SHARE/WHEEL In Seattle Closes 15 Homeless Shelters

A Seattle homeless housing and resource system will close the doors of 15 shelters Monday night, forcing about 300 people onto the streets.

The homeless-run organization SHARE/WHEEL has run out of the government money it depends on, NWCN reports.

The nonprofit lost a large amount of money this year that it was previously granted through FEMA.

"We really need a stable source of funding," Jarvis Capucion, who is homeless and serves on SHARE/WHEEL's board of directors, told the news outlet.

SHARE/WHEEL is hosting a sleep-out to raise awareness Monday night, which is also World Homeless Action Day.

The organization is accepting donations.

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Comments

[zjin]

11:54 PM on 10/13/2011

If cities need to cut back spending on active shelters, they should provide more passive (read: inexpensive) assistance. For example, cities could cut back on enforcement, or repeal, various anti-homelessness laws. Also repeal or soften laws prohibiting sleeping in vehicles within cities. That would both save money in police time as well as permit the homeless to secure a sufficient amount of sleep for normal human functioning.

Cities could even go the extra, but inexpensive, step of designating parking lots in the evening, when usually empty anyway, as Park-N-Sleep areas for both the working poor who sleep in their vehicles as well as the destitute who simply need a place on the ground to put their sleeping bag. By ensuring an inexpensive and legal place where homeless can legally camp in the evening, there is virtually no cost at all to cities. Dispersing the camp in the morning would be the only active duty, and such lots would thereby continue to pay for themselves during the day.

Interestingly, when cities created homelessness laws, they seemed to forget adequate sleep is a fundamental human necessity. It is my understanding from research into the matter that without adequate sleep, people can die. The pursuit of adequate sleep therefore should be considered a natural human right. And such rights should therefore be protected, not criminalized, by law and city policy.

[b-dob]

05:14 PM on 10/13/2011

With all those kind-hearted liberals in Seattle, you'd think these homeless shelters could easily be funded by the generous donations of the citizenry. Oh wait, liberals are only generous with OTHER PEOPLES' money.

[FaceTheTruth00]

11:23 PM on 10/11/2011

So the linked article says that a large part of the expenses is from bus tickets. Apparently they give bus tickets to the homeless so that they can travel around town during the day and not be congregating around the property, which can be a requirement for use of the property.

So, I'd say, there has to be a better way. Something better than spending vast amounts of money on bus tickets to send people around town for the day.

Why can't the facility be open during the day and allow the homeless to be inside, so that they don't have to linger outside or find another place to go?

[bardmusic]

06:50 PM on 10/17/2011

Many of facilities are churches, with other things going on during the day.

[jdollinter]

12:04 PM on 10/11/2011

Seattle will be tearing down the viaduct just in time for a huge homeless camp on our waterfront.The current park is already overpopulated with transients so this change will allow thousands more to move here from Calif and Oregon.

[Californiagrove]

04:19 AM on 10/11/2011

Thanks Obama.

[John michael Adams]

11:36 PM on 10/10/2011

winter is coming...

[Annette Hammond]

07:39 PM on 10/10/2011

That's terrible.Sad.

[silkphoenix]

06:36 PM on 10/10/2011

Sorry, hit the ENTER key too soon. I don't know how do these people become homeless, but nobody deserves to live on the street.

[Joe Hero]

06:34 PM on 10/10/2011

SHAME BUT REAL WHAT AMERICA HAS COME TO. WHO CAN BLAME PROTEST IN A TIME
OF DIRE NEEDS OF THE POOR,HOMELESS AND HUNGER FACING OUR OWN COUNTRY!!

[silkphoenix]

06:33 PM on 10/10/2011

I wonder how Herman Cain feels now since he made the comments: "If you are unemployed, and not rich, it's your own fault"/

[Dan Schell]

08:11 PM on 10/10/2011

He doesn't "feel." That's part of the problem.

[Simply Astonished]

06:27 PM on 10/10/2011

It only sounds good in theory!

[WoollyMittens]

06:20 PM on 10/10/2011

With so many Bibles being thrown about in the USA, it strikes me as rather un-christian not to take care of the poor.