【】

发布时间：2025-09-11 20:55:14 来源：都市天下脉观察 作者：娱乐

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flipboard
• Comments
• Print
• Email

Seattle business owner says crime, drug crisis has become ‘overwhelming’

Salon owner Zazel Wu joins ‘Fox News @ Night’ to discuss how Seattle’s homelessness and drug problems have impacted the community.

A Seattle hotel owner is suing the city of Seattle and King County, alleging officials broke contracts when they leased her property as a homeless shelter and returned it damaged and uninhabitable.

Neha Nariya, owner of the historic Civic Hotel, said King County approached her in April 2020 about using the property as a COVID-19 recovery site for homeless individuals. She agreed, telling Fox News Digital she and her family believed helping their community in the throes of a global pandemic was the right thing to do.

The Seattle Times reported that local officials feared homeless shelters could become breeding grounds for the coronavirus, so they rented hotels to slow the spread.

In 2022, the city of Seattle took over the contract under its CoLEAD housing program, run by the nonprofit Purpose. Dignity. Action. (PDA). According to the lawsuit filed in August, both the city and county agreed to supervise tenants and return the property in its original condition.

People sleep on a sidewalk in Seattle on April 6, 2020.  (Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

LEFTIST LAWMAKERS WANT TO MAKE HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS A NATIONWIDE CRISIS

But Nariya said the hotel, which she fully renovated in 2019, was returned to her in December 2024 damaged and contaminated after widespread fentanyl and methamphetamine use. A newborn infant was also found dead on the premises during that time.

Her attorney said the destruction left her with millions of dollars in losses and prevented her from reopening the business.

"I don't know if we're going to even be able to retain the property if it continues for much longer," Nariya told Fox News Digital. "My dad passed away unexpectedly last fall, and we were business partners, so it's been very trying.I really just want to run my business at this point."

The lawsuit claims the city failed to test for biohazard contamination despite contractual obligations. Nariya said she provided Seattle with a preliminary damage estimate in January 2025, before the extent of drug contamination was known, but received no response until June. At that point, she said, the city refused to pay.

Testing later found "pervasive drug contamination" that Nariya alleges requires a "complete to-the-studs cleaning and renovation," according to the complaint. The filing also accuses officials of suggesting they could use eminent domain to lower the property’s value.

"It was a very chilling and odd thing for them to say under the circumstances. Because the reality is, they damaged my client's property," Mark C. Lamb, Nariya's attorney and shareholder for Carney Badley Spellman, told Fox News Digital. "My client stepped up in the middle of a pandemic to do the right thing, and to try to help people who were experiencing a really difficult time. And so the fact that they would so kind of callously throw that out was just stunning to me."

A homeless man, 24, holds a piece of aluminum foil he used to smoke fentanyl on March 13, 2022, in Seattle. (John Moore/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON MAN ACCUSED OF HAVING ENOUGH FENTANYL TO KILL 278,000 PEOPLE AFTER GETTING CLEMENCY FROM DEM GOV

Nariya is seeking damages, interest, attorney fees and other relief.

The city of Seattle said it could not comment on active litigation. King County did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.

The nonprofit PDA rejected the lawsuit’s allegations in comments to Fox News Digital, calling it an effort "to leverage a cash settlement."

A homeless encampment known as "Dope Slope" stands near downtown Seattle on March 12, 2022. (John Moore/Getty Images)

The nonprofit said that when it left the site in December, it conducted a full walk-through with the city and owner, who approved the condition. PDA said it provided 24/7 staffing during its tenure but that the building was left unsecured afterward by the owner, allowing unauthorized entry.

On contamination allegations, PDA said it has not seen test results and believes any drug residue came before or after its tenure, insisting it enforced no-smoking rules. The group said the claim the building must be "taken down to the studs" is inconsistent with contamination standards.

PDA called the infant’s death a "devastating tragedy" and said its staff discovered the baby with the father after the mother concealed her premature delivery days before entering inpatient treatment. 

The mother was "actively supported in outpatient treatment and was making strong efforts to address her substance-use issues prior to her premature delivery," the organization said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

相关文章