Seattle City Council chair calls for implementing drug overdose audit recommendations

(The Center Square) – Seattle City Council Chair Sara Nelson is calling for immediate implementation of a recent audit’s recommendations to address the city’s drug overdose and crime issues.

The audit focused on a two-block area in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, specifically Third Avenue from Virginia Street to Blanchard Street. The area has three permanent supportive housing facilities, a homeless shelter for women, a day shelter for women, and a medical clinic that provides healthcare for homeless and at-risk patients.

The two-block corridor is where a notably large portion of the city’s drug overdose incidents occur. The audit found that of 732 fatal overdoses in Seattle between July 2022 and July 2023, 33 fatal overdoses occurred in the Belltown neighborhood. Out of the 33 Belltown overdose deaths, 33%, 11 overdoses, occurred at the case study site.

The audit is making eight recommendations to address Seattle’s crime and drug overdose issues. This includes:

Adopting the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s place-based Strategic Prevention Framework to address crime and overdose hot spots;Partnering with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney to help investigate and prosecute fatal overdoses as they do in other jurisdictions such as Los Angeles and San Diego;Developing a coordinated city plan for using local data derived from the federal Overdose Mapping and Application Program to respond to overdose spikes; andUsing Snohomish County’s Multi-Agency Coordination Group as a model framework for coordinating city agencies in a unified approach to addressing drug overdoses.

“This data-driven audit confirms what is obvious to many: today’s fentanyl-driven drug crisis is fueling property and violent crime,” Nelson said in a news release. “We must rethink our current approach to addressing addiction and its impact on our communities and I urge the executive and my council colleagues to act quickly and collaboratively to implement the audit’s recommendations.”

During the public comment period of the Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee meeting on Thursday, residents voiced their frustrations with the state of the Belltown neighborhood and lack of results from the city.

“I understand the cynicism, the disappointment, the exasperation and the impatience of the people who spoke earlier about yet another study and when are we going to do something,” Nelson said at the committee meeting. “The good news is that this audit does provide a roadmap and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

Nelson will now explore a timeline for potential implementation of these recommendations.