For the third time in three years, local media will spend a day channeling all our energy into this story, collecting the day’s coverage on a central landing page and tracking the conversation with the hashtag #SeaHomeless.
This year, Crosscut has teamed up with several other news outlets — the Seattle Times, KUOW, and SeattlePI.com — to carry out a series of in-depth stories on the changing dynamics of homelessness in Seattle. And we have partnered with The Evergrey and GeekWire, and six other organizations, to help collect questions readers have about the problem. These questions will create avenues for future reporting.
Homelessness is among the city's most vexing problems, and remains a crisis of coastal proportions: Up and down the western United States, pockets of extreme poverty have emerged in cities battling skyrocketing housing costs. In Seattle, the scenes of deprivation are, by now, familiar flashpoints of our daily routines. It is nearly impossible to avoid the tent-homes clustered in the nooks and crannies of our cityscape. The downtown core serves as backdrop to a surreal procession of chronically homeless men, women and, occasionally, children. Every night and every day, marginalized residents of this booming city rest their heads on park benches, bus seats, and concrete.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. At last count, 12,112 people were homeless in King County, many of them living in RVs, cars and shelters.
Check back here on July 19 for a round up of all the stories, and don't forget to follow along with the hashtag #SeaHomeless.
For third year, Seattle media rally to spotlight homelessness
A homeless encampment, referred to as The Jungle, underneath freeway overpasses in Seattle (Photo by Matt McKnight/Crosscut).
On Thursday, July 19, Crosscut will join a host of local media organizations dedicating our websites and social media channels to the stories of people struggling with homelessness.
