By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Quiet month at Camp Second Chance – the city-sanctioned/funded encampment at 9701 Myers Way S. – but not so quiet in the pockets of unauthorized camping across the road.

Complaints about camping in the woods on the other side of Myers Way resurfaced toward the end of this month’s meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for Camp Second Chance, held Sunday afternoon at nearby Arrowhead Gardens.

Also during the meeting, one of the reps from the camp’s operator, the Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI), suggested the committee and other community members put pressure on the city to provide a daily meal for the campers. Other updates ranged from budgeting to trash pickup.

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Above (or here in PDF) you can read the city’s contract with LIHI for its first four months of operating Camp Second Chance, the city-sanctioned encampment at 9701 Myers Way S., on the southeast edge of West Seattle. We obtained the contract from the city Human Services Department while looking ahead to Sunday’s monthly meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for the encampment (2 pm, Arrowhead Gardens, 9200 2nd SW).

At the past few meetings, someone has asked about getting a copy of the contract, and it’s been promised, but it hasn’t turned up on the city’s website, so we decided to ask in advance this time. It was for $75,000 to cover LIHI’s costs through the end of last year; HSD tells WSB that the contract for this year has not been finalized yet, but that’s expected to happen this month. Besides specifying the dollar amount, the 2017 contract – signed on November 21st – says that LIHI agrees to operate and provide case-management services for the encampment. It also spells out expectations on the duration of stay, and includes the explanation that the camp is self-managed, though campers do not have veto power over LIHI decisions. It also notes that campers provide security services, with at least one on duty at the gate at all times, and it notes that no one under 18 is allowed to stay at the camp.

One other issue that’s come up at Community Advisory Committee meetings – renewing the camp at the Myers Way Parcels site for a second year. Technically the camp’s already been there for a year and a half, but it didn’t become city-sanctioned until February of last year. We asked HSD spokesperson Meg Olberding about the status of a second year. Her reply in full:

Since opening the first city-funded managed encampment in November 2015, we’ve seen that they are an important part of the continuum to address unsheltered homelessness. Every night, nearly 300 people have a safer place to stay because of our six managed encampments. HSD received direction from the City Council during the budget season to expand the program to all districts in Seattle. We are balancing that policy direction with the commitment we’ve made to both encampment residents and housed neighbors to provide healthy and safe living conditions. As discussed in the Camp Second Chance CAC meeting in early January, HSD is working on a re-permitting process for the City’s managed encampments that acknowledges the commitment made to community members and the importance of these safer spaces for unsheltered people.

(Camp Second Chance’s entrance, photographed December 2017 by Leda Costa for WSB)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

There’s room for more people at West Seattle’s only city-sanctioned encampment, Camp Second Chance.

And for those who are there already, the camp finally has a new case manager.

Plus, the long-running question of whether CSC will be sanctioned for a second year will be answered soon, with a promise of “community input” before a decision is made.

Those were three major updates presented Sunday at the Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee‘s monthly meeting, held as usual at Arrowhead Gardens, a few blocks north of the camp, which is at 9701 Myers Way S.

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(Camp Second Chance entrance, photographed December 2017 by WSB’s Leda Costa)

If you’re interested in the city-sanctioned encampment on the southeast edge of West Seattle, Camp Second Chance, you’re invited to the next monthly meeting of its Community Advisory Committee, 2 pm tomorrow (Sunday, January 7th) at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW). The city-mandated committee gets updates on what’s happening at the camp and what’s happening with its operator (which changed last fall to the Low-Income Housing Institute), which has a contract with and funding from the city for basic camp operations. The camp’s been on city-owned Myers Way Parcels land for a year and a half, but the city approval and funding didn’t start until about a year ago, and could be extended for another year. As of last month’s report, the camp had about four dozen residents.

(Photos by Leda Costa for WSB)

Every year for seven years now, residents of the Arrowhead Gardens senior-apartment complex collect socks as holiday-season gifts for people in need. This afternoon, they brought their gifts to folks living just blocks away, at the city-sanctioned encampment Camp Second Chance. In the photo above are the AG sock-drive coordinator Diane Radischat, CSC manager Eric, AG’s CSC liaison Nancy, and CSC resident Melissa. Here’s a look at some of what the neighbors brought over:

Diane tells WSB that the first three years, the Arrowhead Gardens residents gave the gift of warmth to residents of the Nickelsville encampment, then for three years to Union Gospel Mission, and this is the first year that the beneficiaries are their neighbors at Camp Second Chance.

