sure
> to take care of other government employees
> and NGO employees, the employees running
> the Housing Authority and social workers.
>
> -----------
> And as I witnessed from 1968 to 1975,
> the government in all its guises
> (Federal, State, King County, Seattle,
> HUD etc.) ARE THE WORST PROPERTY MANAGERS
> EVER !!!  *
> And this new thing on your Seattle ballot
> is just going to be a waste and boondogle.
>
> *  I'm not totally angry about that,
> between the government getting out of
> property mismanagement and POTUS Jimmy Carter,
> I made myself quite financially comfortable.
> But these government jerk offs just soak
> the average citizen and tax payer.

David Horsey By David Horsey
Seattle Times cartoonist
The math of the homeless crisis is daunting.

Take, for instance, a recent estimate done by the King County Regional
Homelessness Authority that says ending homelessness in the county would
take more than $8 billion to build tens of thousands of new housing
units, plus up to $3.5 billion in annual operating costs. To put that in
perspective, $8 billion is twice what Gov. Jay Inslee’s current budget
proposal asks the state to borrow to build more affordable housing and
shelters for all of Washington.

Already, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by Seattle and
the county to deal with unhoused people, yet the numbers of folks living
on the streets in sleeping bags, tents and motor vehicles has continued
to increase. One survey of the local homeless population puts their
numbers at more than 13,000. Another claims there are three times as
many as that.

Whatever the real number may be, it is clear that half of those who are
homeless have serious health problems, including 31% who are dealing
with mental health issues and 37% who are hooked on one drug or another.
To address that chronic problem, the county will be asking voters to
approve a ballot measure in April that would create five new mental and
behavioral health crisis centers. There is no doubt such services are
needed, but here’s another number: The price tag for this plan reads
$1.25 billion.

Added together, that is a whole lot of billions to address the needs of
a relatively small number of our fellow citizens. It is a pipe dream to
think that our elected officials can find a way to come up with that
much additional revenue, so “ending” homelessness seems unlikely. That
is also because of other big numbers: Short of a major economic
calamity, housing prices are not going to drop in this region. They
could level off, they could sink a little here and there, but King
County is now one of the most expensive places to live in the country
and that is not going to change.

As a result, unless people on the low end of the economic spectrum vote
with their feet and move to less expensive towns, we will have a
homelessness problem to manage for a long time to come. The tough
question is, how much are we willing – or able – to spend to deal with it?

See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey

View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons

Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads
on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community
policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate
required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a
Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and
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only. Letters are limited to 200 words.

David Horsey is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist
for The Seattle Times. His latest book is “Drawing Apart: Political
Cartoons from a Polarized America.”