HOMELESSNESS: Panel @ Highland Park Action Committee tomorrow; mayor’s plan; councilmember’s context @ Alki CC

Three notes on what remains the most-discussed issue of the day:

PANEL DISCUSSION AT HPAC TOMORROW: Wednesday night at 7 pm, the Highland Park Action Committee‘s monthly meeting will be devoted to a panel discussion about homelessness. From HPAC’s website:

This panel is being created in response to local concerns, creating a common understanding of homelessness, the challenges some may face accessing housing, and ways we can help. Speaking on the panel will be Ruth Herold, Executive Director, Elizabeth Gregory Home; Polly Trout, Ph.D., Founder, Patacara Community Services; and a member of Camp Second Chance’s leadership team. The panel is moderated by Gunner Scott, Chair of HPAC.

Goals for the discussion include dispelling stereotypes, demystify homelessness, and to lay the groundwork for greater communication, understanding and involvement between all neighbors – housed and unhoused. There will be time for Q & A.

Everyone is welcome.

(Camp Second Chance is the encampment just inside the entrance to the Myers Way Parcels.) HPAC meets at Highland Park Improvement Club, 12th SW/SW Holden.

MAYOR’S PROPOSALS: As the City Council tabled its discussion of changing the “protocols” for encampments – when and where they can and can’t be removed – Mayor Ed Murray went public last Friday night with details on his interim plan. If you haven’t yet read about it, here’s the news release; here’s the plan. Some details are still pending, such as what locations will be proposed for the four sanctioned encampments the mayor wants to set up to get hundreds of people out of unsanctioned ones.

COUNCILMEMBER HERBOLD’S THOUGHTS: Last Thursday night, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold was a late addition to the agenda at the Alki Community Council. She talked extensively about the ongoing budget process, and then was asked about the encampment-legislation controversy, which she acknowledged was a “flashpoint.” Our notes:

She said that 25,000 renters are on the brink of homelessness because they pay more than half their income for rent; 2,500 renters are on the waiting list for Seattle Housing Authority subsidized housing; 3,000 people are sleeping unsheltered each night; 3,000 people are in shelters every night; “it takes time to build housing.” Every week, she says, she hears “somebody who is two degrees of separation from me” who has had to move out of the city because it’s too expensive.

An attendee asks the question about “where are the homeless people from?” and Herbold affirms, “the vast majority are from King County. … their last known address before accessing services is from King County.” She also was asked about an editorial suggesting that service providers are failing because they aren’t matching more people. She talked about the barriers to shelter for some people – having to leave behind their partners, their pets, having to get sober before they can move inside.

One attendee pointed out that you don’t give up your right to privacy because you have lost housing.

So what is real about the discussion of use of parks for camping? she was asked.

“There are people sleeping in parks now,” said Herbold. “We were trying to identify what would be unsafe locations, hazardous, and what would be unsuitable – parks weren’t in the unsafe or unsuitable definition, but we weren’t trying to say that it would be suitable for people to sleep there – we were trying to say that the city should prioritize clearing the places that are unsafe/unsuitable. … My motivation is that, right now we have 600 known encampments in the city with three or more tents … in the last year we’ve removed 400+ of them, and 95 percent of them have been reoccupied.” That’s a huge waste of resources, she said. “The intent was never about endorsing sleeping outside, it was trying to find a way to manage our public space …I believe the reason we have 600 encampments right now, is because of the way we do things right now … All that said, we have tabled the legislation we’ve been working on because the mayor is proposing a new approach, we’re waiting to see how that goes, we’re expecting to see something in the next week or so,” including a plan for four more sanctioned encampments. “We’ll see what the mayor proposes and see if it’s a better approach in the interim … I want to be sure we’re doing an assessment and evaluation of the new approach, and see if we’re actually reducing the number of encampments.”

Rather than take up the tabled bill again, she suggests community-by-community conversations. She said people understand the problem – but need to understand what’s contributing to it, before they get to how to create policy to deal with it. The legislation was a “flashpoint,” she said.

Those four encampments, though, will only help up to about 400 people, she acknowledges. And: “The reason we’re in this problem is that we don’t have enough of what meets people’s very unique needs.” And she talked about the dangers of living outside, and the pain of living outside leading some to self-medicate (they’re not necessarily homeless because of substance use, for example, but the substance use might stem from their shelterlessness).

