Homeless children in Seattle: What's the City doing?

[DBP]

Attention Nickelsville fans!

Several months ago we had a lively discussion about families with children at Nickelsville. As you may remember, I’m NOT in favor of kids being there; however, many folks here assured me that there were no other options for these families. I disagreed with that but decided to find out for myself just what the City WAS doing about the problem.

On September 6, I sent a facsimile of the message below to all members of the Seattle City Council. In a subsequent post I’ll fill you in on the responses I got.

Subject: Nickelsville Kudo & Concern

Dear Council Member _______________:

First off, a big thanks to you and the Seattle City Council for your hard work on behalf of Seattle’s citizens, especially the less fortunate ones. I was at the “Nickelsville” encampment this past July when four Council members visited and was pleased by their willingness to formalize Nickelsville’s status and to help the camp get some essential services there. Good for you!

As a long-time resident of the Highland Park area, I am happy to welcome Nickelsville to our neighborhood. However, I still have a big concern, and that’s the presence of families with small children living at the camp. While Nickelsville is a good alternative to the street for homeless adults, it is NOT a good place for children – for obvious reasons. It’s also not a good thing for the City. Please consider that if something happened to a child at Nickelsville, the City would probably have a lawsuit on its hands. At the very least, you would have some serious explaining to do to the State authorities.

As you know, there have been young children at Nickelsville from time to time over the summer. When I looked into this, people at the camp told me they couldn’t turn families with children away, since there are not enough spaces at local shelters that take children. They told me that in every case they had tried to find other accommodations for the families but that they were consistently put on hold, told to call back, and so on.

That is not acceptable. Seattle needs to do better than that.

If we can find a home for multi-million dollar sports franchises . . .

If we can find a home for fancy museums and symphony halls . . .

—then, by God, we ought to be able to find a safe place for all of our children to stay.

Please get back to me and tell me what you personally are doing to resolve this problem. Also, please be aware that I will be sharing the text of this e-mail and your response (or lack of response) with my fellow West Seattle-ites via the West Seattle Blog.

Thanks in advance for getting back to me, and thanks again for supporting Nickelsville.

Sincerely,

David Preston

 

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[kootchman]

Take 8 million away from 4Arts….

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[KBear]

That’s a great idea, Kootch. Why have you been keeping it from us? Hey, I’ve got a better one: We could just tax homeless kids to pay for all the services they so greedily consume. Then the 4Culture budget could be put to something useful, like removing bike lanes or buying snowplows.

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[Jiggers]

nt

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[kootchman]

Priorities. First we stop human suffering, we feed, clothe and shelter and educate. When we do THAT… talk to me about the rest of the social niceties. .

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[JoB]

kootchman…

the quickest way to prevent human suffering is to give humans the means to provide for themselves…

you know.. that “silly” living wage concept

to accomplish that you need to support another “silly” concept … Unions…

that’s how the average American achieved our current standard of living

and that educate part..

that requires supporting our public schools.

Work to provide jobs for those who are unemployed

and opportunities through education for their children

and we can talk about those “other social niceties”

which in this case might start with medical care for those who are injured and/or chronically ill so they have the opportunity to return to work…

I have personally interacted with the families in Nickelsville

and for the most part,

they would rather have the opportunity to support their children

than stand in line for charity.

wouldn’t you?

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[Jiggers]

JoB.. There’s a lot of people and I mean a lot of people who who are against what you say and would rather see that segment of society continue to fail to help themselves feel better.

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[Jiggers]

JoB.. There’s a lot of people and I mean a lot of people who who are against what you say and would rather see that segment of society continue to fail in order to help themselves feel better.

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[JoB]

jiggers…

the saddest thing is that some of those people now live in Nickelsville and other places like Nickelsville where they continue the winner takes all the end justifies the means i get mine first attitudes that landed them there in the first place.

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[DBP]

Here is Ms. Bagshaw’s response:

David:

I appreciate your concern and appreciate your raising these questions. You know that I support Nickelsville as a much preferred place for individuals and families to live than to be alone on the city streets. I have worked with Nickelsville since my days in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and believe the people who live in Nickelsville and those who help support and organize it are providing an important service for our city.

We simply MUST do better, and I agree with you that we can – as a community – create some new options.

Your concern about having young children at Nickelsville is understandable. When I talk about shelters, I remind people about the needs of families, those with children, those with pets, and the list goes on. We have many needs and those are on my radar.

I ask these questions when we are discussing shelters and I will continue to advocate for more space: different kinds of space.

David, I agree with you. We need to do better and I will continue to work so we achieve that.

Thank you again.

-Sally

 

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[funkietoo]

Can certainly appreciate Sally’s reply.

