CityLab Daily: Inflation Threatens to Worsen Homelessness in Seattle
Also today: A conservation craze in New Zealand’s capital, and is Luxembourg’s policy of free public transit paying off?
An encampment near the Jose Rizal Bridge in Seattle, Washington.
Photographer: Chona Kasinger/BloombergSoaring housing costs and stagnant wages have pushed thousands of people into economic distress in Seattle, which already has one of the largest unhoused populations in the US. Despite pandemic programs intended to ease the homelessness crisis, it has only worsened over the past two years.
Now, the head of Seattle’s new homelessness authority warns that the fastest inflation in decades will land more people on the streets. Faced with a deepening crisis, Marc Dones’s seven-month-old agency has been ramping up emergency housing programs and collaborating with the city’s tech industry to explore tools for identifying and helping those at risk. But the agency needs more funding, Bloomberg’s Dina Bass and Noah Buhayar report. Today on CityLab: Seattle’s Homelessness Chief Worries Inflation Will Erode Progress