Again, this discussion with the Alki Community Council was about 24 hours before the mayor’s interim plan was made public. There’s been no followup discussion in a council meeting because they’re now back to fully focusing on the budget.

11 Replies to "HOMELESSNESS: Panel @ Highland Park Action Committee tomorrow; mayor's plan; councilmember's context @ Alki CC"

  • Thomas October 25, 2016 (3:52 pm)

    I have asked Lisa repeatedly to inform citizens when she is going to be at a forum .She and the rest of the Council don’t want anyone who opposes there plan .I guarantee she would have gotten a lot of push back .If people had known

  • lookingforlogic October 25, 2016 (4:31 pm)

    I’m confused, Camp second will be closed in favor of opening public parks for encampment?  Find a location, secure it, provide disposal services.  The Meyers way parcels are already public property (?) not certain but it’s logical versus scattering the problem.  Crowdsource the donations, get the downtown business groups and all of the religions, to organize, it’s in their best interests.  Put together a cohesive plan that shows us what we can do, and facebook progress to keep the ball bouncing. 

    Christmas is coming, show us the way.

     

  • flimflam October 25, 2016 (6:12 pm)

    if anyone thinks the council is interested in your opinion, thoughts on the subject, proposed ordinances I have sweet plot of land with a view of the Grand Canyon and its waterfront too! for you, cheap!

  • ltfd October 25, 2016 (9:51 pm)

    Seattle does not have a homeless problem, it has a vagrancy problem.

  • ttt October 25, 2016 (10:25 pm)

    I wish I had not voted for Lisa Herbold.

  • It's getting colder October 25, 2016 (10:43 pm)

    and wetter out there. I can tolerate seeing ugly tents a bit longer. 

  • JoB October 26, 2016 (6:48 am)

    LFTD
    the trouble with making decisions about homeless people based on the vagrants you see on the street is is the homeless you don’t see.. or don’t recognize. Largest growing populations of homeless people.. families with kids and the elderly..

  • Paul Hage October 26, 2016 (11:22 am)

     Not a big fan of Mayor Murray.  However, in the case of providing for the homeless his approach is better thought out than anything I’ve seen from the City Council.  Moving the scattered camps into designated areas with sanitary facilities and outreach staff seems logical.  Removing the “I’ll camp where I please” contingent is appropriate, and should be enforced.  If some folks refuse due to drug use/needs it seems there are laws and they should be enforced – jail, counseling or pack up and leave.  Organized camps should provide sufficient capacity for the homeless until limited housing comes on line.  I have compassion for anyone who is homeless, but I do not want my public space (parks, sidewalks etc.) taken over by campers.  We need to provide for them – but not at the cost of civil society.

    • lookingforlogic October 26, 2016 (1:12 pm)

      I agree, it is heartbreaking to feel for people living unsheltered.  They are powerless and scattering them into the brush leaves them vulnerable to dealers, violence and thieves.  Focusing on security and health is better accomplished by the professionals, law enforcement, healthcare providers, the churches.  And because this requires money, and it’s in the business community’s best interest to make it easier for me to go downtown and not feel guilty about enjoying my days off at a restaurant, shopping or the movies, I would appreciate a transparent effective means to contribute to solving this issue instead of handing off a few dollars wondering whether would maybe be a tiny bit helpful or does it just fuel the situation.  And so I do nothing.

  • Etip October 26, 2016 (10:42 pm)

    I was at my 7 year olds soccer game this past weekend at Fairmont Park when one of the parents came up and told everyone not to let the kids play in the woods around the jungle gym because there were homeless living in the woods and needles back there…. At the same time a kid came out with a knife they found. 

    Herbold has repeatedly let me down with her decisions and votes. The fact that she has even considered opening the parks for vagrants to camp in is so disconnected from reason. Whale Tail park at Alki Elementary was even on the list of possibly allowable camps….. I look forward to voting her out. 

  • SGG October 26, 2016 (11:30 pm)

    Can you recall a city council member?

    Lisa H is tone-deaf on this issue.  Parks are sacrosanct.  Instead of treating the parks system as a relief valve for the homeless issue, they should push a measure before the voters to create a more permanent solution.  I thought we actually did this with the recent housing levy.  Push another levy if need be, but don’t legitimize defiling the parks system.

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