Progressive Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is being ripped for unveiling a village of tiny homes being likened to porta-potties — with no rules stopping the homeless people who move in from doing drugs.
Wilson, 43, previewed 50 of the 70-square-foot units on Sunday — while readily conceding that she failed on her promise of having half of the 1,000 planned units ready in time for the World Cup, which starts Thursday.
The tiny units — barely bigger than a portable toilet, about the size of a jail cell and equipped with just a single bed and desk — cost $16,000 each to build, with those moving in sharing toilets and other facilities staffed 24/7.
Wilson, 43, previewed 50 of the 1,000-planned single-adult pallet homes on Sunday as part of the liberal city’s push to expand 24/7 transitional housing with wraparound services. AP Photo/Manuel Valdes
The woke mayor said the units are for homeless people suffering “complex problems related to substance abuse” or mental disorders — but without forcing them to seek help or even stay off the drugs that got them there.
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“The process of recovery is really complicated and difficult, and so, we’re not demanding that people be abstinent when they enter this village,” the Democratic socialist mayor said, according to KOMO.
“The goal is to help people successfully move from homelessness toward stability and housing; that’s exactly what this site is designed to do,” she vowed, without citing evidence.
Local advocates quickly ripped the plan, with many saying it will only make drug use more widespread there, raising the risks for anyone living nearby.
Andrea Suarez, founder of the homeless outreach organization We Heart Seattle, ridiculed the mayor’s program, saying that the drug use will add to widespread crime as “the bodies are piling up.”
“Drugs aren’t free,” she told Fox News of the “deadly” drugs like “super meth and fentanyl” that “will be allowed on this property.”
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Seattle’s lefty Mayor Katie Wilson was ripped online after unveiling a fleet of tiny homes for the homeless ahead of the World Cup. Getty Images
“So what do people have to do to fuel their addiction? They have to porch-prowl, smash and grab, retail theft, syphon gas … prostitution,” she predicted, saying locals will have to “be on lockdown.”
“It’s very hard to get better and seek treatment when the fox is guarding the henhouse,” she said, saying that the addicts will be surrounded by dealers and fellow users. “It’s very hard to get sober when everything makes you actually more comfortable being a drug addict.”
Other critics were wary of the state the homes could fall into without rules stopping them from becoming “overdose incubators.”
Digital critics also took aim at the micro-homes, comparing the tiny units to an outhouse and blasting them as “overdose incubators” that will reek of urine. AP Photo/Manuel ValdesResidents of the 70-square-foot units are not required to undergo any behavioral or recovery treatment. AP Photo/Manuel Valdes
“Each one of these tiny houses will turn into a tiny outhouse. Good luck cleaning that human sewer up,” one naysayer fumed on X.
Another raged: “How much you willing to bet that within a year, all those tiny homes will be torn down crack houses smelling like heroin laced urine.”
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Another blasted: “Glad Katie could give drug dealers and criminals a home base for their crimes against the people of Seattle.”
Local advocates have raised concerns about potential drug use spiraling out of control. AP Photo/Manuel Valdes
“Dumb,” one critic slammed. “Now they just get to use drugs in those tiny homes. How about we get them off the drugs!!”
Wilson said an additional 25 sleeper units will be installed at the Bayside Enhanced Shelter by the end of June, with as many as 300 new pods expected citywide by summer’s end.
That still falls way short of her promise of 500 units in time for Seattle’s World Cup matches.
“Is it a failure not to have created 500 units by now? As long as there are thousands of people sleeping unsheltered on our streets, yes, we are failing,” the lefty mayor said defensively.
Thanks to Susan for the photo. She called to tell us about a dog stuck on the rocks off Beach Drive near Harbor West (the condos on pilings), and a crowd gathering to figure out how to rescue it from the rising tide. We were away from the desk at the time but after returning a little while later, we heard the situation mentioned on police radio, with word the dog had been rescued, so we didn’t head that way. Then late tonight Susan sent photos, explaining that the dog apparently is known to swim to those rocks and back, but for some reason got stuck this time, “until a paddle boarder and kayaker paddled out to it to coax it off the rocks and back to the shore.”
