Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson pushed back against a claim by Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt that if he\u2019s elected, L.A.\u2019s homeless population would move to Seattle to take advantage of that city\u2019s drug laws. <\/p>\n
Pratt made the comment during an interview with ABC\u2019s Josh Haskell, in which he claimed the city\u2019s more than 40,000 homeless were choosing to live on the street. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese people, when I unplug them … they\u2019re all going to Seattle where the mayor will welcome them,\u201d Pratt told Haskell.<\/a> <\/p>\n Pratt, a Republican, has made L.A.\u2019s stubborn homeless crisis a key campaign topic, at times posting images of unhoused people on his social media accounts. He has often expressed disdain for L.A.\u2019s homeless population.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not homeless, they\u2019re drug addicts,\u201d Pratt said in the ABC interview in late May. \u201cThey\u2019re choosing to be on the street because they want to do drugs, they don\u2019t want rules, they don\u2019t want to listen, they want to have animals to abuse. This idea that they\u2019re forced on the street right now is a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n But in an interview with Fox 13 Seattle\u2019s Hana Kim<\/a> Wednesday, Wilson pushed back, saying the homeless crisis facing major cities across the country was being fueled by housing costs, not drug abuse. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat is driving homelessness is housing costs,\u201d Wilson said when asked about Pratt\u2019s comment. \u201cThere is a very, very clear correlation between housing costs and homelessness, and that does not mean that drugs are not a factor. They absolutely are a factor.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson did not directly mention Pratt in her response but acknowledged briefly a cheer from an audience member during the Seattle CityClub event when Pratt was mentioned. <\/p>\n \u201cWas that a cheer?\u201d Wilson asked. \u201cI\u2019m not going to respond to him, but I\u2019ll respond to you all.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson\u2019s comment comes as ballots are still being counted in L.A.\u2019s election and Pratt is maintaining a second-place spot,<\/a> making him a potential contender for November\u2019s general election against current Mayor Karen Bass. <\/p>\n During his interview with Haskell, Pratt also claimed, without evidence, that nonprofit groups and nongovernmental organizations were busing unhoused people into Los Angeles. <\/p>\n On his website, Pratt\u2019s campaign states<\/a> that if he is elected mayor, he would \u201cdismantle\u201d the city\u2019s effort to address homelessness and \u201creplace it with a treatment-led recovery model that addresses mental illness and addiction as the primary drivers of chronic homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n He took a much more combative tone in his interview with Haskell, alleging that the homeless are living on the streets \u201cbecause they\u2019re an addict, and you can do fentanyl and super meth on the sidewalk without repercussions.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers and organizations working on the front lines with the city\u2019s homeless population would probably disagree. <\/p>\n