In April, my brother Michael, who had mental health problems, was found dead in his apartment from an overdose of fentanyl. He had been deceased for three days when he was discovered. He was 59 years old.
When I heard of Mike’s passing, I arranged to travel to Seattle with my wife and daughter. We heard that the unhoused could receive housing from the city. We were appalled by what we found.
I cannot describe the squalor and filth that we saw. Graffiti was on the walls and there was drug paraphernalia littering the floor. A filthy mattress lay in the corner. Other tenants talked about rat and bedbug infestation. It hurt us to see this, to think that this was my brother’s existence.
What is most troubling is that Mike was not being housed, he was being warehoused. He was not an addict. He was a schizophrenic. But he became an addict after he was housed with addicts. Why in the world are they housing the vulnerable with addicts?
Mike was not housed where people go as a step towards becoming functional members of society. He is dead because the system failed him.
I met Andrea Suarez when I was in Seattle. Andrea has sounded the alarm, but more people like Mike are going to die unless changes are made.
Andea will be able to make changes if she is elected to the legislature. If I lived in Washington, I would vote for her. I hope you vote for her.
John J. Matzick