These pictures show reveal the conditions inside the growing city of tents threatening to overrun Seattle only a week after an $8.3 million hotel turn shelter opened.
The images, taken on Tuesday, show the growing encampments that have sprung up across city parks and fields in the past year.
A city-wide initiative to house homeless people in hotels was introduced last Wednesday.
As part of the scheme, the Executive Hotel Pacific downtown opened its doors to 140 homeless people at a cost of $8.3 million for food, 24 hour security and live-in staff from the Low Income Housing Institute.
These pictures show reveal the conditions inside the growing city of tents threatening to overrun Seattle only a week after an $8.3 million hotel turn shelter opened
A city-wide initiative to house homeless people in hotels was introduced last Wednesday, but the encampments have continued to grow
The homeless population in Washington State rose in 2020 by more than six per cent – or about three times the national average, according to the latest data
City residents said they were ‘sad’ and ‘depressed’ to see groups of tents appear as the number of homeless people soared after the start of the pandemic
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan toured the Pacific last Tuesday, ahead of its opening as a shelter.
She said: ‘We know how hard this has been, for the people experiencing homelessness and the people in every community, to see the increase in the numbers of people experiencing homelessness,
‘And we have to have solutions that bring people inside and make sure that community parks and sidewalks are restored for public use as we reopen and recover our economy.
‘And those two things don’t have to work against each other; they have to work in harmony with one another.’
Another hotel, the Kings Inn in downtown Seattle, is also expected to offer accommodation to vagrants this week in an effort to get homeless people off the streets
Once housed in a hotel, residents will get access to an additional $7 million through a rent voucher program aimed at moving homeless people into more permanent accommodation
Those who are not able to rent will hopefully be moved to one of the approximately 600 permanent supportive housing units expected to be open later this year
Calls have been mounting for authorities to focus on clearing Miller Playfield (pictured) in North Capitol Hill, because the park is near Meany Middle School, which is set to re-open to students in April
The current situation with informal tent encampments in Seattle has been termed a ‘humanitarian disaster’
City residents said they were ‘sad’ and ‘depressed’ to see groups of tents appear as the number of homeless people soared after the start of the pandemic.
The homeless population in Washington State rose in 2020 by more than six per cent – or about three times the national average, according to the latest data.
But, the Kings Inn in downtown Seattle is also expected to offer accommodation to vagrants this week in an effort to get homeless people off the streets.
Residents will then get access to an additional $7 million through a rent voucher program aimed at moving homeless people into more permanent accommodation, the Seattle Times reported.
Those who are not able to rent will hopefully be moved to one of the approximately 600 permanent supportive housing units expected to be open later this year, city officials said.
Calls have been mounting for authorities to focus on clearing Miller Playfield in North Capitol Hill, because the park is near Meany Middle School, which is set to re-open to students in April.
Seattle city mayor Jenny Durkan said officials had been working to clear Miller Playfield (pictured) for ‘a very long period of time’
Homeless people have reportedly resisted going to shelters since the pandemic began last year over concerns they could catch coronavirus from other residents
Removals of encampments have been put on hold because of federal public health guidlines relating to the pandemic
The homeless population in Washington State increased over six percent in 2020, three times the national average, according to the latest data
Head Chief Seattle Club, a Native American-focused homeless services nonprofit, Colleen Echohawk said: ‘This is a humanitarian crisis, and it’s not working for anyone.
‘It’s not working for the people in the tents. It’s not working for the neighbors living nearby. It’s not working for the people that want to use the playfield and it’s not working for the Meany community with school starting back up.’
Durkan responded to he calls, saying: ‘We’ve actually been working in Miller, for a very long period of time — outreach workers and the like.
‘And in the last four years, it’s clear that there will be many times we work in an encampment, and people don’t want to accept services.
‘At the same time, if they won’t accept the services, you still sometimes have to move that encampment for public safety and health issues. And that may be the case with Miller.’
City officials have emptied two encampments in recent months, but many planned removals have been put on hold because of federal public health guidelines relating to the pandemic.
According to the Seattle Times, homeless people have increasingly resisted going to shelters since the pandemic began last year over concerns they could catch coronavirus from another resident.
