The expanded-capacity Camp Second Chance in southeast West Seattle [map] continues to operate at capacity. That’s part of what the tiny-house encampment’s Community Advisory Committee heard at its online meeting Tuesday night, facilitated by case manager Marjorie Johnson.
CAMP STATUS: 75 people right now, including 10 couples – so its 65 tiny houses are all occupied. Eight pets – four dogs, four cats. Four 911 calls were made in the past month – two medical, two police. Two people had to leave the camp “for violence.” In August, 15 people in all exited the camp – 12 were “abandonments” (meaning they just departed of their own volition, likely back to the street); 2 went to jail; 1 went to permanent housing. 15 IDs and 20+ Social Security cards were procured in August; she has applications out for apartments for more than a dozen campers. Right now there’s a woman at the camp whose two children are with her mom since CSC doesn’t allow children, and Johnson just found out that the woman has a chance at a Section 8 voucher. Also, there’s housing available in Everett, and multiple possibilities for people over 62. One client – “one of our originals” – received an emergency-housing voucher and gave it back because “they’re making over 80 percent median income and don’t need the voucher any more.” (That means CSC got the voucher back to use for someone else.) The camp has a full-time mental-health/chemical-dependency counselor; several tiny-house villages are partnering with Therapeutic Health Services for this kind of support. Johnson said she’s gotten housing for 42 people in the months she’s been at CSC. She had mentioned Dockside at Green Lake, acquired by LIHI to convert quickly into affordable permanent housing; camp operator LIHI‘s Josh Castle said it’ll have almost 100 studio apartments. Move-ins will start “in a matter of weeks.” LIHI has more than 3,100 units of permanent affordable housing in six counties, Castle added. The rapid-acquisition program has been a game-changer, he said. “We hope to be able to do a lot more of that.” One more note from Johnson: Another case manager has yet to be hired but they have a prospect. When that person’s on board, they’ll be able to share the caseload.
CAMP NEEDS: Hygiene items, towels, blankets, pillows, socks, jackets, shoes are among the perennial needs, said Johnson. “We’re getting some of those things but we can always use more.” They’ve had a fair amount of turnover since the 24 new houses were added over the summer, and winter is coming, so it’s time to prepare. The “donation room” will be empty shortly as they transition the space they use to store donated items. The topic of a gift registry came back up – “makes it easy for us to give,” said committee member John Walling of nearby Arrowhead Gardens – and will be looked into.
CONCERNS: One attendee brought up a perennial issue, safety along Myers Way, as there’s no sidewalk for people and streetside fencing pushes pedestrians dangerously close to traffic. Committee member Grace Stiller observed that not only is it a safety issue but potentially a liability issue for adjacent property owners (primarily the City of Seattle). Stiller also brought up “derelict vehicles” that are parked near the camp but not officially on its site. She’s concerned not only about how it looks but also about people working on those vehicles, leading to vehicle-fluid runoff, especially problematic with creek headlands there that eventually feed into the Duwamish River.
KUDOS: Amazon sent volunteers to a Weed Warriors – Stiller’s environmental-stewardship nonprofit – project that removed invasives. “They did a fabulous job,” said Stiller. On Saturday, October 15th, for Orca Day, they’ll have an activity, 10 am-2 pm, at the Myers Way wetlands. LIHI’s Castle said the nonprofit gets lots of offers for volunteer groups to help out and they were glad to have something like that to occupy one group. “We really appreciate you hosting these volunteers.”
NEXT MEETING: They’re hoping the Community Advisory Committee can go back to second Tuesdays next month – online until further notice – so that date would be October 11th.
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