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  Portland’s approach to homelessness enters a new era

  In Portland, Oregon, a new mayor and the city council are in the early stages of a change of direction on tackling homelessness, even as the number of unhoused people in Multnomah County has risen to 7,500 and continues to tick upward. OPB reporter Alex Zielinski covers Portland city politics. She gave KUOW’s Kim Malcolm this update on the homelessness situation there.

  • Kim Malcolm
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  Austin built a lot of housing fast. Rents fell. What could Seattle learn?

  While rents kept rising in many big cities, including Seattle, rents in Austin, Texas, have been on the decline for the last three years. That raises a simple question: Why is Austin an outlier? And is there anything Seattle could copy?

  • Joshua McNichols

• Housing costs dropped in Austin. How they did the impossible

  Over the last few years, Austin's average rent fell. So what is Austin doing right? And what could Seattle learn from it? 

  • Lucy Soucek
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  West Seattle’s only overnight shelter set to close at the end of the year

  Westside Neighbors Shelter will keep serving breakfast and dinner daily, but the overnight sleeping program has run out of money and will close at the end of the year.

  • Casey Martin
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  Can a watershed have legal rights? The Snohomish River debate deepens

  The tide is turning in a Snohomish County legal battle over whether a river and its watershed have legal rights that can be defended in court.

  • KUOW Staff
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  Can Seattle's next mayor bring down the cost of rent — or pizza?

  In the Seattle mayoral race, many voters are focused on the cost of living in an ever-more-expensive city. They’re pressing the candidates on who can build more housing and make the city more affordable.

  • Amy Radil
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  Seattle spent millions on hotel rooms to shelter unhoused people. Then it stopped filling them

  Early last year, the city signed a $2.7 million lease extension to continue using a hotel’s rooms as shelter space. Yet despite committing to pay the rent, the city stopped sending people there.

  • Ashley Hiruko
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  Homelessness still rising in Washington, state data shows

  Homelessness is still on the rise in Washington, but data collected by the state Department of Commerce shows that the growth rate across much of the state slowed last year.

  • Emily Fitzgerald/Washington State Standard
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  Seattle considers measure to protect homeowners from predatory offers

  Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is pushing new legislation to curb predatory home-buying offers.

  • Joshua McNichols
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  Landlords fined for first time under WA’s new law capping rent increases

  For the first time, Washington’s attorney general has enforced the state’s new cap on rent hikes, fining eight landlords $2,000 each for violating the law.

  • Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard

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