“I believe our total is around 1650 to 1700 pairs of socks … plus many hats, gloves, scarves and toiletries,” Diane says, adding that she and her neighbors donate clothing to the camp on an ongoing basis, too.

P.S. Camp Second Chance is hosting a community holiday party on Saturday afternoon, 2-5 pm, all welcome – full details in our calendar listing.

(Camp Second Chance, seen from Myers Way late Sunday afternoon)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Getting more campers out of tents and into tiny houses before winter was a recurring theme of this month’s Community Advisory Committee meeting for Camp Second Chance, the city-sanctioned encampment on the Myers Way Parcels.

At the front of the Arrowhead Gardens meeting room as the meeting began Sunday afternoon were two committee members, Willow Fulton and Cinda Stenger. Josh Castle was there for LIHI, the camp’s city-contracted operator, and one city rep was there, Tom Van Bronkhorst from the Department of Neighborhoods.

CAMP UPDATES: Speaking as an unofficial liaison for the camp, while delivering its official updates, David Baum introduced three board members as well as camp manager Eric Davis. (The presence of Davis was newsworthy in itself; he is a founder and former paid employee of the camp who was controversially booted by the original camp operator Patacara before its withdrawal.)

Baum presented what he described as “a short statistical report about activities at the camp.” That included its current camper count:

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(UPDATED MONDAY NIGHT with documents from meeting)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Will Camp Second Chance get a second year at its Myers Way Parcels site?

That question was brought up many times on a cold, snowy afternoon when the idea of living outdoors seemed difficult to grasp, as the Community Advisory Committee for West Seattle’s city-sanctioned encampment met indoors. The group meets monthly at Arrowhead Gardens, a few blocks north of CSC’s site at 9701 Myers Way [map].

Along with the recurrent question about how long the camp would stay at the city-owned site, the committee heard updates on its current occupancy, which is down significantly.

On hand from the committee were Willow Fulton, a nearby resident, Aaron Garcia from the White Center Community Development Association, and Cinda Stegner from the Westside Interfaith Network, a coalition of West Seattle-area faith-based organizations. From the Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI), which is now the camp’s operator, were executive director Sharon Lee and Josh Castle. And the lone city rep was, from the Department of Neighborhoods, Tom Van Bronkhorst.

The first update was from David, described as being authorized to speak for the camp board and as “a friend of the camp” who said he’s been serving as a mediator between CSC and LIHI. He said LIHI had recently delivered four more tiny homes and “a huge load of supplies – everything from kitchen supplies to coffee, flashlights, extension cords, and batteries” to the camp.

“It has been a process of the two organizations getting to know each other,” he said, working to “develop a constructive relationship.” That was an improvement from the bumpy initial relationship described at last month’s committee meeting.

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(WSB photo from Sunday: From left, Josh Castle & Sharon Lee of LIHI, advisory committee members Grace Stiller & Aaron Garcia)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Big concerns about a big change at city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance were voiced at this month’s meeting of its Community Advisory Committee.

While the last meeting, in August, had filled the meeting room at Arrowhead Gardens, just a few blocks north of the camp, Sunday’s meeting barely cracked double digits – counting the three committee members who were in attendance (Willow Fulton, an area resident; Aaron Garcia, from the White Center Community Development Association; Grace Stiller, who works with environmental nonprofits).

The city was represented by Tom Van Bronkhorst from the Department of Neighborhoods.

Early in the meeting, Stiller offered kudos to the city for the fencing placed on the east side of Myers Way to protect wetlands as well as those walking in the area, particularly to and from the transit center at Arrowhead Gardens; Van Bronkhorst went into some background on the fencing, and said that trash pickups are also continuing on the east side of Myers, where RVs have recently been swept.

The big change for Camp Second Chance itself since last meeting: The Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) is now the camp operator, as of September, with executive director Sharon Lee and staffer Josh Castle arriving mid-meeting after a conflicting engagement elsewhere.

Before their arrival, Rebecca, a camp resident, told the advisory committee that the transition had not gone well.

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City-sanctioned Camp Second Chance on Myers Way has a new operator, LIHI, and for the first time since the change, the encampment’s Community Advisory Committee will meet this Sunday (2 pm, Arrowhead Gardens, 9200 2nd SW, open to the public). While what happens on Myers Way outside the camp is outside the scope of its operator and the committee, it is often a topic of public comment at these meetings, so this week’s developments will be of interest:

That was the scene along Myers Way north of the camp on Thursday morning, when we went there to check out what Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith had told the Highland Park Action Committee the night before, that police had cleared the roadside on the east side, a few weeks after doing the same thing on the west side, where fencing followed to set up a walkway, something requested at the previous advisory-committee meeting.

