What will change – and what won’t – about how western cities approach homelessness
A tough new federal homelessness czar is in, but recent court rulings say that winds may be blowing away from criminalizing the homeless. This isn’t the first time Seattle’s transit has been a mess. And: a landlord and a tenant advocate face off about the reinstituted first-in-time rental law.
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Scott Greenstone on 9th District SCOTUS decision
Today the Supreme Court let a 9th Circuit Court decision stand. The law protects people from being ticketed for sleeping outside. More than 50% of the nation’s unsheltered people are in California, Oregon, and Washington. Scott Greenstone is a reporter with the Seattle Times’ Project Homeless, and joined Bill Radke to talk about what the ruling means for Seattle’s partial ban on sidewalk sleeping.
Benjamin Oreskes on new federal homelessness czar
That law is part of a move away from a heavily criminalized homelessness response. But the LA Times’ Benjamin Oreskes says that the Trump administration’s incoming homelessness czar Robert Marbut has an approach that treats homelessness like a choice. Donald Trump has set his sights on California cities as examples of what he calls a homeless policy that has failed.
Seattle's messy transit history
Seattle transit is about to go through ten weeks of disruption, as the north-south train lines are connected to the east line. It will require changing trains at Pioneer Square until mid-March. Seattle’s no stranger to disruptive transit choices, says historian Jim Kershner of our on-again, off-again love affair with streetcars.
First-in-time renter's law debate
Should landlords be required to accept the first qualified applicant to live in their rental housing? The Washington State Supreme Court says yes. Cliff Cawthon is a former appointee on the Seattle’s Renters Commission and former Housing Chair for the Seattle-King County NAACP. Chris Benis is a landlord, attorney, and former attorney for the Rental Housing Association of Washington.
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Bill Radke
Host
Bill hosts Week In Review and Words in Review. After starting with KUOW as a University of Washington student in 1985, Bill was KUOW's morning host in the '90s and the creator of past show, Rewind, a news-satire show heard on KUOW and nationwide on NPR. Bill moved away to Southern California to host American Public Media's Weekend America and Marketplace Morning Report and returned to KUOW in 2012.
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