Kincaid for Congress – Washington’s 1st District

Statement - Kincaid for Congress - Washington's 1st District - 2026 Background Checks for All Taxpayer Funded Housing Facilities The Housing First model has no system to detect residents with active warrants. That is not a policy gap. It is a public safety failure. And a 15 year old girl paid the price. A 15 year old girl was waiting for the bus at the Northgate transit bus stop . Joshua V. Kowalczewski, 36, rode up on a bicycle, asked her age, told her she was attractive and then threatened her and forced her into the nearby woods where he sexually assaulted this innocent child. Kowalczewski had 28 arrests and 13 convictions spanning 19 years. He had 9 active warrants across 5 jurisdictions at the time of the attack. He has had 46 warrants issued against him since 2008. Not one of his prior arrests resulted in significant jail time. A recent drug possession case had been diverted into a treatment program. He was free. His last known address was the Chief Seattle Club...

The historic neighborhoods of Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon in Seattle's International District are not part of Washington's 1st Congressional District. They belong to District 7. But the Asian American communities in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, and across WA-01 are very much part of this campaign  and what happens in Seattle's Asian neighborhoods matters deeply to them, and to all of us. The families and business owners of Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon are largely immigrants or the children of immigrants people who followed the legal immigration process, built businesses from nothing, and created some of the most culturally vibrant and economically productive communities in the Pacific Northwest. They did everything right. And for years, they have been failed by the very officials elected to protect them. To the people of these communities.  Kincaid sees you. I hear you. And I will stand with you  not just in words, but in policy and...

Three Crises, Three Solutions: A Smarter Strategy to End Homelessness "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." By that standard America's approach to homelessness has lost its mind. We spend more every year. The crisis gets worse every year. The problem is not a lack of money and it is not a lack of compassion. It is that we keep applying one solution to three completely different problems. Homelessness is not one crisis. It is three  addiction, severe mental illness and economic hardship. Each one demands a different response. Until our policy matches the cause to the cure nothing will change. Decades of Failure Billions Spent For decades  agencies from HUD down to county programs have spent billions to fight homelessness. The spending goes up. The promises pile up. The encampments keep growing. Why? Because most of our programs rest on a theory that does not survive contact with reality. That if a thousand people are home...

Understanding the Problem Before we can solve this problem, it is important to understand how it originated. Did the people of Bellevue want, ask for, or vote for homeless shelters in Eastgate? So how did this happen? A small ruling class a group of people who believe they are superior to everyone else made this decision. King County, Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond came together and reached an agreement to move forward with these shelters. It is important to note that this agreement was not legally binding . Bellevue was under no legal obligation to participate. The agreement called for Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond to host homeless facilities operated by Plymouth Housing and it did not matter what residents had to say. The facilities were going to be built regardless. The public hearings and the Bellevue City Council vote were little more than formalities. There was very strong opposition to the Eastgate location, and that opposition was ignored. To the People of Eastgate a...