Just two short months ago, before the Covid-19 virus arrived, homelessness was the number one issue in the State of Washington. And seventy-five percent of Seattlites said that addressing public safety downtown was an urgent issue.

Now everything has changed and nothing has changed. With the virus spreading throughout our communities, the vast majority of us are rightly focusing on this new threat. In spite of our justifiable change in focus, the problems left unsolved over the last decade are going to be even more difficult to address and have the potential to compromise everyone’s health and safety during this crisis.

In response, Seattle and King County have taken quick action to provide quarantine facilities for people experiencing homelessness, but the effort is off to a rocky start. The acute shortage of housing and hygiene services during a crisis in which hygiene and social distancing are are necessary creates a perfect recipe for bad outcomes that should have been avoided. (Read: FEMA-style tents as homeless shelters? Maybe, say some King County officials, who believe we have a ‘public health disaster’)

Seattle’s shortage of police officers can be expected to be stretched to the limit as officers are taken out of service by the virus at a time when most new suspects will not be jailed and King County plans to release hundreds of inmates to prevent the spread within correctional facilities. The already-devastated business community in Ballard is finding itself under attack from opportunists and has had to hire a private security company to protect its shuttered businesses.

What can you do

We all need to pull together (at a safe distance) and do what we can to look out for each other during this time of crisis. Here are some suggestions:

• If you have the means, donate to your favorite charity. Or donate food and hygiene products to local food banks.
• Consider remotely starting or refreshing a Block Watch group and make plans to support each other if SPD is not able to respond to a call.
• If you are healthy, able and willing, shop for groceries and other necessities for vulnerable neighbors
• The Millionair Club Charity has been heavily impacted by the loss of contract work to clean stadiums and other event spaces. They urgently need donations to continue operations. Please consider a donation during the matching drive they have going with Stand Together.
• First responders are under a great deal of stress. Help support them and local restaurants by donating fresh-cooked meals via the GoFundMe started by bigthanks.org.

Photo credit (Amanda Snyder / The Seattle Times)