By Gwen Davis
On Thursday evening, the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council (NHUAC) hosted a town hall style meeting with a high-powered panel of top King County leaders to discuss one of the most vexing issues in the area: homelessness, particularly concerns about Camp Second Chance on Myers Way S. The event was an opportunity for community members to express frustrations to officials about the camp, as well as hear thoughts about Seattle’s efforts tackling the confounding homelessness crisis.
The panel consisted of King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, Sheriff John Urquhart, Senior Deputy County Executive Fred Jarrett, Seattle’s Director of Homelessness George Scarola and Low Income Housing Institute HMIS Agency Administrator Arthur Warmoth.
"Tonight we’re going to focus on issues many folks who live on Myers Way have on homeless encampments and Camp Second Chance,” the facilitator began.
Scarola gave attendees an update of Camp Second Chance: “The camp would be officially open from a city perspective in February,” he said. "It seems to us to be running pretty well. There was a glitch in management that is still being worked out... In all, [it] continues to run smoothly, people are safe… in general, we think it’s working if not perfectly, well enough.”
However, Scarola’s update was not received well by attendees. People accused him of flatly not knowing what was going on in Camp Second Chance.
An attendee said, "I couldn’t disagree with you more... Camp Second Chance is in a state of implosion, it's falling apart, it’s structure is disintegrating, they are calling the police department regularly for response, a police car and fire truck was seen recently, this is becoming a regular thing,” the participant said. "There are reports of violence, drug use, we finding out that they are not reporting criminal activity unless it’s happening within their camp. The list goes on and on.”
People were particularly concerned about waste being dumped in nearby wetlands that was polluting the watershed. People experiencing homelessness were also reportedly living in the nearby woods. Additionally, there was a vacant house in the area that some people from the camp were inhabiting.
Urquhart addressed those issues.
"We’ll deal with [the vacant house],” he said. "It may mean putting pressure on the bank, if it’s bank owned. If they’re living in the woods, not a whole lot we can do about that. Can’t prosecute unless there’s a victim."
But Urquhart said they could possibly find out who owns parts of the woods and then can prosecute people for trespassing.
One attendee said there was a body recently found in the woods, and that she’s experienced a lot of personal stress with the encampment.
"I’m a case manager,” she said. "I deeply care about the homeless issue more than most. But the problem I see is — it’s created more bad elements, now anyone can be homeless in this area. I don’t feel safe driving around there. The police are always there. I’m always thinking, ‘what’s going on today?’ We didn’t have this volume of problems before the encampment was there."
She also asked if people were transitioning to stable housing.
McDermott discussed the city’s efforts to address the homelessness crisis from a broader standpoint, which is complex.
"We need rent assistance,” he said. “Providing support so people can stay in their homes… We’re trying to put the pieces together that we have at our disposal. We have seniors being priced out of their homes, veterans who have PTSD issues, domestic violence victims, people who are addicted to opioids, LGBTQ individuals. We need to preserve affordable housing and build more affordable housing, too."
One of the efforts the city passed helped prevent homelessness for youth and their families.
"We’ve figured out how to move people if we had the place to move them to,” Scarola said. "That’s the thing — finding more places. We are making a difference but unfortunately we are up against a lot of trends. I’d guess we could house 90 percent of the people who are homeless. We know how to do it. The issue is, where?"
Panelists discussed the state’s regressive tax structure, and how not having an income tax continually keeps their hands tied to secure needed mental health resources. They also noted that there’s now Republican support from Eastern Washington to have progressive taxation but the state constitution -- which was developed for a 19th century economy -- is hard to change.
One attendee said Camp Second Chance was actually doing okay, despite negative reports earlier in the meeting.
“It is true that the transition is not smooth, but we are not imploding,” she said. "There are challenges going on the in the camp but it’s not going to implode — there’s a lot of people who won’t let it happen."
She then addressed the crowd: "If you’re concerned about that, please come to the advisory meetings, come to the camp, instead of taking in information that’s through the grapevine that’s not always accurate.”
One participant told his personal story to the audience about how his dad was a heroine addict, and growing up he dealt with so much shame because of how people hate on drug addicts. He said that shame is toxic and does nothing to help the situation, it just keeps people from getting help, making everything worse. His story was met with vigorous applause.
Scarola acknowledged that he has not been as involved with Camp Second Chance as he should, and pledged to visit the camp regularly and stay on top of its day-to-day activities.