As Seattle’s month-long role as a host city for the Fifa Men’s World Cup draws to a close with a knockout match between the United States and Belgium, local match-day scenes, business boosters and media dispatches have projected an image of a sports-fueled boom town.
On match days, hordes of locals and visitors have packed the city’s waterfront and official watch parties, shattering public-transit records and buoying nearby beer sales. Local soccer-focused mainstays like the George & Dragon Pub have reported “incredible” increases in business. And, pointing to positive reporting by the Guardian and other international newspapers, Seattle’s business lobby says the city has “performed very, very well on the world stage”.
But the effects – and extent – of Seattle’s Fifa-fueled boom are murky. Some preliminary reports claim tourism volumes to the city are down year over year, struggling to outmatch the volume of visitors Seattle typically sees during its summer high season. Travel costs have spiked after the US-Israeli war on Iran, exacerbated by Fifa’s booking large tranches of hotel rooms, which created artificial scarcity for lodgings and raised prices. Many international visitors, including the city’s once-reliable base of Canadian tourists, have steered clear of Seattle since early 2025, after violent, draconian immigration enforcement and threats by Donald Trump against Canada. And, prior to today’s match, Seattle’s schedule featured many countries whose fans couldn’t attend the World Cup because of the Trump administration’s travel bans, including supporters from Iran and Senegal.
Soccer fans protesting against Iran’s current regime wave the country’s Pahlavi dynasty flag outside a bar near Seattle Stadium on 26 June. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
Pointing to these factors and confronting local economic challenges such as an ongoing wave of tech layoffs, some business owners have reported declining sales and question the cheery forecasts shared by tournament organizers prior to the World Cup. They await a final tally of the tourist volumes and benefits Fifa did or did not bring to Seattle, and wonder how the city’s economy might fare once the alleged boom subsides.
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‘They had hyped us up so much’
In early 2025, Vince Vu, owner of Anh Ơi Bake Shop, a Vietnamese American bakery, began receiving flyers and messages from consultants associated with the World Cup and city government. Seattle’s soccer stadium directly adjoins the city’s downtown core, as well as the Chinatown-International District, and draws large crowds to the area on match days. The consultants explained to Vu and other businesses in the area how they should prepare for a Fifa-induced flux of customers.
“They had hyped us up so much,” Vu said. “We had weekly meetings telling us, ‘Hey … make sure you’re going to double your staff and … double your inventory and do all this stuff, because [the World Cup is] going to be this great thing for the city.’”
The regional tourism board Visit Seattle initially forecast in 2024 that Seattle’s status as a World Cup host city would generate $929m in local economic activity; citing downturns in international travel to the US following Trump’s return to the presidency, Visit Seattle later revised its estimate to $845.6m, projecting a total count of 750,000 visitors over the course of the World Cup.
In the tournament’s opening days, Bloomberg reported that Seattle may be the only US host city to have seen a year-over-year decline in flight bookings, citing data from travel marketing platform Sojern. More recent data complicates that conclusion; Perry Cooper, a spokesperson for Seattle’s primary airport, said that Seattle has been “up in travelers” since the start of the World Cup by at least 3%, including a 4% year-over-year increase in international visitors.
Fans gather at bars before the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Australia at Seattle Stadium 19 June. Photograph: Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Siddhant Bahadur, who manages more than 40 short-term rentals in Seattle, said business has been fairly flat compared with last year’s summer high season for tourism. He thinks the city’s marginal increases in travel volumes during the World Cup are a “telling sign” that tourism to the city is otherwise down due to economic and geopolitical challenges.
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“I think we lost a lot of Canadians, and I think people are worried about the economy and about what’s going on in Washington, and, oh, by the way, we’re at war,” echoed short-term rental owner Marlow Harris, who said she’s seen a 30% hit to business.
