Forced removals of homeless encampments? Scholes gives the Compassion Seattle answer, which is basically a combination of a mild no (we want to house people so they don't have to live outside) and a stronger yes (we have to make parks "open," i.e. not occupied by unhoused people.
Conversation
Durkan, who has vastly expanded spending on forced encampment removals, rejects the term "forced removals" but says the city has to ensure public safety and sometimes that means saying "you don't have to come inside but you can't stay here."
2
1
24
McCoy calls Durkan's claim that "we lead with outreach" and offering everyone shelter or housing is "a blatant lie," noting that this morning, for example, there were 8 open shelter beds in the entire city of Seattle.
1
5
59
The next question is about how to respond to people who have concerns about people living in RVs near their homes. McCoy says: "We don't have a policy at all for addressing people who live in their vehicles," who make up half the unhoused people in Seattle.
1
1
34
"We also see hostile architecture taking over," McCoy says, referring to the proliferation of anti-RV "eco-blocks" that businesses install illegally in the city's public rights of way.
1
2
37
"It is absolutely untrue that we don't lead with outreach and offer people a place to come inside," Durkan says, acknowledging that there aren't everyone shelter beds for everyone.
1
1
15
Interestingly, Durkan says that the reason for her administration's failure to meet her promise of 1,000 new tiny houses in her first year (the total that year was 73) is that she realized that what Seattle really needs is enhanced shelter instead.
4
4
23
Re RVs, Durkan says "to suggest that both realities don't exist"—that people living in RVs need assistance and that they cause harms to housed people nearby—"is what's polarizing the discussion."
1
3
17
Dones says that all shelters, including enhanced shelters that are currently under construction (like a 150-bed men's-only shelter in Seattle) are still just shelter. "The consistent drive to create a larger, more complex, more Byzantine shelter system is a losing strategy."
2
3
41
Durkan says "permanent supportive housing works," which—yes, but there's also a need for just low-income housing, which the city isn't building. Then she says Seattle spends an unfair amount on shelter because a majority of homeless people aren't from here.
5
4
26
"I believe that in four years, we've never done a sweep," Durkan says, giving the sweep of Miller Playfield as an example where, she says, they offered services and housing or shelter to anyone. Some people just say "I don't want to come inside," she said.
"At the end of the day, we have to have open spaces for the public to enjoy," Durkan continued.
1
2
20
"The idea that a sweep hasn't happened in four years is absolutely astonishing to me," McCoy said, saying she has heard countless stories of people losing all their possessions while being forcibly removed from encampments. Durkan says that's not true.
1
13
92
It's kind of wild to me that this is the hill Durkan would pick. It is beyond obvious, and has been for years, that the city sweeps people from place to place, throws away possessions that they need like medication, IDs, and survival gear, and offers them nowhere to go.
3
29
180
This isn't, like, a partisan/political question. You can literally watch the parks department doing this in real time any day of the week. You can ask homeless people about being swept. Human Services Department staff and service providers themselves refer casually to "sweeps."
2
16
111
Now they're getting a chance to ask questions. Scholes and Durkan both ask Dones how they can help the regional authority be successful. Basically, the answer is: Money. Too bad Seattle—the main funder of the RHA—didn't fight to give the authority taxing authority!
1
3
47
McCoy asks Scholes whether he agrees with the conclusion of a McKinsey report that the region needs $1B to address homelessness. His response is basically a dodge: We're pro-housing!
1
2
31
Dones asks Durkan what she learned from her experience as mayor and during the pandemic in particular. She says she's learned that things are too polarized and ultimately people have pretty much the same goals, like housing, "open" parks, and no moving people from place to place.
1
2
18
Finally, a question about keeping people stably housed once they get into housing. Dones says one problem is moving people far away from their communities. Another is when sudden crises happen, often due to lack of communication/relationships.
1
2
23
After Durkan says it's important to get a "by-name list" of everyone living outside downtown, McCoy notes that because it's hardest to collect "data for data's sake" from people experiencing acute mental health crises.
1
2
19
Question about the "crisis" of "children returning to school" with an encampment at Bitter Lake, which I've covered extensively. Durkan refused to provide assistance to the encampment because it's technically on school property that adjoins a city park.
1
3
20
"It was their land and they had the responsibility for it but we've now worked out a collaborative relationship" over "these last many weeks," Durkan says.
1
2
11
Durkan adds that the Navigation Team should never have been disbanded and that "city workers" (guarantee these are from Parks) have begged for police to be on site during removals because of safety concerns.
3
2
17
Dones says people (I believe they mean mutual aid folks) sometimes show up and terrorize outreach workers while they're trying to work, "literally shoving someone who's trying to assist someone in gathering their things."
1
2
15
I've heard about this happening too; I've also heard about volunteer "cleanup" groups literally tearing tents out of people's hands and deeming tents "abandoned" over encampment residents' protests that the person is simply away at the moment.
2
5
42