Seattle — Homelessness is being produced every day by the U.S./Israeli war against the Palestinians in Gaza. As Palestinians’ homes are reduced to rubble, the crimes of capitalism become more obvious to all. 

Wars and economic interventions of U.S. imperialism have caused the havoc of homelessness and migration across the developing world. But even in the fabulously rich cities of the U.S. empire, the problem of homelessness persists. It won’t go away. 

In 2024, across the U.S., homelessness increased 18.1% to the highest rate ever. A federal count taken in January 2024 reported that there were over 770,000 homeless people in the U.S. However, this number is thought to be too low, because sometimes the homeless live in the shadows, or they are staying with friends or family or sleeping in cars.

In King County, Washington, which includes Seattle, 750 homeless people died in the last two years. Women in Black holds a vigil every month on the steps of City Hall for people who died homeless. 

Workers can’t afford luxury housing

The problem stems from the wealthy real estate industry, of which President Donald Trump is its foremost representative. Attacks on the working class by ruling-class real estate monopolies such as Blackstone Real Estate, one of the world’s largest commercial real estate owners, are bound to increase. This will result in the construction of more luxury housing, which workers can’t afford, while making affordable housing less and less available. 

This has contributed to the growing epidemic of evictions in Seattle where over one-third of homeless people are Black. Corporate landlord rule has evicted Black residents to the point where the Central District, the historic Seattle Black community, is now less than 20% Black. 

Profiting from poverty

Seattle has some of the wealthiest corporations on the planet with Microsoft and Amazon headquartered here. But their policies stimulate a demand for expensive and luxury housing — not housing for the working class.

For years the city has used contractors, cops and excavation equipment to sweep out thousands of homeless camps. The city of Seattle operates under a Democratic administration, but its policies are no less oppressive than Trump’s. Seattle has closed down many housing and shelter programs. The city, like the Trump government, is trying to escape responsibility by privatizing government services to further oppress homeless people. 

Seattle’s programs for the poor and homeless, many of whom are disabled, are mostly contracted out. Around 60 to 80 non-profits, philanthropies and religious organizations such as the Salvation Army have been contracted to aid homeless people.  There are many complaints about these groups not having enough funds, misappropriating funds or working at cross purposes with each other. 

Trump’s bogus “Big Beautiful Bill” will lead to more impoverishment and homelessness like this country has not seen since the great depression. But the increased attacks will open the way to organizing and fighting back.

Ban evictions, fight for rent rollbacks

Cities need to ban evictions. In 2024, Seattle/King County landlords filed over 7,000 unlawful detainer cases (evictions), the highest in history. Now in 2025, evictions are rapidly increasing because of higher rents and greater wage inequality. A rent rollback of 50% should be called for due to the emergency situation.

The lack of affordable housing affects the whole working class, which knows it is endangered. Because of the crisis, Katie Wilson of the Bus Riders Union won the recent primary election over incumbent mayor, Bruce Harrell. 

Wilson, as an advocate for the low-income working class, has frequently spoken out against the regime in City Hall. While she had little name recognition and not a big campaign organization, she swept the primary with over 50% of the votes over Harrell and several other bourgeois candidates. This shows the state of opposition to landlord rule.

The U.S. war on the homeless flows directly from the U.S. war on Gaza and needs to be fought with some of the same persistence as the Palestinians of Gaza.