32:31 "As time went on i felt like more of an enabler than a helper" This is the kind of truth we need to see. He is a good man that wanted to help people. But the system is broken and does not work. Huge overhauls are needed
You are amazing my friend and your reporting on these topics is exactly what people need to hear. This isn’t working and people are dying, while NGO’s are padding their pockets. So sad.
Excellent work. I hope it gets lots of views. I'm living it and have been covering it in Olympia WA where LIHI is expanding at a rapid pace. I appreciate your detailed work.
This is some of the best content out now!! Bravo🎉🎉 For those who work in social services/ human services, you recognize this as truth. We never talk about the cons, lack of accountability, and profit driven exploitation.
This was hard to watch, but it's vital to look at what's going on. I was homeless from 2006 to 2011. I got into transitional housing and then a two-year sober living house for women in recovery, then an apartment. I'm in a subsidized housing program with a lot of other older people like myself. We don't have as much drama in my building because there aren't as many addicts, but I have watched a number of neighbors die, either from alcohol or opioides. What I'm hearing is that we need a lot more rehab beds. And HEY! Who on Earth blew 10 million dollars to help so few people??? That's disturbing. You're describing massive fraud, misappropriation of funds, SHIT! Give me that budget and I'll change the world!!!
I was born in Seattle and forced to die in Snohomish county, homeless & alone. Who am I? Nobody. Because I don’t live in King County, I was only born there & sorry, that ain’t good enough. In Snohomish County if your rent is 98% of your income, that is considered “affordable housing”. My income is fixed, $1,860/mo, I’m 63 diagnosed with chronic heart failure, my rent is 80% of my income leaving me with $400 to pay bills including food which the state graciously pays me $22 a month for food. Isn’t that a slap in the face? I can’t think of a more humane way to speed up death than moving to Snohomish county which makes King County look like a dream.
Wouldn’t it be more successful to have more then one housing program to be able to apply since there’s different levels of services needed to help the homeless population adapt and transition. back to having a place to live? Coming from personal experience, both my grandson that I’ve been raising for 10 yrs and myself , were not stable after being in the Seattle family shelters for 2yrs so after we were able to get into our own apt again it took awhile to feel ok and safe from the insanity of what we’d been through. We are still in counseling and mental health services right now. Being homeless changes something in you. Being subject to that hopelessness is damaging to the soul & mind.
"Housing First" needs to mean SAFE housing first. If people are experiencing the same traumas they were experiencing on the streets, they're not going to heal. They're not going to feel safe enough to even begin healing. Incarceration is also further trauma. If incarceration got people clean and sober, it wouldn't take 40 arrests to do it! Addicts get clean and sober when they make the decision to do so. We need to do everything we can to help addicts feel safe and supported enough to make the decision. Safe housing is an essential piece of this, but it's ONLY a piece.
21:24 I saw a small woman break out of her handcuffs and it took 1 female and 5 male officers to restrain her again. She was high AF and trying to destroy everything. Scary to be so close to it.
Thanks so much for being a truthful individual and asking clear questions. Not sure if you call yourself a journalist but i think you would make a great one. I have shared this with many facebook groups and i hope to spread this message and grow your subscribers
If you think that was bad, imagine being on the streets. What a stupid concept. Horrible to say and think they'd be better on the streets. Everything they're talking about is WAY worse on the streets. Plus, a lot more problems.
I'm pausing at the 25 minute mark. HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVING IN THESE FACILITIES ARE WILLING TO GO BACK TO LIVING ON THE STREETS? HOW MANY RESIDENTS DID YOU ASK IF THEY WANTED TO LEAVE THE FACILITIES? HOW MANY VOLUNTARILY LEFT THEIR APARTMENTS IN FAVOR OF LIFE ON THE STREETS?
I really enjoy seeing stories like this I can totally relate. I live in a "LIHI Building" and started from the bottom building myself up over the years!
Blacks who have been given Section 8 housing have beautifully maintained their homes over the years, these projects paid for by the taxpayers now are beautiful safe homes for grateful blacks. Another example of the Lived Blaqque Experience shining as a guiding light for the world.
