(WSB file photo)

The Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee met this afternoon via videoconference and phone, for updates on what’s happening at the tiny-house encampment in southeast West Seattle. Here are our toplines:

CAMP UPDATE: Camp co-founder and site coordinator Eric Pattin says 53 people are living there right now – 20 women, 33 men (the village has 49 tiny houses); referrals come from the city’s Navigation Team … 2 residents have moved out to affordable permanent housing … 2 new tiny homes have been placed … No cases of COVID-19 at the camp; they’ve had one round of testing (as noted last month) so far. … Two 911 calls this month, one for a disruptive resident who wound up being transferred to the encampment at Lake Union (which has behavioral-care services on site), one for a person who was having trouble with a seizure disorder. … The camp’s been getting so much food donated, including some it can’t use (baking mixes that require oven access, for example) that they’re working to get unneeded items donated in turn to the White Center Food Bank.

CAMP OPERATOR/SPONSOR UPDATE: Josh Castle of LIHI said two more tiny houses are being finished by Sound Foundations NW and Fauntleroy UCC volunteers. They’re building 2 houses every 3 weeks for other LIHI sites. Volunteers are still able to work at the site via a separate entrance in the back. “Weather, pandemic, whatever, they’re always there,” camp co-founder Eric Davis said in appreciation. A church representative wondered if the camp needs more fire extinguishers. Pattin said they’ll discuss, though they do already have at least 15 on site, in the residential and community areas. In Q&A, it emerged that the church/LIHI paperwork has not yet been finalized due to changing city ordinances regarding encampment sponsorships. They might instead enter into a Memorandum of Understanding regarding a partnership. …LIHI will be organizing advocacy for at least two upcoming City Council meetings related to funding for homelessness response, one this week, one on June 24th.

CITY UPDATE: Shawn Neal from the Human Services Department was on the call but had no specific CSC notes.

OTHER COMMITTEE UPDATES: Chair Willow Fulton keeps watch on her Myers Way neighborhood and noted there’s an illegal-dumping site that hasn’t been addressed lately … Cinda Stenger of Alki UCC/Westside Interfaith Network says the West Seattle Helpline – with which she also volunteers – needs men’s clothing, so the camp will go though its excess donations … Aaron Garcia of White Center Community Development Association says a project with “70-80 units of affordable housing” in WC is reaching the design phase and they are launching a small community group that will be meeting multiple times during the summer… Judi Carr of Arrowhead Gardens had nothing to report as they’re “staying quarantined” at the senior-living complex that’s just a few blocks north of Camp Second Chance … Grace Stiller said that she’s hoping to work with LIHI on getting the camp involved with grant-funded Weed Warriors and is ready to start scheduling training; Castle said they’ll make it happen. “It’s a pretty exciting thing … to do this work,” he said.

The Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee usually meets the first Sunday of the month; its members will confer soon to decide if they want to stick with that for July 5th, or reschedule.