(WSB photo: L to R, Lisa Gustaveson and Tom Van Bronkhorst from the city, Josh Castle from LIHI)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Camp Second Chance residents got the commitment Sunday that they didn’t get four days earlier – that the city-sanctioned encampment on Myers Way can keep its drug-and-alcohol-free policy, even under new city-contracted management.

It happened Sunday afternoon as the encampment’s Community Advisory Committee met at nearby Arrowhead Gardens.

Five committee members were in attendance, along with two city representatives, a representative of the Low-Income Housing Institute – which seems to have been all but finalized as the camp’s new city-contract-holder – and 20+ others, who, as self-identified during Q&A, ranged from CSC residents to Myers Way-area residents to Arrowhead Gardens residents to North Highline community advocates.

That was a much bigger turnout than the CAC’s last meeting in early July, but a lot has transpired since then, starting with the postponement of this meeting’s original early August date, for then-unspecified reasons soon revealed to be upheaval in camp leadership and management (as first reported here a week and a half ago).

The original contract-holder, Patacara Community Services, is withdrawing as of the end of this month, amid questions about the status of privately donated money, and its leadership did not have a presence at this meeting or last Wednesday’s city/LIHI briefing for residents at the camp (WSB coverage here).

The questions, however, have not gone away, as was clear during Sunday’s meeting, despite repeated declarations that the donations’ status was outside the purview of the Community Advisory Committee, as noted by its leader Willow Fulton.

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(WSB photo: Tents and tiny houses at Camp Second Chance)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The Camp Second Chance residents who gathered Wednesday afternoon to hear from city reps and their future fiscal agent/operator had one main question:

Will they be allowed to keep their self-imposed rules under new management – particularly, no drugs and alcohol?

They did not get an immediate commitment from Sharon Lee of the Low-Income Housing Institute, which is expected to assume the city contract that is currently held by Patacara Community Services, withdrawing from its management of the city-sanctioned camp after questions about the status of privately donated money, as first reported here last Friday.

At multiple times during Wednesday’s meeting, held under a canopy on the camp’s fenced site at the city-owned Myers Way Parcels, Lee said it was too soon for her to be able to say how things will work once her organization takes over, expected to happen at the start of September.

But the rule is imperative for the camp’s survival, she was told.

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Earlier this month, the scheduled meeting of the community advisory committee for city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance on Myers Way was abruptly postponed.

“Unforeseen circumstances” were blamed. No elaboration at the time – but now we’re learning about change and upheaval behind the scenes.

Patacara Community Services is withdrawing as the camp’s operator/fiscal sponsor, responsible for the $200,000+-a-year city contract.

The camp has been hailed as a model for its drug-and-alcohol-free policies and self-governance.

But Patacara’s executive director Polly Trout says, “The Patacara Board has determined that given that the self-governance process at camp has broken down, and it is no longer a safe place, we do not have the organizational capacity to continue the contract.”

Camp Second Chance’s resident manager and one of its co-founders, Eric Davis, says he was evicted a week ago, and fired from his paid position, after a confrontation with Trout. He says police came to the camp and told him he was trespassing and had to leave. He’s now staying with camp supporters.

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Before we get to what’s happening today, one note about something NOT happening this weekend – Sunday’s scheduled Community Advisory Committee meeting for city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance on Myers Way has been postponed, according to an announcement received this morning, citing “unforeseen circumstances.” A new date/time/location is TBA. The committee is a city-required condition for each of the six sanctioned encampments around the city; we covered its first three monthly meetings (here, here, and here).

(WSB photos)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

While blues musicians performed a benefit concert today (continuing until 6 pm) at Camp Second Chance, the city-sanctioned encampment in southeast West Seattle, its Community Advisory Committee met for the third time, at nearby Arrowhead Gardens.

The concert is raising money for expenses that the city’s $208K/year contract with CSC via Patacara Community Services doesn’t cover – in particular, “tiny houses” that can replace tents on the 50 platforms at the camp’s site just inside the main gates of the city-owned Myers Way Parcels.