I'm halfway in and not only has Virginia interrupted EVERY SINGLE JON EXPERT that she's interviewing she's literally feeding them the answers that she wants to hear. I'll get back to you with more observations after I finish watching this. But I would like to point out how many commercials are popping up. Ms Ginny is raking money in hand over fist and using our very least fortunate to do it. That's criminal. but hey, at least she's off the streets 🙄
It's both and incarceration is not the answer. Virginia was convicted 17 times before she made the decision to turn her life around. The prison didn't make that decision for her.
Drug addiction is ALWAYS rooted in trauma. Being on the streets only increases the trauma. It takes a long time to heal, even with full access to mental health services and a healthy support network. The mental health services provided for low income/indigent persons are minimal. Many people coming out of homelessness and addiction have no family. (Or no HEALTHY family). When you get clean and sober, you have to end relationships with the friends you had. If we truly cared, we'd be POURING resources into helping people. It seems to me like every solution we try in the U.S. is completely half-assed, and then we say, "Well, that didn't work!" There should be intensive support services for people. Illicit drugs should be decriminalized, and housing first is essential, but we lack adequate support. (In my opinion, we should far exceed "adequate.")
You do know that Ms Burton is making money from these videos, right? You probably also noticed that her solution is rooted in the lock them up! Theory. What she fails to discuss is the cost of incarceration. Not just the monetary costs. It's almost impossible to re-enter society with a felony conviction. @@lexibat7829
Moving people around is not solving the problem. Start spending all the funding you get for these people on them for once. They need drug rehab in these places not allowing the to do drugs?? WTF is going on with officials making decisions on these things???
You're examining the results of capitalism, not the causes. Incarceration without justification doesn't work. If we can find the money for services in prison then we have the money to provide services without incarceration. It's that simple. Drug addiction and mental illness are the symptoms. And it doesn't matter how much money you throw at anybody who is suffering from addiction, they won't recover until they are ready. Even for you Virginia. You were separated from your addiction 17 times. Let me say that again, you were separated from your addiction 17: times until YOU decided you wanted to change. You wanted something better. I want something better for everyone who is caught up in drug addiction. I firmly believe that incarceration shouldn't be part of that equation. Most people who recover do so of their own volition. You are an exception, not a an expert. I could get on board with lobbying for more services but not with a felony attached. A felony conviction is forever. Nobody wants that.
I know this is horrible and biased. Literally she has no solutions, she just wants to complain. Drug users deserve housing too, everyone does gtfoh with that shit.
Whats your solution, I mean besides jail? You can't be so base that you dont understand that criminal charges end up perpetuating the cycle of homelessness and addiction, right? Please tell me you understand how hard it is for a person to get a job or get housed once they have a felony. You have to know this, right?
People have to eat. What do you think they are gonna do when they can't get work because they have a record? I mean, not every addict can start their own propaganda channel on Utube, where they push an agenda while racking in that advertisement money. Now, can they? No, only the morally superior ones who were able to do it after only 17 times! Do you actually know how much 17 times cost the taxpayers?
Twenty minutes in and all I've heard is STRAW MAN ARGUMENT: "Housing first facilities have problems, therefore they're bad policy." Does EMS visit housing first facilities more often than an average apartment building??? Any critical listener has got to assume there's an ulterior motive after that absurd question. A proper argument would be, "Housing first facilities are [better/worse] than [alternative] because [reason]." That argument would lead to questions like, "Does EMS visit housing first facilities more often than an average homeless encampment?" If the average homeless person costs $10,000/month in ER services and $0 in housing, but the average housing first resident costs $5,000/month in ER services and $2,000 in housing... Then it's financially better. Is it perfect? No. Could housing that's dependent on mental health and/or substance treatment be better? Sure, but after twenty minutes of listening that's not at all what I'm hearing. Please keep up the important work. I look forward to more videos on this urgent subject, with clear reasoning that leaves the listener with no alternative but to be convinced.
That CARE lady is clueless. She has no business being at the Director level of any taxpayer funded organization. But of course, she can't answer a question honestly because the "harm reduction" ideology she believes in has led to the massive drug blight in Seattle.
