Seattle is Dying | A KOMO News Documentary
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters cite it in homelessness threads about San Francisco and Seattle as an eye-opening, widely viewed argument for treatment-first policy, though some see it as pro-law-enforcement framing.
What it is
A one-hour 2019 KOMO News documentary hosted by Eric Johnson on Seattle's homelessness and drug crisis, with interviews and looks at proposed solutions including a drug court program in Rhode Island. It argues addiction and mental illness are at the core of the problem.
Recommended by 10 HN commenters across 8 different months, 2019 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec henryl · 2019-08 · on “California’s Biggest Cities Confront a ‘Defecation Crisis’”
“Seattle Is Dying” is a great investigative report about the problems and potential solutions to homelessness. Also applicable to SF. [this video]
Strong rec j8hn · 2021-08 · on “I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem”
I don't have any experience with the housing issue in California, but got involved a while back trying to find pragmatic solutions in Seattle. The situation is a mess and there is an entire "homeless industrial complex" complicating matters here, rife with fraud, misspending and cronyism. Every year it seems like many millions of dollars more are spent on this issue but it keeps getting visibly worse. At first I was in the "Housing First" crowd, but after my experiences I would say I more firmly believe in "Rehab First". A local news station released a great documentary called "Seattle is Dying". It has 10 million views since released a couple of years ago. [this video] The sequel is "The Fight F
Recommends freyir · 2019-04 · on “San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide”
A good video on the topic: [this video] It’s not a homelessness crisis. Homelessness is a symptom. Our cities are in the grips of a heroin & meth epidemic. Until we acknowledge that, it won’t get better.
Recommends nugget · 2019-05 · on “Billionaire Marc Benioff donates $30M to research homelessness”
Here's a recent exposé about homelessness in Seattle: [this video] My takeaway: drug addiction and mental illness are the real problems. Homelessness is just a symptom of the disease. Why does that distinction matter? Building affordable housing without infrastructure and services to address addiction and mental health will not work.
Recommends drak0n1c · 2019-05 · on “The rise of fear-based social media like Nextdoor, Citizen, and Amazon Neighbors”
Rhode Island (where I used to live before Seattle) is a blue state with functioning prosecutors that actually prosecute charges for misdemeanors and crimes, but they offer sentenced individuals the alternative of entering the drug court system for mandatory interned rehab, or the mental health system. People going through the system say it saved their life. Intervention works. West coast states do have similar drug courts, but since crimes are not prosecuted and misdemeanor charges are routinely vacated there is no incentive for people to actually be helped. For helpful information on Rhode Island's program I recommend the last 20 min of this documentary: [this video]
Recommends jxramos · 2019-06 · on “After Amazon-Led Tax Rebellion, Seattle's Homeless Aid Stalls”
I was just thinking of that documentary. I agree it was very eye opening. Looks like it stands at 3.9M views currently. I read an article about it that the journalist brought a lot of ire his way producing that blunt exposition. If I remember correctly there was a PR campaign to undo his work or something along those lines. Direct YouTube link: [this video]
Recommends 29athrowaway · 2021-05 · on “I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled”
There is this documentary called "Seattle is dying" by KOMO news: [this video] The situation in this documentary is similar to SF.
Recommends dolni · 2021-05 · on “Ask HN: What are some things you learnt from a game that changed your life?”
> This is GP's entire point. Given the freedom to choose what to do, "do nothing" is not a common choice. In a world where everyone has the option to say, "I don't want to work", most won't actually say that, especially in the long term. Absolutely wrong? The U-3 unemployment rate always lags 3-7% behind the U-6: [LINK] To suggest up to 7% of people just not looking for a job is "not a common choice" is terribly misleading. Even during good periods for the economy, the number sits around 4%. I don't expect that number to get smaller by adding UBI. Do you? > Why fairness? The system we have now is incredibly unfair. UBI would at least provide more fairness by removing wage slavery. Why not fa