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Microsoft Co-founder Pledges $30 Million To House Seattle's Homeless (cnn.com)

Paul Allen, a founder of Microsoft has pledged $30 million to house Seattle's homeless. From a report: Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said Wednesday the city was partnering with Paul G. Allen's family foundation to build a facility to house homeless families with children. Allen's foundation will provide $30 million toward the development of the facility, while the city of Seattle has pledged $5 million for its maintenance and operation. It will be owned and operated by Mercy Housing Northwest, a nonprofit housing organization. Seattle is in King County, which has 1,684 families that are homeless, according to the mayor's announcement. More than 3,000 homeless children were enrolled in Seattle's public schools during the 2015-2016 year, it said.

9 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What's the immigration status of these families by matthewcharles2006 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is insane. It is never wrong to help homeless children, especially in a country as rich as the US and a city as rich as Seattle. The risk of accidentally helping some homeless children that also don't have the right papers is an especially dumb reason to not help homeless children.

  2. Re:What's the immigration status of these families by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The risk of accidentally helping some homeless children that also don't have the right papers is an especially dumb reason to not help homeless children.

    You misspelled "evil" as "dumb" there. Because we all know what this is really about: finding excuses not to help anyone else under any circumstances which are avoidable. This attitude was ingrained during the great depression, in which people mostly told everyone else to fuck off while they were trying to take care of their own shit, and it was hammer home during the baby boom, when everyone felt like they were the shit and didn't need help from anyone in spite of the fact that American prosperity post-WWII is the result of the rest of the world getting the shit bombed out of it.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. Re:There's a fine line between helping and enablin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    [Citation needed.]

    In this population of chronically homeless individuals with high service use and costs, a Housing First program was associated with a relative decrease in costs after 6 months. These benefits increased to the extent that participants were retained in housing longer.

    http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/183666

  4. Pay your fucking taxes instead by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the rich didn't get more ways to weasel out of paying their due, we wouldn't need the pittance they pay as charity. We'd have the money to provide for our people ourselves.

    Fuck you Paul Allen. The only reason you could create that "charity" is because you evaded paying what you owe.

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Pay your fucking taxes instead by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And that's exactly the attitude that leads to this situation: the belief among a large subset of the population that they will eventually get rich and benefit from all of the loopholes that aid the rich. The overwhelming majority of the richest people in the world were born rich. They didn't come from being lower middle class and work hard to earn their money.

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      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:Pay your fucking taxes instead by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So you'd rather play a game that you know is rigged against you than try to change the rules, while simultaneously complaining that people who want to change the rules are self destructive? No wonder we elect the leaders we do...

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      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  5. Re:There's a fine line between helping and enablin by Bruinwar · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is not just free stuff. This is a program to combat homelessness. From TFA this money is going to Mercy Housing Northwest It is the organization that appears to have a great track record. Like most modern homeless shelters, it's about getting people on their feet, it at all possible. Better than spending money on prisons/healthcare costs/crime that comes with homelessness.

    From their website Mercy Housing Northwest:

    Impact on our residents

    Providing a home that families and individuals can afford is a valuable service. Some households need more. And we provide it. We call this coordination of housing and services “Service-Enriched Housing.”

    What does Resident Services or Service-Enriched housing mean?

    After school tutoring & homework club for students

    Exercise, health and wellness opportunities

    Nutrition workshops and healthy cooking classes

    Tax prep and EITC assistance

    Emergency food assistance

    ESL & employment coaching

    The goal of Service-Enriched Housing is to help families achieve stability and then to enhance that stability. It is stability that can be the greatest preventative measure to help families avoid homelessness. We accomplish this through dedicated and highly-motivated staff, extensive community partnerships, and a focus on programs that contribute to resident success and outcomes that can be measured.

    We not only believe that affordable housing and supportive programs improve the economic status of residents, transform neighborhoods and stabilize lives—the evidence shows that it does.

    74% of our residents in Washington have consistently paid their rent on time.

    91% of our residents in Washington have maintained their housing for 1+ year.

    72% of our residents in Washington have maintained their housing for 2+ years.

    84% of our residents in Washington have accessed 5 or more basic and enhanced skill-building services.

    This is not just free stuff. This is a program to combat homelessness. From TFA this money is going to Mercy Housing Northwest It is the organization that appears to have a great track record. Like most modern homeless shelters, it's about getting people on their feet, it at all possible. Better than spending money on prisons/healthcare costs/crime that comes with homelessness.

    From their website Mercy Housing Northwest:

    Impact on our residents

    Providing a home that families and individuals can afford is a valuable service. Some households need more. And we provide it. We call this coordination of housing and services “Service-Enriched Housing.”

    What does Resident Services or Service-Enriched housing mean?

    After school tutoring & homework club for students

    Exercise, health and wellness opportunities

    Nutrition workshops and healthy cooking classes

    Tax prep and EITC assistance

    Emergency food assistance

    ESL & employment coaching

    The goal of Service-Enriched Housing is to help families achieve stability and then to enhance that stability. It is stability that can be the greatest preventative measure to help families avoid homelessness. We accomplish this through dedicated and highly-motivated staff, extensive community partnerships, and a focus on programs that contribute to resident success and outcomes that can be measured.

    We not only believe that affordable housing and supportive programs improve the economic status of residents, transform neighborhoods and stabilize lives—the evidence shows that it does.

    74% of our residents in Washington have consistently paid their rent on time.

    91% of our residents in Washington have maintained their housing for 1+ year.

    72% of our residents in Washington have maintained their housing for 2+ years.

    84% of our residents in Washington have accessed 5 or more basic and enhanced skill-building services.

    Does that not sound better than just letting them be on the street?

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    SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
  6. in unrelated news, Paul Allen buys Soylent by retchdog · · Score: 3, Funny

    in unrelated news, Paul Allen buys Soylent and plans to expand production facilities into a number of Seattle Housing Authority buildings.

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    "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  7. Re:What's the immigration status of these families by radarskiy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most immigration status infractions are civil offenses, not crimes.