(WSB photo, entrance to Camp Second Chance as seen from other side of Myers Way)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The problem plaguing West Seattle’s decade-old tiny-home village Camp Second Chance is is exactly what neighbors of the future Glassyard Commons are worried about: Camping outside the fence.
Camp Second Chance is at the southeast edge of West Seattle, at 9701 Myers Way South, on the city-owned Myers Way Parcels, where it started as an unsanctioned encampment in 2016 and eventually got the city’s blessing, as well as a contract for the Low-Income Housing Institute to run it (and most of Seattle’s other tiny-home sites). That’s the same organization that’ll be running the Glassyard Commons tiny-home and RV-lot site once it opens, also in southeast West Seattle.
Residents and businesses are concerned about unsanctioned camping that could be drawn to the periphery, with some already happening in the nearby West Duwamish Greenbelt. There have been promises of monitoring and action to keep that from becoming a problem. But a longtime member of Camp Second Chance’s Community Advisory Committee – one of two who showed up for its monthly online meeting Tuesday – says it’s a chronic problem outside the camp’s fence. Grace Stiller leads a nonprofit that has long worked on restoration of the wetland-rich site surrounding the camp.
(WSB photo, unauthorized camp north of CSC, seen through fencing along Myers Way)
Now, she says, some unsanctioned campers are actually on and in the wetlands. They have a big “pile of bicycles,” she noted. And she said she has also seen people hauling food into the area, leading to concerns that food donated for the “enrolled” campers is winding up diverted to those outside.
LIHI staffers in attendance at the meeting said that’s against the rules and that the policy was reiterated at a camp-wide community gathering. But what the solution would be for the camping outside CSC was’t clear. Stiller wondered what the policy was for those who might be on the outside because they’ve been kicked out – aka “exited” – from CSC. The staffers said it would depend on what someone was “exited” for doing; in some cases they might be able to earn their way back in.
Also discussed at the meeting:
CURRENT CAMP POPULATION: 87 people, 26 pets, four empty tiny homes because of “abandonments” (people who left CSC and didn’t return). They expected to fill those vacancies soon. Nine people currently have housing possibilities, pending action they have to take to help make it happen; staffers said they are clear that they don’t just take all the steps necessary for a housing placement and deliver it on a silver platter. And some do participate, they also said, including looking for work so they’ll have rent money, for example.
CAMP MANAGEMENT: CSC hasn’t had a permanent operations manager for almost half a year, but LIHI staffers believe they’ve made a hire who should be on board soon. They’ve also up to full strength on shelter monitors with recent hires for weekend shifts.
NEXT COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING: 4 pm May 26, online. Email marta@lihi.org if you are interested in attending.
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