The truth is in here, as is your obvious desire to have the story told the way you want it to be heard. I don’t disagree with the premise or really the presumption of your story, but you are not a serious journalist. You had a conclusion and made your edits to your interviews to demonstrate what you want to put forward. It’s a real problem, and it should be pointed out, but I would argue that you aren’t winning anybody over with this style of journalism. I know there’s not a lot of contemporary examples of good journalism, but you should study up. There is a way to put your story forward and not look like you are on a political agenda. I don’t think you would publish anything that countered your assumptions, it makes you less than credible. That’s a real harm to do.
I couldn't agree with you more. Virginia Lord Burton is causing untold damages to the least fortunate among us. You and I should talk! Ginny has been doxxing me on social media AND calling me at my home to threaten me. I've got the receipts. The calls were recorded 👍
Wow, nobody likes to take responsibility for themselves, do they? If the city can't help them no one can? That's bullshit. Lived there for ten years and watched 30 people die? It's his own fault
What solution would that bring? You say "in charge" what position and job functions are you speaking of. It's not gender it's qualifications. Women are given preference in political hires (I am speaking as a woman. I am not a disgruntled male who lost a job to a woman. I speak as a woman who wants real solutions to a complex issue) You have to remember males make up the greatest percentage of clients. In some cases a female worker would not only be ineffective for men who were severely abused or neglected by their mothers it could put the worker in danger. They really need dedicated rehab facilities and qualified mental health providers. The case load should be way lower. There are many things that could be done better. If there are qualified hard working women with better ideas I am all for hiring them. Based on what they bring to the table not just because they check the DEI boxes.
@@rustynails8756from personal experience a Female CEO certainly doesn’t make a difference in a non profit organization. Too many clients and not enough staff that is willing to actually listen long enough to hear the client to actually help.
How is it hateful or misleading? We need to know what is actually happening in these places. I think a recovered homeless drug addict who has turned their life around by becoming sober would be a good person to ask these questions. That is exactly what this is
@kevinpankanin6222 it's called homelessness. Because the problem is these people don't have homes.drug addicted people mostly have homes.i guess your drug addiction caused you to have trouble thinking correctly
@@meganmclaughlin9056True that people need housing and appropriate to accommodate disabilities. Not everyone needs mental health services or services for substance abuse. Many of the people outside are there because appropriate housing for physical disabilities cannot be found. The services that are billed and paid for by the county are never provided. Simple services such as how to change mailing address. Applying for low income utilities, medical baseline, Disabled DMV placards etc. Simple needs met after a client is moved. Housing first makes sense. The problem is there are clients who need help learning new technology and how to advocate for themselves because most of the homeless organizations have absolutely no follow thru. What makes it difficult for a “ client “ to file a grievance is who is going to believe the client ?
32:31
"As time went on i felt like more of an enabler than a helper"
This is the kind of truth we need to see.
He is a good man that wanted to help people. But the system is broken and does not work. Huge overhauls are needed
Holy smoke these episodes keep getting better and better. You‘re an excellent interviewer, very confident and sincere. 👍🏻
You are amazing my friend and your reporting on these topics is exactly what people need to hear. This isn’t working and people are dying, while NGO’s are padding their pockets. So sad.
Not just sad. It seems criminal.
Excellent work. I hope it gets lots of views. I'm living it and have been covering it in Olympia WA where LIHI is expanding at a rapid pace. I appreciate your detailed work.
@@candio2010 thank you
This is some of the best content out now!! Bravo🎉🎉
For those who work in social services/ human services, you recognize this as truth. We never talk about the cons, lack of accountability, and profit driven exploitation.
This was hard to watch, but it's vital to look at what's going on. I was homeless from 2006 to 2011. I got into transitional housing and then a two-year sober living house for women in recovery, then an apartment. I'm in a subsidized housing program with a lot of other older people like myself. We don't have as much drama in my building because there aren't as many addicts, but I have watched a number of neighbors die, either from alcohol or opioides. What I'm hearing is that we need a lot more rehab beds. And HEY! Who on Earth blew 10 million dollars to help so few people??? That's disturbing. You're describing massive fraud, misappropriation of funds, SHIT! Give me that budget and I'll change the world!!!