The issue I have is Sally does not discuss how to do better! Come City Council…let’s get moving with solutions!

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[DBP]

Ms. Clark and Mr. Burgess both contacted me by phone. Since their remarks were similar, I’ll discuss them together. To the best of my recollection, the main points they covered were as follows:

► Yeah, NV is not a good place for kids.

► No, they’re not going to insist that people with kids be kicked out of there. (I hadn’t asked them to.)

► No, the City is not currently moving forward on formalizing its relationship with NV. And that’s probably not going to happen any time soon.

As regards other options for housing homeless families with children, both Ms. Clark and Mr. Burgess pointed out to me that the City contracts with an “outreach provider” to work directly with people at tent camps and NV. These outreach providers offer homeless people motel vouchers and many other forms of transitional housing assistance.

(Please note that this is something I had already mentioned in an earlier post. I did not prompt the Council members to talk about it, however. Rather, they volunteered it.)

When I asked Council Member Burgess if the City had regular contacts with the SHARE/WHEEL folks who run NV, he said he believed they did. (This echoes what the Mayor’s own guy told me.)

Significantly, both Ms. Clark and Mr. Burgess noted that homeless people who are offered motel vouchers and other forms of transitional assistance with housing often turn it down.

I was surprised by this, so when I heard it a second time from Mr. Burgess, I asked him again, just to make sure I’d gotten it right:

“So you’re saying that even homeless families with children turn the vouchers down?” I asked.

—”Yes,” he said. “Most homeless people turn them down.”

“Why?”

—”We don’t know. And the outreach providers don’t ask. They don’t want to get into that with people.”

***************************************************************************************

Overall, Mr. Burgess seemed more critical of NV and tent camps in general than did Ms. Clark. He pointed out that when NV was at the Fire Station, and kids were found to be living there, CPS was supposed to be notified. I believe that is the case for NV as well.

Moving off the topic of kids, I asked Mr. Burgess if the City had any plans to move forward and formalize its relationship with NV. He said no, and added that the City probably wouldn’t be allocating any funding for NV either.

Both Ms. Clark and Mr. Burgess made comments to the effect that the ball was still in the Mayor’s court for finding a permanent, city-approved location for NV.

 

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[Bostonman]

Typical political speak. Give you a page long response that doesn’t answer the question. I love how you can get away with that as a politician. If I did that with my boss he would say flat out I am not giving him a solution, only restating the facts.

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[nighthawk]

>>—”Yes,” he said. “Most homeless people turn them down.”

“Why?”

—”We don’t know. And the outreach providers don’t ask. They don’t want to get into that with people.”

>>

There are so many facets to this problem but I think the outreach providers really need to be asking why they are turning down the vouchers. They don’t have “get into it” with people to ask a simple question.

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[JanS]

first, I don’t believe Share wheel is the governing factor in NV…it’s the governing factor for the other tent cities that use church parking lots, but NV is it’s own community. They simply have people (Scott) in common with some facets of NV.. Correct me if I’m wrong, miws. Second, a question. The vouchers for motels (and, yes, I think they should ask why, , too)…are they for permanent roof over the head until a more suitable place is found? Or are they for a few days, and then you’re out on the street again? Curious…

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[miws]

Jan is correct.

NV is not part of SHARE/WHEEL. They simply support NV.

David, thank you for writing to the Council, and sharing the responses they’ve given so far

Mike

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[Jiggers]

Jan..temporary doesn’t help.I’d rather keep do what I’m doing because you don’t want to get comfortable only then to get tossed back out into the streets. It messes with your mind big time.If people are going to help, it needs to be long term, but met with goals to improve. There is no easy solution. Short-term doesn’t help.

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[JoB]

I have heard the rationalization that homeless people turn down hotel vouchers…

but since they moved back to West Seattle… i have yet to see or hear of a single instance of any outreach organization offering the parents at Nickelsville hotel vouchers.

i do know that every school age child in Nickelsville is currently enrolled at school where there is supposed to be a case worker assigned to assist them in finding housing.

So far that has not produced a single result of a family moving out to subsidized housing.

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[JoB]

as for whether Nickelsville is one of the Share tent cities..

i can only say with some certainty that they receive no funding from Share… or from any governmental agency..

though they have managed to win a small open bid grant for environmental purposes.

They are on their own financially.

However, their rules and regulations are disturbingly similar to those that govern the two Share tent cities..

and 3 out of 4 of the weekly central committee meetings where all essential decisions about what happens in Nickelsville occur are held downtown at Share offices.

i was told by Scott that residents of the other tent cities … who fulfill obligatory public participation credits for attending … are able to vote at these meetings…

in fact i was told by him that anyone who attends those meetings can vote.

