A Letter In Support of The Crisis Care Center in Capitol Hill

credit: Jake Schumacher

Last month, a group of business owners and real estate agencies sent a letter to Seattle City Council Member Joy Hollingsworth opposing King County's plan to cite a Criss Care Center in Capitol Hill. The arguments were illogical at best, cruel at worst.

If you support crisis care centers in Capitol Hill as a resident, worker, or small business owner in this neighborhood, you can sign the following letter here:

We, the undersigned residents, workers, (describe signatories), and (describe signatories) of Capitol Hill and First Hill, strongly support King County’s proposal to place a crisis care center at the former Polyclinic building on Broadway. 

A letter signed by the real estate industry and business owners presented the illogical argument that Capitol Hill is already “overburdened” by mental health and substance use challenges, so it cannot host a crisis care center. But that framing reveals exactly why this facility is urgently needed here. Our neighbors are already suffering here on Capitol Hill and we have the moral responsibility to provide care for our neighbors here, not push them elsewhere. 

Without adequate mental health and addiction services, people cycle through emergency rooms, jails, and sidewalks. A crisis care center helps to break that cycle. What actually destabilizes a neighborhood is the absence of care, not its presence. 

As for concerns about public safety and police resources, we reject the idea that public safety depends on more police. Policing has never addressed the root causes of mental illness, addiction, or poverty—instead, it has criminalized and harmed those most in need. Opposing a crisis care center while calling for more SPD resources doubles down on a failed, punitive model. True safety comes from care, not cops. This facility is a step toward that future: a health-based, community-centered alternative to criminalization.

The opposition letter also points to the Constellation Center—a supportive housing project for youth—as a reason to delay the crisis care center. But these are complementary investments, not competing ones. If anything, they show that this neighborhood is becoming a hub for compassionate, wraparound services. That’s not a liability. That’s leadership.

Finally, we reject the notion that placing a crisis center in a historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood threatens its safety or culture. This is a dangerous and stigmatizing argument. Queer communities have long been on the front lines of fighting for health care access, for harm reduction, and for housing justice. To now use queer identity as a reason to exclude vulnerable people from care is a fundamental misreading of that legacy.

We call on King County and City officials to stay the course, to listen to public health experts, and to center the needs of those most impacted—not just those with the loudest voices or the deepest pockets. The Polyclinic site is not a burden. It is an opportunity.

Let’s meet this moment with courage, not cowardice.