Things would be much better for you and others on the streets. 🙄. This is absolutely revolting
I was born in Seattle and forced to die in Snohomish county, homeless & alone. Who am I? Nobody. Because I don’t live in King County, I was only born there & sorry, that ain’t good enough. In Snohomish County if your rent is 98% of your income, that is considered “affordable housing”. My income is fixed, $1,860/mo, I’m 63 diagnosed with chronic heart failure, my rent is 80% of my income leaving me with $400 to pay bills including food which the state graciously pays me $22 a month for food. Isn’t that a slap in the face? I can’t think of a more humane way to speed up death than moving to Snohomish county which makes King County look like a dream.
Wouldn’t it be more successful to have more then one housing program to be able to apply since there’s different levels of services needed to help the homeless population adapt and transition. back to having a place to live? Coming from personal experience, both my grandson that I’ve been raising for 10 yrs and myself , were not stable after being in the Seattle family shelters for 2yrs so after we were able to get into our own apt again it took awhile to feel ok and safe from the insanity of what we’d been through. We are still in counseling and mental health services right now. Being homeless changes something in you. Being subject to that hopelessness is damaging to the soul & mind.
"Housing First" needs to mean SAFE housing first. If people are experiencing the same traumas they were experiencing on the streets, they're not going to heal. They're not going to feel safe enough to even begin healing.
Incarceration is also further trauma. If incarceration got people clean and sober, it wouldn't take 40 arrests to do it!
Addicts get clean and sober when they make the decision to do so. We need to do everything we can to help addicts feel safe and supported enough to make the decision. Safe housing is an essential piece of this, but it's ONLY a piece.
21:24 I saw a small woman break out of her handcuffs and it took 1 female and 5 male officers to restrain her again. She was high AF and trying to destroy everything. Scary to be so close to it.
Thanks so much for being a truthful individual and asking clear questions.
Not sure if you call yourself a journalist but i think you would make a great one.
I have shared this with many facebook groups and i hope to spread this message and grow your subscribers
@@kevinpankanin6222 thank you
I feel bad for people going through this. I was lonely being homeless. I never used drugs
My daughter and grandchildren were forced to live in one of these buildings and the experience has changed them.
If you think that was bad, imagine being on the streets. What a stupid concept. Horrible to say and think they'd be better on the streets. Everything they're talking about is WAY worse on the streets. Plus, a lot more problems.
Very sad but the brutal reality. Thank you for shining a light.
I'm pausing at the 25 minute mark. HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVING IN THESE FACILITIES ARE WILLING TO GO BACK TO LIVING ON THE STREETS? HOW MANY RESIDENTS DID YOU ASK IF THEY WANTED TO LEAVE THE FACILITIES?
HOW MANY VOLUNTARILY LEFT THEIR APARTMENTS IN FAVOR OF LIFE ON THE STREETS?
Thank you for this
WOW SUPER GOOD EPISODE
I really enjoy seeing stories like this I can totally relate. I live in a "LIHI Building" and started from the bottom building myself up over the years!
Thank you. Reach out if you want to talk vb@vginnyburton.com
We need good mental health before putting them alone with other drug addiction
Dang....wow. rings true with my experience working night shift
Thank You for looking into this 🙏 I’d like to talk to you, too! I was a director at 2 Seattle Housing organizations for 18 years.
@@katietalcott6890 Vb@vginnyburton.com
Please reach out
Please email me at Vb@vginnyburton.com
STOP refering to mental health as "behavior health." It sounds like reference to criminals. 😮
Blacks who have been given Section 8 housing have beautifully maintained their homes over the years, these projects paid for by the taxpayers now are beautiful safe homes for grateful blacks. Another example of the Lived Blaqque Experience shining as a guiding light for the world.
Are you being sarcastic? 😮
@@Kate-it7cn lol
Putting drug addicts together , they just relapse
Especially when there's no structure and there's no recovery to be had in sight.