Although all Nickelsville residents are supposedly welcome to attend central committee meetings…

the reality is that a limited number of bus passes are handed out by Peggy

I have not yet attended a central committee meeting to witness this for myself…

but i have often been in camp for other reasons when the handful who attend return to camp.

miws who is a Nickelsville resident and a long time forum poster has attended central committee meetings regularly since he moved into Nickeslville..

PLEASE DON’T ASK HIM TO COMMENT…

one of the rules of residency that i listed in an article here last spring is that he can’t talk about what happens in those meetings..

without being permanently barred from Nickelsville…

the only home he has.

I have attended the public portion of evening meetings at the camp and can only say that as in all “democratic” processes, the person or agency that controls the agenda controls the outcome.

It is very clear that Scott Morrow (adviser and supposedly no longer a SHARE employee) and Peggy Noates (coordinator with the 5013C that is Nickelsville’s current “parent” organization) control the agenda and thus at the least influence the decisions made there…

which in my experience may not be binding anyway depending upon what is “decided” in central committee meetings.

I have experienced this process first hand this summer when trying to provide materials for projects envisioned by Nickelsville residents ..

projects that were discussed and “approved” at mandatory Sunday meetings…

i have been told repeatedly that i could not deliver materials until I secured “permission” from Scott.

The work on the steps into what was until yesterday the only entrance into Nickelsville was delayed for 5 weeks while we waited for Scott’s ok to deliver a load of gravel.

That approval was granted the night before the much publicized city council visit to Nickelsville.

That project had so much support by Nickelsville residents that even though the gravel was not delivered until 9 AM, the steps were completed by early afternoon in time for that visit.

There is a project being promoted on the forum today… that i have had nothing to do with… to deliver gravel to help reduce the dangerous conditions created by standing water and mud in the common areas that has been effectively put on hold while it is “processed” through Scott.

I witnessed those conditions in Nickelsville in May and can state with certainty that the pallet solutions employed this spring were nearly as dangerous as the mud…

rain is expected again tomorrow..

but.. even if the residents are willing to do the back breaking work of moving several yards of environmentally safe gravel to their common areas one bucket at a time…

accepting the gravel that would make their community safer has to wait for “the process” which occurs at central committee meetings downtown at the SHARE offices.

I have also observed that the only organization that benefits from public presentations or demonstrations by nickelsville residents and supporters is Share who has contracts with the city to provide housing for the homeless.

the city council has no official relationship with Nickelsville, but they definately do have contracts up for renewal next year with SHARE.

In fact, when the decision to move from the fire station where residents enjoyed shelter, sanitation and kitchens was made, paperwork generated by Scott morrow reports that SHARE proposed that they run the vacated facilities “as is” as another SHARE shelter on city contract.

The city council did not grant that request and the fire station is still vacant.

A SHARE related matter extending the occupation permits for tent cities at religious institutions is scheduled to be decided by the city council today and coincidentally was preceded by public testimony by Nickelsville residents last week.

So.. in spite of all protestations to the contrary,

I would say that whether or not Nickelsville is actually part of Share is a very grey area…

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[munchkin22]

Thank you Jo for an enlightening explanation of the roles of the two individuals mentioned. Interesting how the strings are pulled at the expense of those least able to speak for themselves. I see your post is now 10 hours old with no responses or comments. Is the silence telling us how far reaching the influences really go? Remember the old saying…question authority. We too have been referred to “ask Scott” , but so far anything we decide to help with is of our own volition and if our donations have to be approved by non residents that’s probably when we’ll decide to “give back” somewhere else and hopefully someone else will step up and continue where we stopped. I know you’ve been a tremendous help to NV and we all wish them success in their endeavours.

I applaud you for bringing this up, for the residents of Nickelsville. We consider many of them friends.

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[kootchman]

As we used to say back on the block… how is Scott getting his beak wet? Or better yet.. how wet is his beak? Seems that if public funding is involved…that old 501C should have some open books eh? Given that NV is now three years old… who is profiting from that state of affairs? The old poverty pimp routine… a 501C . a non-profit after salaries? Let’s underbid for the contract!

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[Jiggers]

kootch..we need to meet up for coffee so I can go into further detail with you on your last post. I already discussed this question you brought up in post 21 with JoB awhile back. Maybe we all can have a get togther for lunch…:)

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[JoB]

kootchman..

I certainly did not mean to imply that Scott is “getting his beak wet”. I am not personally aware of any financial irregularities.

As far as I know, Scott is a dedicated advocate for the homeless.

I simply question whether Nickelsville is a totally separate totally self governed homeless community.

My understanding is that SHARE made an agreement with the city roughly at the time of the court case that established the right of religious organizations to host tent cities that limited them to one tent city within the city limits and another in the greater county outside the city limits.