Six residential units in all are in various states of completion/construction at CSC, Patacara’s Polly Trout told the advisory committee, including two that could be complete by day’s end today. She told the meeting that they’ve found a (contractor) partner to work with who will be able to get “structures of the same quality that are much cheaper” via wholesale/nonprofit rates. Read More

(Seattle Channel video from this afternoon’s committee meeting)

Starting 56 minutes into the video above, the City Council’s Human Services and Public Health Committee got a briefing this afternoon on the state of the city’s emergency response to homelessness. We took notes on the West Seattle-specific information, mostly related to the city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance on Myers Way. The briefing was led by the city’s director of homelessness George Scarola, who said they’re now ramping down the daily homelessness-related meetings in the city’s Emergency Operations Center after four months. Key staffers will now meet three times a week and have conference calls the other two.

City briefers said that Camp Second Chance is now “at capacity” with 58 residents – three more than when we last visited for the Community Advisory Committee meeting on June 4th. Though a capacity around 70 was expected, all 50 of its tents (some being replaced by “tiny houses” as donor-funded structures become available) are now occupied. The city’s three newest sanctioned encampments, including CSC, have 160 residents total. In a citywide stat, overall, the committee was told, the city’s SPD-led Navigation Team has made almost 2,000 contacts with a total of 630 people who are “living homeless.” (The slide deck used in the briefing was not included in the meeting agenda, as most such presentations are, so we’ll be asking for it tomorrow, to add here.)

(Polly Trout of camp operator Patacara Community Services, with committee members and attendees)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The second meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance brought more neighbors who wanted to expand the discussion to concerns along Myers Way outside the encampment.

More than 25 people gathered at the camp for the meeting last Sunday (note that this was one day before a man was beaten to death at an unrelated unauthorized encampment across Myers and some blocks to the south, so that incident is not part of this report). As of the meeting day, camp management said, they had 55 residents.

Those who gathered for the meeting also included camp residents and staffers, committee members, and representatives of groups such as Seattle Green Spaces Coalition that worked to convince the city not to sell the Myers Way Parcels, where the camp set up last year, months before receiving city authorization and funding. Also there, Tom Van Bronkhorst from the city Department of Neighborhoods and independent videographer Barry White, who said he was recording the meeting as part of a plan “to tell the story of the camp.”

Here’s what attendees heard and said: Read More

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Two months after Camp Second Chance became officially city-sanctioned, its Community Advisory Committee convened at the encampment on Myers Way in southeast West Seattle.

They heard updates from its operator, Polly Trout of Patacara Community Services, including her report that CSC’s population had more than tripled since it became sanctioned two months ago – from 14 to 49, counting three people who were reported to have arrived just as the Sunday afternoon meeting began. But that’s not yet the full capacity mentioned in the announcement last December that it would be one of three new sanctioned encampments in the city.

The committee – which the city decreed would be a required part of camp operations – includes a wide range of representatives from around the area, West Seattle to South Park to Top Hat to White Center, neighbors, businesses, nonprofits, neighboring senior-housing complex Arrowhead Gardens, and more. A city rep – Tom Van Bronkhorst from the Department of Neighborhoods – was at the meeting too. In all, more than 20 people were sitting in a canopy-covered circle before the meeting wrapped up.

Trout explained the camp’s operations – that it’s self-governed, with a Monday meeting where there’s a vote on decisions such as barring people who can’t follow its code of conduct, which includes “no criminal behavior, no stealing,” drug and alcohol free, being civil and ethical. The camp also has a grievance process if someone feels they’re not being treated fairly, and that can be pursued with Patacara’s board, but so far, she said, no one had done that.

She mentioned the services that have improved at CSC since signing a contract with the city on arch 8th – including: Read More

When the city announced that Camp Second Chance in southeast West Seattle would become a “sanctioned” encampment, part of the agreement was to set up a Community Advisory Committee. It’s now in place, and Polly Trout from CSC operator Patacara Community Services has sent this public invitation to its upcoming meeting:

Our next Community Advisory Committee Meeting for Camp Second Chance on Myers Way will be Sunday, May 7, 2-4 pm. We will meet at camp at 9701 Myers Way S. This will give everyone a chance to see recent improvements to the camp, like our potable water cistern and electricity! If the weather is fine and we have enough chairs, we will hold the meeting at the camp. If the weather is foul or we are short on chairs, then after the camp tour we will move to an indoor location.

