My son has been accepted and is considering UW. We live in Virginia and have not yet visited - will soon.
One thing that gives me some pause is the stories I have read about the homeless problem in Seattle in general and around the University in particular. How bad is it?
Thanks,
Hmm. There are a fair number of homeless people in Seattle, but I don’t see it as a danger to students. Will he see homeless people? For sure. Will he have to engage with them? Probably not.
We visited last year and I don’t remember being concerned about safety at all, and I have 100 lb daughter. I’m sure if your son walks around downtown he will see some homeless, but that will be the case if he wants to study in/around any major city. My daughter is not going to UW, but she and her younger brother liked Seattle so much that we’re going back for another visit soon. In a nutshell: homelessness would not be a thing I’d worry about re the school, and I am a worrier. 
Thanks.
They are present, plentiful & somewhat aggressive, but not dangerous. There is, maybe are, police substation adjacent to campus.
There is a lot of hysteria around the homeless currently being riled up by the local Sinclair Broadcasting affiliate and other conservative media. I agree with Publisher that they’re definitely present, but generally not dangerous.
Honestly from what I gather from this site and what I know about and have experienced in Seattle in general, homelessness there is bad enough to freak people out who come from places where homeless people are not often encountered, but not bad enough to make people who come from other cities where homeless people are common feel unsafe.
I’m from Anchorage, Alaska where homeless people are often seen on sidewalks around the city and where panhandling is legal (no idea what the legality is in Washington) and homelessness would not be a deterrent for me living in Seattle. In the end it depends on where you’re from and what you’re used to and how much you’re willing to put up with. Some people hate having to see homeless people in their day to day lives and some people don’t care as long as crime rates aren’t showing homeless people being harmful in the area.
The UW campus area has visible homelessness. They are many on University Ave. (the U District). There is a small encampment down the hill toward the stadium not too far from the fraternity row area. Like any urban campus, you have to be on your guard. A few years ago, around 11 to 12 in the evening on the way home from the library, S (who just graduated from UW) would have gotten rob near fraternity row if he did not make the first strike. 2 guys were coming toward him and shouting racial slurs and one reached into his pocket for a weapon. While the guy was reaching, S decked him before they could rob him. S walked away clean.
If want to see how prevalent the homeless problem is in Seattle go to You Tube and view the documentary titled “Seattle is Dying” narrated by KOMO, the Seattle news station.
Basically the documentary discusses, the problems with drugs, shop lifting and property destruction caused by the homeless and the police officers, by orders from above, are ignoring or doing nothing to stop it. We were in the downtown Seattle area and we witnessed a transient shooting drugs in his leg in a Target Store’s lightly travelled stairwell, shop lifting at a Walgreen (the shop lifters walked in and out casually and no one tried to stop them), and some transient throwing Pepsi at some tourist ladies walking behind my wife (in the Pike’s Market area).
The problems, encountered in the downtown area, were recently, a week ago.
It is somewhat shocking to outsiders. Yes there are visible homeless around UW. The area is relatively safe as is the campus. Like any city its always good to be aware of your surroundings.
City won’t do anything about it until it affects the budget thru decreases in business, tourism, UW attendance etc… unclear why the locals or visitors put up with it.
Thank you, @UCBUSCalum for this warning and referral to the documentary. It is very helpful for students and interns headed to Seattle to be informed about what to expect.
@BunnyBlue you are welcome. Like a any university or college in an urban setting, kids have to be aware of their surroundings and vigilant. The UW campus area and environment is very similar to UC Berkeley. Kids have to pay more attention when walking at night or alone.
Compared to other western countries homelessness in a big problem in the USA. Especially since the economic crisis about 10 years ago. We moved back to the US in 2015 after living in Europe and EVERY major city we visited (and especially college towns) had large numbers of people on the streets. Every city we went to on the West Coast had homeless people in major tourist areas. We also went to Duke in North Carolina and all the cities in the triangle: Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh all had homeless people. There is a lot of economic inequality in the USA and it’s clear to see everywhere. It’s less obvious in the suburbs because of the lack of public transport and public places to hang out, but it’s there too.
I worked in the UDistrict in the late 1990s and there was just as much homelessness then - this is not a new phenomenon.
I believe it is worse from the fact that, in recent years, the drug issues, the property and shop lifting crimes committed by the homeless people are basically ignored by the police and government officials (see the You Tube documentary “Seattle is Dying” narrated by KOMO news station in Seattle), which I posted on 4/15/19.
@UCBUSCalum: Thank you for that referral. It is important to watch the entire video as the last portion details the success story of Providence, Rhode Island.
@Publisher I did watch the whole documentary. 93% success rate for rehab.