I'm halfway in and not only has Virginia interrupted EVERY SINGLE JON EXPERT that she's interviewing she's literally feeding them the answers that she wants to hear. I'll get back to you with more observations after I finish watching this. But I would like to point out how many commercials are popping up. Ms Ginny is raking money in hand over fist and using our very least fortunate to do it. That's criminal. but hey, at least she's off the streets 🙄
Very good video showing why this a drug abuse problem and not a housing problem.
It's both and incarceration is not the answer. Virginia was convicted 17 times before she made the decision to turn her life around. The prison didn't make that decision for her.
Drug addiction is ALWAYS rooted in trauma. Being on the streets only increases the trauma. It takes a long time to heal, even with full access to mental health services and a healthy support network.
The mental health services provided for low income/indigent persons are minimal. Many people coming out of homelessness and addiction have no family. (Or no HEALTHY family). When you get clean and sober, you have to end relationships with the friends you had.
If we truly cared, we'd be POURING resources into helping people. It seems to me like every solution we try in the U.S. is completely half-assed, and then we say, "Well, that didn't work!"
There should be intensive support services for people. Illicit drugs should be decriminalized, and housing first is essential, but we lack adequate support. (In my opinion, we should far exceed "adequate.")
You do know that Ms Burton is making money from these videos, right? You probably also noticed that her solution is rooted in the lock them up! Theory. What she fails to discuss is the cost of incarceration. Not just the monetary costs. It's almost impossible to re-enter society with a felony conviction. @@lexibat7829
A good video, we need
Good work Ginny!
Thank you for your hard work!
@@russellmiller7961 thank you
Sounds like Martin Court in Georgetown
So just let homeless situation remain the same?
Damn good show keep up the good work we the real people not the Corporation stand with you.
Treatment is the beginning before they are put in a room
Boom! 💥
Lihi is the same every where Bellevue August wilson place as well
Theses are all old hotels they were never designed to be housing.
Exactly ❤
Moving people around is not solving the problem. Start spending all the funding you get for these people on them for once. They need drug rehab in these places not allowing the to do drugs?? WTF is going on with officials making decisions on these things???
You're examining the results of capitalism, not the causes. Incarceration without justification doesn't work. If we can find the money for services in prison then we have the money to provide services without incarceration.
It's that simple. Drug addiction and mental illness are the symptoms. And it doesn't matter how much money you throw at anybody who is suffering from addiction, they won't recover until they are ready. Even for you Virginia. You were separated from your addiction 17 times. Let me say that again, you were separated from your addiction 17: times until YOU decided you wanted to change. You wanted something better. I want something better for everyone who is caught up in drug addiction. I firmly believe that incarceration shouldn't be part of that equation.
Most people who recover do so of their own volition. You are an exception, not a an expert. I could get on board with lobbying for more services but not with a felony attached. A felony conviction is forever. Nobody wants that.
I know this is horrible and biased. Literally she has no solutions, she just wants to complain. Drug users deserve housing too, everyone does gtfoh with that shit.
Whats your solution, I mean besides jail? You can't be so base that you dont understand that criminal charges end up perpetuating the cycle of homelessness and addiction, right? Please tell me you understand how hard it is for a person to get a job or get housed once they have a felony. You have to know this, right?
People have to eat. What do you think they are gonna do when they can't get work because they have a record? I mean, not every addict can start their own propaganda channel on Utube, where they push an agenda while racking in that advertisement money. Now, can they? No, only the morally superior ones who were able to do it after only 17 times! Do you actually know how much 17 times cost the taxpayers?
Give mental health
Twenty minutes in and all I've heard is STRAW MAN ARGUMENT: "Housing first facilities have problems, therefore they're bad policy." Does EMS visit housing first facilities more often than an average apartment building??? Any critical listener has got to assume there's an ulterior motive after that absurd question. A proper argument would be, "Housing first facilities are [better/worse] than [alternative] because [reason]." That argument would lead to questions like, "Does EMS visit housing first facilities more often than an average homeless encampment?" If the average homeless person costs $10,000/month in ER services and $0 in housing, but the average housing first resident costs $5,000/month in ER services and $2,000 in housing... Then it's financially better. Is it perfect? No. Could housing that's dependent on mental health and/or substance treatment be better? Sure, but after twenty minutes of listening that's not at all what I'm hearing. Please keep up the important work. I look forward to more videos on this urgent subject, with clear reasoning that leaves the listener with no alternative but to be convinced.
