Just want to say as a Seattlite that the city I experience is not a dangerous hell hole at all. I've lived in Capitol Hill for a decade. I've worked on the hill and in SODO. I regularly go to Pioneer Square, Rainier Valley, downtown, the ID, not to mention Ballard, Fremont, and so on. Homelessness is a serious problem in the city, and something I encounter every day, but I have never been attacked, threatened, etc. I'm sure it happens, but I think the narrative is getting unbalanced. I've stayed in Seattle for so long because it is truly an amazing place to live!
Setting all that aside, because the issue is so pressing and the risk at losing empathy so great I volunteer with a local homeless shelter. I encourage everyone who feels this issue is important to find some time to contribute to the solution. You can help make a difference, interact with homeless people as humans not "others", and regain a little agency in the world.
Also in Seattle, complete opposite experience. Live in Fremont near the canal. I have been swung and lunged at and had someone who was severely mentally ill tear apart my yard and try and break the windows in the house with the patio furniture while home. Absolutely terrifying and had to clean blood off of the doors. On the regular screaming could be heard in the neighborhood in the distance somewhere.
Once the encampments in the area were cleared everything stopped. Turned me into a nimby right quick. Tax me sufficiently to provide adequate services and get them the hell out of my neighborhood.
I used to feel this way, too - and I live in Belltown - but over the years the random stabbings have added up, like the couple killed after a Sounder's game a while back, of the 3 random people stabbed a few days ago outside Nordstrom... it's scary, but not in the "late night walking alone" way.
Setting all that aside, because the issue is so pressing and the risk at losing empathy so great I volunteer with a local homeless shelter. I encourage everyone who feels this issue is important to find some time to contribute to the solution. You can help make a difference, interact with homeless people as humans not "others", and regain a little agency in the world.