An epidemic of addiction and mental illness is destroying the bonds of society in Seattle. My name is Rachael Savage. I am a Seattle business person and a teacher. I am starting Savage Citizens as an organization dedicated to ending this epidemic once and for all.
Campaign Three: Stop the Downtown Emergency Services Center from opening on Belmont St. in Capitol Hill.
Brand New Documentary Shows The Reality Of Conditions Inside Permanent Supportive Housing Buildings in Seattle 09.25.24
Capitol Hill can’t handle anymore free housing for addicts and the mentally ill that operate on a housing model with:
No requirements for residents to be abstinent from alcohol and drugs.
No requirements for residents to be taking psychiatric medications or participating in psychiatric treatment.
No requirements for residents to be employed, enrolled in school or in a job training program.
Capitol Hill already has over three hundred people housed in multiple buildings that operate on this model variously called Housing First, Permanent Supportive Housing or Low Barrier Housing.
What are the effects of concentrating housing for hundreds of the most severely addicted and mentally ill on Capitol Hill without any real positive behavioral requirements?
The residents of Capitol Hill have all witnessed the damaging effects of permanently housing the severely addicted and the severely mentally ill in our walking urban neighborhood.
Anti-social behaviors of every kind are now a constant on Broadway.
Overdose and psychotic episodes are becoming commonplace.
Crimes associated with drug addiction like open drug use, shoplifting, sales of stolen merchandise and prostitution are happening all day every day.
Constant panhandling, sleeping on the sidewalks, alcohol use and public intoxication, trash, graffiti and public urination and defecation is harming Broadway as a destination.
Seattle Police Department numbers are starting to reveal the reality. 911 Service calls for overdoses and public drug use on Capitol Hill are rising sharply.
Broadway at Pike and Pine streets have now been classed by the City auditor in the top five of Seattle overdose and crime hotspots.
The top addresses for SFD and SPD responses are DESC Buildings year after year. These are calls for overdoses, injuries and deaths.
What do we want?
Savage Citizens immediate goal in Campaign Three is to stop the funding and building of the DESC Belmont St. project.
The goal of permanent safe housing for the mentally ill and the severely addicted is a noble goal. A goal that needs to be achieved now, but not at the expense of the citizens and the business establishments in our city and not at the expense of the addicted and mentally ill who are harmed by living in environments with easy access to drugs. We have all seen the damaging effects of permanently housing the severely addicted and the severely mentally ill in our city center neighborhoods first hand. The threat to our city’s decline is not exaggeration. Businesses are failing left and right because the environment is hostile to civilized society. Citizens are moving from our neighborhoods. We are on track to be the next San Francisco if we do not solve the existential threat posed by using the city as an experimental lab.
At Savage Citizens we support permanent long term residential treatment facilities for those whose mental and substance use disorders make them unable to act in ways that are beneficial to Seattle society. As a city we cannot wait to act. Our goal is to pass legislation to fund and build Seattle owned and operated long term addiction and mental health treatment facilities away from downtown city center.
This goal is achievable. In a few short years we can have a city unlike any American city we have seen in the last fifty years. We need your help. We invite you to bring your love of the city. Your expertise and your connections. Your willingness to fight for what is compassionate for all the people affected. The severely mentally ill, the addicted, the residents, the business owners, the cops, the firefighters, the counselors and the jail guards all deserve a safe, civilized prosperous city. The status quo offers no dignity. There is a better way. Sign up below to support to volunteer and to be a part of this campaign.