When a local wino (who I am told has since turned his life around to become a successful Real Change vendor) camped in the field Nickelsville currently occupies with friends and called the encampment Nickelsville, Scott Morrow somehow became involved and subsequently “resigned” from SHARE to become “adviser” and city contact with Nickelsville.

My understanding is that he is no longer employed by SHARE but does have office space there as a consultant.

I got the impression he is still intimately involved in the day to day function of the two SHARE tent cities from comments made to me by former residents of those tent cities who have lived temporarily at Nickelsville this summer.

I do know that one camper temporarily banned from Nickelsville drove a SHARE van during his absence, regularly visited Nickelsville in it, told me he was on staff at one of the tent cities and recently had his ban at Nickelsville overturned to move back into what looks like a position of authority there.

On occasion I have witnessed visits from residents of the two SHARE tent cities who always make a point of speaking with Scott when he arrives for the evening meeting.

As for examining their books… Nickelsville itself is not a non-profit organization. They are a project that was sponsored by Veterans for Peace, a large national organization, until shortly after their move back to West Seattle. They are now sponsored by Jam for Justice, a local organization.

I have checked the Secretary of State website. Jam for Justice is listed as a non-profit corporation although they do not appear in a search for charitable organizations.

I am not sure exactly what that means, but was told that the city was confident enough about the legitimacy of their non-profit status to write them a check recently that I was given to understand was to benefit the Nickelsville project.

I have been told that the portable sanitation systems and garbage removal alone run in the thousands every month.

You are right that anyone who has donated to a 501 3C charitable organization has the right to request to see that charity’s books.

However, since Nickelsville has been a Jam for Justice project for less than 6 months, the public records wouldn’t be likely to reflect the Nickelsville project yet.

I would suspect that Veteran’s for Peace would be a better source for information on the financial history of Nickelsville. Since they terminated their involvement, it likely they would have finalized their records regarding Nickelsville.

I personally don’t understand the relationship between SHARE, Scott Morrow and Nickelsville, but

I can tell you from interacting nearly daily with the residents of Nickeslville this summer that they are dead serious about creating an independent self governed community.

My personal concern is that the somewhat murky relationship with SHARE may be what keeps the council from establishing a formal relationship with Nickelsville that would allow them to legally accept assistance with services like a water source, sanitation and electricity.

The residents there have worked very hard to create something of value for themselves and are scrupulous about policing their own behavior. It has truly been my pleasure to support them in their efforts.

To be perfectly honest, their accomplishments this summer have exceeded my wildest dreams for them. I would like to see them succeed.

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[kootchman]

JoB.. I defer to you on this issue. I generally do not spend “time” there… but it was a classical hoo rah pig roast. There is in my estimation more than enough talent and skill in the residents to assert their own path of determination. A little help, maybe some shared experience,,, some management talent, bookkeeping,… but theirs to ask for. Waiting five weeks for “permission” to gravel a staircase…. chaffs my Libertarian ass to no end. I hold them as able enough… as able as any of us are… and we all go to outside resources. Liberation theology… goddamn generator time restrictions… pure control bullshit. IMHO. There are 240 plus WS that hang in the wind for decisions to be made in their behalf. I love your commitment…and god knows you thread the eye of the needle better than I could… Seems to me.. it is hard to build autonomy on paternalism… paternalism is what we do in emergencies… short term. I reiterate, I had a great time post pig roast… these are fine neighbors. Sure Jigs…anytime.. only if JoB is a bar wench … coffee ..eh…only as a last resort. West 5 or Proust… now that is a meeting spot.

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[DBP]

Mr. Harrell’s response to my e-mail:

David,

Thank you for sending your email of September 6, 2011. I appreciate that you alerted city leaders to the problem facing Nickelsville families with young children — families who are unable to secure housing.

As you may know, one of the Council’s three budget priorities for 2011 is to “foster safe, just, and healthy communities for all.” Your testimony confirms that Council should permit that budget priority to remain. I believe that when our children are housed precariously or not housed at all, change schools often, go to bed hungry, are unable to access the resources life has to offer, it impacts their health, wellness, educational opportunities, and the capacity to prepare for success through adulthood. If our City institutions are unable to help these young children, I want to know “Why not?” We ought to get in front of this now, instead of trying to fix it through child welfare or the criminal and juvenile justice system later.

If you have additional information about the children you have referenced, do not hesitate to forward the same to the Chair of the Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture Committee at Nick.Licata@Seattle.gov. Also, feel free to cc me at Bruce.Harrell@Seattle.gov.

Sincerely,

Bruce A. Harrell

Note from David: Mr. Licata has not yet formally replied to my e-mail, though he has assured me, via e-mail, that he’s going to be responding “in depth.”

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