In an emailed statement, Visit Seattle’s chief business officer, Kelly Saling, said declines in international tourism since 2024 have been “partially offset” by an increase in domestic tourism, meaning the city has not seen a “drop in forecasted visitors, just a change in the mix”. Local hotels have reported mixed results, with lower occupancy rates than projected, but with large increases in revenue; Fifa booked large blocks of hotel rooms before the World Cup and released them in the weeks leading up to the tournament, generating artificial scarcity and raising prices, according to local business leaders. Saling said hotel booking data has shown “peaks and valleys” around match days, which included a new revenue record on the night preceding the 19 June match between the US and Australia.
To Vu, the World Cup’s peaks have coincided with Anh Ơi Bake Shop’s lowest sales. When the US squared off against the Socceroos, Vu’s business saw just a quarter of its normal sales. Vu said other neighborhood businesses have reported similarly disappointing results: Regular patrons have avoided the neighborhood on match days to avoid traffic, he noted, adding that sports tourists may not be interested in “culturally specific businesses”.
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Soccer fans crowd in to watch the Iran and Egypt match on a giant screen on 26 June. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
The Seattle aquarium has also reported a downturn, despite its location on Seattle’s currently sports fan-saturated waterfront. Emily Malone, a spokesperson for the aquarium, noted a “decrease in attendance” during the tournament, “particularly on match days”. The aquarium has offered promotions for visitors wearing soccer gear, as well as free programs on the waterfront. Overlook Walk, a public park situated on the roof of Seattle Aquarium’s recently constructed pavilion, has drawn large crowds during World Cup watch parties.
A mixed financial picture, but optimism that visitors will return
Scott Stulen, director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum, began planning for the World Cup in 2024, and expected an uneven increase in footfall across its three locations. The museum’s free sculpture garden along the waterfront received new signage before the World Cup, and currently features a temporary mini-golf course designed by local artists. The sculpture garden has seen its foot traffic more than double, while visitor numbers to its downtown museum have stayed “basically flat”, as Stulen anticipated.
Some variables could not be planned in advance. Seattle’s group-stage matchups “weren’t ideal”, Stulen said, as the city missed out on fanbases that “stay a little bit longer” in host cities. Some World Cup organizers see a handful of teams – Argentina, England and France, among others – as special catalysts of economic activity, featuring dedicated fanbases with the financial means to stay longer in host cities.
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Seattle’s organizers also expected World Cup activity to “spread into the city a little bit more than it has”, though bars and restaurants are “killing it” if they’re located “in the right place”, Stulen said, framing the “positive activity” in downtown Seattle as “a win”.
US fans march together to the Seattle Stadium before the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Australia on 19 June. Photograph: Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Even marginal increases in sales can make a meaningful difference for local businesses preparing to weather future economic volatility, according to Daniel Pagard, who owns the George & Dragon Pub, a local British bar known for screening Premier League games and other international matches. Recent tech layoffs have affected some locals’ finances, and businesses are beginning to note the downstream effects.
“You definitely see a lot of it when people come out,” Pagard said. “Instead of maybe getting two half English breakfasts, they’re splitting one full English, because it saves them a few bucks, and [they’re] turning down that one extra pint before they leave.”
Seattle’s business lobby hopes visitors – and major tournaments – will come back. According to Joe Nguyễn, a former lawmaker who now leads the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Seattle’s business lobby hosted a trade delegation from Australia during the 19 June match, and expects some foreign direct investment to arise from that initiative. More broadly, he said Seattle has shown it is capable of hosting large-scale sports programming, and can efficiently deploy resources to accommodate large influxes of visitors.
Today’s match against Belgium may be the “craziest sporting event that Seattle’s probably ever seen”, he said. Nguyễn hopes the World Cup will bring the city closer to some of its ambitious goals.
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“Because of our remoteness in the north-west corner, people oftentimes will skip over us on their tours. Now they’ll think twice … I think the NFL will look to here to see if they should have some games, [and] I think this is helpful for us bringing back a basketball team,” he said.