@meganmclaughlin9056
That CARE lady is clueless. She has no business being at the Director level of any taxpayer funded organization. But of course, she can't answer a question honestly because the "harm reduction" ideology she believes in has led to the massive drug blight in Seattle.
What a scam !
Shame on you! As if things are better with them on the streets. 🙄 So foul.
Wrong.
The truth is in here, as is your obvious desire to have the story told the way you want it to be heard. I don’t disagree with the premise or really the presumption of your story, but you are not a serious journalist. You had a conclusion and made your edits to your interviews to demonstrate what you want to put forward. It’s a real problem, and it should be pointed out, but I would argue that you aren’t winning anybody over with this style of journalism. I know there’s not a lot of contemporary examples of good journalism, but you should study up. There is a way to put your story forward and not look like you are on a political agenda. I don’t think you would publish anything that countered your assumptions, it makes you less than credible. That’s a real harm to do.
This is the journalism we NEED. I am a resident in public housing, and I can tell you- this is exactly what we need. Transparency!
@@Chickentender77922are you willing to give up your housing and return to the streets?
I couldn't agree with you more. Virginia Lord Burton is causing untold damages to the least fortunate among us. You and I should talk! Ginny has been doxxing me on social media AND calling me at my home to threaten me. I've got the receipts. The calls were recorded 👍
Next we are going to give people tax payer funded drugs so they can feel better.
@danielking104 Seattle was trying to do that a couple years ago.
Wow, nobody likes to take responsibility for themselves, do they? If the city can't help them no one can? That's bullshit. Lived there for ten years and watched 30 people die? It's his own fault
It's his fault that 30 people died?
@@lexibat7829 Yes
@@lexibat7829 Because he just sat there and watched. Typical useless homebum
So you have no solutions to help people. Yet another narcissistic troll.
@@margaretlemmon1143 My soution is that you find a life of your own
We need more women in charge. But these are all six-figure jobs come on
What solution would that bring? You say "in charge" what position and job functions are you speaking of. It's not gender it's qualifications. Women are given preference in political hires (I am speaking as a woman. I am not a disgruntled male who lost a job to a woman. I speak as a woman who wants real solutions to a complex issue) You have to remember males make up the greatest percentage of clients. In some cases a female worker would not only be ineffective for men who were severely abused or neglected by their mothers it could put the worker in danger. They really need dedicated rehab facilities and qualified mental health providers. The case load should be way lower. There are many things that could be done better. If there are qualified hard working women with better ideas I am all for hiring them. Based on what they bring to the table not just because they check the DEI boxes.
@@rustynails8756from personal experience a Female CEO certainly doesn’t make a difference in a non profit organization. Too many clients and not enough staff that is willing to actually listen long enough to hear the client to actually help.
Most homeless who are giving housing will live a longer a better life. This is simple. This video is totally misleading and hateful
Thanks Karen. Continue to not believe your lying eyes.
How is it hateful or misleading?
We need to know what is actually happening in these places.
I think a recovered homeless drug addict who has turned their life around by becoming sober would be a good person to ask these questions.
That is exactly what this is
@kevinpankanin6222 it's called homelessness. Because the problem is these people don't have homes.drug addicted people mostly have homes.i guess your drug addiction caused you to have trouble thinking correctly
@kevinpankanin6222 drug addiction is not the cause of homelessness. Lack of affordable housing is.its real simple.
@@meganmclaughlin9056True that people need housing and appropriate to accommodate disabilities. Not everyone needs mental health services or services for substance abuse. Many of the people outside are there because appropriate housing for physical disabilities cannot be found.
The services that are billed and paid for by the county are never provided. Simple services such as how to change mailing address. Applying for low income utilities, medical baseline, Disabled DMV placards etc. Simple needs met after a client is moved.
Housing first makes sense. The problem is there are clients who need help learning new technology and how to advocate for themselves because most of the homeless organizations have absolutely no follow thru.
What makes it difficult for a “ client “ to file a grievance is who is going to believe the client ?