That location is TBA, she says; the meeting is open to all. See the full announcement here (as Trout mentions in it, this is separate from the May 15th city-convened meeting announced earlier this week, which is also intended to address Myers Way issues outside CSC).

(WSB photo of Camp Second Chance, taken last month)

Just in from the city’s director of homelessness George Scarola – a third “community conversation” about the now-sanctioned encampment Camp Second Chance on the city-owned Myers Way Parcels and the non-sanctioned campers in the area:

At the community meeting on February 1st, there was a request to arrange a third meeting that would focus on public-safety issues related to homelessness along Myers Way South:

*Issues relating to the RVs parked along Myers Way and the unsanctioned encampments east of Myers Way;

*Concerns raised by community members regarding 9-1-1 calls;

*The City’s ongoing efforts to remove the trash along Myers Way; and,

*A progress report from Camp Second Chance.

That will all be part of this:

3rd Community Conversation re: Myers Way Homeless Encampment

Monday, May 15th

7:00 – 8:30 PM

Joint Training Facility, 9401 Myers Way South

WSB coverage of the February 1st meeting is here; our coverage of the December meeting is here. Scarola, meantime, briefed the City Council two weeks ago (WSB coverage here) and CSC’s population was listed as 33 at the time, just under half its current capacity.

Camp Second Chance – the newly city-sanctioned, but not new, encampment on the west side of Myers Way S. on the southeastern edge of West Seattle – is now officially on the road to expansion.

Its first city referral happened this week, and as of Saturday, the camp had 17 residents, according to operator Polly Trout of Patacara Community Services. The city envisions up to 70 residents. We talked with her at CSC this weekend after a demonstration watched by campers and visitors, related to a key question: Will camp residents have anything more than tents to sleep in?

The demonstration was by Pallet, a sideline of Square Peg Development. They’re making prefab shelters that can sleep four – and can be assembled in minutes, starting with a pile of components as shown in our photo above.

That’s a short segment of what turned out to be an almost 9-minute assembly time. The shelters are aluminum framed, made from a honeycombed, light “yet very strong” material, and can be assembled, disassembled, and reassembled repeatedly with no sign of wear and tear.

Each one costs almost $5,000. There’s no official city RFP or other process to fund these (or any other structures) for Camp Second Chance, so for the encampment to get some would be a matter of private fundraising, separate from the services the city is providing. (One person with city ties was there to observe, though – Councilmember Lisa Herbold.)

Still, the price tag is a challenge. Trout mentioned after the demo that the camp has a donor who will be picking up the tab for 15 Costco pre-fab structures that go for $1500. Pallet, meantime, says it’s working on a proposal to provide some shelters for Seattle’s forthcoming Navigation Center low-barrier shelter. They’re also working on a double-size version of the shelter that would have a bathroom and kitchen.
Pallet is currently having these built by state Department of Corrections inmates (at Stafford Creek). The company also says its parent company hires people who are rebuilding lives on the outside – those who are formerly incarcerated or in recovery, for example.

Meantime, we asked Camp Second Chance leadership more about what’s happening there, now that they’re sanctioned. A potable-water cistern is due soon. They’ve also applied to get an electric hookup. And they’re hoping for a portable toilet – to replace the Honey Bucket type – and shower. Trash service already has begun. The city, meantime, promises a third community meeting soon.

If you’ve driven Myers Way today, you probably noticed the Seattle City Light crews working on the east side of the road. It’s part of preparations for the expansion of Camp Second Chance on the west side of Myers, now that it’s a city-authorized encampment. Last Friday night, the city’s homelessness director George Scarola sent a round of updates related to the CSC authorization/expansion, and it included word of the City Light work as part of commitments made to the community:

… *Seattle City Light will install street lighting on the east side of Myers Way from Olson Place to the King County border starting Monday, March 13.

*The City engaged an environmental firm to do surface soil testing, and the results show safe levels of contaminants in surface soil.

*The City installed a perimeter fence to delineate the site and protect the wetlands.

*Seattle Police Department (SPD) has cited and towed several RVs parked along Myers Way. …

The need for more lighting on Myers Way was brought up at February’s community meeting by Highland Park Action Committee chair Gunner Scott. Scarola’s update promised a third community meeting soon, and also said that new campers would be accepted at CSC as soon as this Thursday. Applications are also being accepted for the Community Advisory Committee promised as part of the encampment’s presence; here’s the application, if you’re interested. The camp is now formally authorized for one year of operations, with a potential to renew for a second year.