WA: "affordable housing is an anti-crime program"

An uncommon prosecutorial point of view from the Seattle city attorney, in the Seattle Times:

Fight crime, addiction with housing

I thought about Herman James all day. I prosecuted him back in September of last year in the Seattle Municipal Community Court... My records and the court's records say that I was there; yet, I cannot remember his face among the many street alcoholics I have seen over the past two years.

A few weeks ago, I received a DVD of a Seattle Channel program about the community court... (L)ate one night, I popped it into the DVD drive on my laptop. That's when I met Herman James.

He spoke eloquently about his life as an alcoholic and about the help he had received. He was living at 1811 Eastlake, a controversial program that provides housing for long-term alcoholics without requiring abstinence or sobriety. Although he was permitted to drink in his apartment, he, like many of the residents there, had chosen to be sober...

James died Jan. 15...

Being in court and meeting the defendants who commit what we refer to as quality-of-life crimes is a transforming experience. It's so easy to demonize those whom you do not know. They seem so much more human when one hears their stories. They are criminals, but they are also people first and when treated as such can thrive.

I do not recall Herman James as the street alcoholic whom I prosecuted. I will remember him, however, as a good soul who died with dignity among people who cared, because he got help through the Seattle Municipal Community Court and 1811 Eastlake. He died sober, without the crutch of alcohol, with a roof over his head...