From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

from
https://mynorthwest.com/john-curley/wa-homelessness-drug-overdose/4257999

WA went from No. 29 to No. 4 in drug overdose deaths. One expert says
that explains the homeless crisis.
Jul 19, 2026, 7:55 AM | Updated: 8:06 am

WA homelessness drug overdose...
A side-by-side photo of Eric Zimmerman of the Washington Policy Center,
and John Curley. (Photo courtesy of KIRO Newsradio)
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BY JOHN CURLEY SHOW
Weekdays on KIRO Newsradio 3pm - 7pm
As Seattle continues to struggle through a homeless epidemic, the
problem in Washington has grown to dire levels as the state ranks No. 2
in the country for its total population of people experiencing homelessness.

Eric Zimmerman, the head of Washington Policy CenterrCOs research and
analysis team and Mayor of Normandy Park, joined rCLThe John Curley ShowrCY
on KIRO Newsradio to provide the basic facts and statistics that outline
why there is a homeless problem, rather than pointing to rent, income,
and affordability.

rCLIrCOve heard those things almost as much as IrCOve heard someone say hello to me in Washington,rCY Zimmerman said. rCLItrCOs the prevailing narrative. ItrCOs important to care about facts and evidence, and one thing IrCOve seen in Washington is that the storytelling around homelessness has, over
time, gotten further and further away from what we can objectively
observe in gold-standard federal data.

rCLWe could talk about income, rent, and drugs, but whatever the narrative
and explanation may be thatrCOs popular in politics in Washington, you can
go to quite a few important, annually gathered federal sources that
directly contradict that narrative,rCY Zimmerman continued. rCLEspecially
when yourCOre doing a 50-state comparison. The story just does not hold water.rCY

Zimmerman says WArCOs spike defies the national trend
Zimmerman pointed to national data showing Washington as a severe
outlier in the homelessness crisis.

rCLIf it werenrCOt for Washington and California, the increase in
homelessness nationally would have actually been fairly small over the
last decade,rCY Zimmerman said. rCLIf you look at the worst period of
growth, 2020 onward was just a complete catastrophe in Washington. ItrCOs unprecedented how much it grew, but that was a point in which the growth
of rent in Washington was growing more slowly than the national average.

rCLThis is difficult to reconcile,rCY Zimmerman continued. rCLHow are we growing more slowly in our rental costs than the national average, at
the time in which our homelessness crisis was unprecedentedly
accelerating in a way werCOd never seen before?rCY

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Zimmerman argued that drug use, not rent, offers the clearest
explanation for the crisis.

rCLThe thing werCOre looking for is to see a big change that matches a big change,rCY Zimmerman said. rCLIf you look at Washington and whatrCOs happened with drug overdose deaths and other metrics for drug use, we have had
the biggest change that I think exists in the epidemiological record of
drug use in America. In 2014, we were 29th in the country, according to
the CDC, for drug overdose deaths per capita.

rCLThen, fast forward to 2024, we were fourth, and this is against an
index of 50 states,rCY Zimmerman continued. rCLEverybody was experiencing fentanyl being bad, methamphetamine, and COVID, but Washington was
uniquely changed more than anyone else in the country. We had the most
growth of drug overdose deaths, almost triple the level of 2014 by 2024. ItrCOs almost impossible to explain the difference by saying, rCyOh, itrCOs rent.rCO No, itrCOs a policy choice.rCY

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 rCo 7 p.m. on KIRO
Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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John Curley on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
listen to tom and curleyTune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 3pm for
The John Curley Show.
John Curley

John Curley
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