But now, parents say they have had to resort to conducting ‘sweeps’ of public parks to make sure there are no needles on the ground before allowing their kids to play on swing sets as the encampments continue to grow.
‘How do we get to a place where we think that’s normal and a part of life in Seattle?’ one resident asked Fox News on Monday.
‘It’s a shame that people can’t enjoy the park,’ said another resident.
The tent encampments include homeless people leaving needles and other drug paraphernalia – used to ‘cook’ methamphetamine and heroin, in spaces often close to schools.
A tent encampment housing homeless people is seen above in Seattle on Monday
Residents of Seattle say they are disturbed by drug paraphernalia that they see in and around encampments
The tent encampments have arisen in residential neighborhoods where children go to school and engage in recreational activities
Miller Playfield, an outdoor ground in the Miller Park section of Seattle where kids play sports, has been turned into a drug-infested tent encampment for homeless people, according to Fox News.
The area has been deemed too dangerous for children, resulting in sports being shut down for the foreseeable future.
Last week, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a report which found that Washington state experienced one of the largest estimated increases in homelessness between 2019 and 2020 relative to other states.
Washington state reported an increase in homelessness of 6.2 per cent – or 1,346 people – between 2019 and 2020, the third largest increase among all states, The Seattle Times reported on Saturday.
The image above shows tents housing homeless people in a public park in Seattle
Residents of Seattle said they were ‘sad’ and ‘depressed’ over the homeless encampments that have sprung up across city parks and fields where children normally play sports
The image above shows a tent encampment near a residential area in the Miller Park section of Seattle
Much of the homeless population is suffering from a combination of mental illness and drug addiction
The image above shows a tent encampment inside a children’s playground in Seattle
Homelessness grew by more than two per cent across the country over the same time frame, according to the 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report from HUD.
According to the report, an additional 12,751 people were added to the homeless population.
Washington state also reported a 20 per cent increase in family homelessness between 2019 and 2020, one of the largest nationwide.
‘People are seeing a lot more families in encampments, in cars,’ said Derrick Belgarde, deputy director of Chief Seattle Club.
‘And there’s a lack of resources for that.’
Much of the data was compiled before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the newspaper reported.
Seattle and King County ranked third in the country among urban areas in the number of total people experiencing homelessness, according to the report.
‘HUD’s report confirms what we already know: that homelessness remains a complex and growing challenge and is a result of many broken systems in this country,’ said Seattle mayoral spokesperson Kamaria Hightower.
According to data from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington State saw the third-largest increase in its homeless population. Washington saw its homeless population rise by more than 6 per cent – or 1,346 people – in 2020
Homelessness grew by more than 2 per cent across the country over the same time frame, according to the 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report from HUD. According to the report, an additional 12,751 people were added to the homeless population
Western states like California, Nevada, Oregon, and Hawaii experienced the highest percentage of homeless people who were also unsheltered
More than one in four of those who are defined as homeless in the United States were unsheltered in 2020
Hightower said the city has increased the amount of resources it has devoted to the problem, though ‘we know that Seattle is serving more and more individuals from outside of Seattle and King County, especially individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.’
‘There is a great need across the region and Seattle cannot be the only city investing in affordable housing, supportive services, and shelter resources,’ Hightower said.
Outdoor camps in Seattle appear to have proliferated throughout the last year as shelters have been forced to downsize and space people out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year will be the first since at least 1980 there will not be a count of people living outside in Seattle.
The homeless census happens every January and provides a snapshot of how many people are living outdoors and in shelters within King County. The federal government requires every U.S. county to perform the count every two years, but King County has done it every year since before that mandate.
Last month, the HUD granted permission to King County to not conduct the count over concerns around exposing volunteers and people being counted to the coronavirus.
In January, King County announced plans to buy as many as a dozen hotels to permanently house hundreds of homeless people and provide them with services.
‘We have every reason to believe that homelessness will get a lot worse after this pandemic unless we take bold action,’ said Leo Flor, director of the King County Department of Community and Human Services.
Seattle has seen its homeless population rise in recent years due to a lack of affordable housing. The image above from March 3 shows mutual aid and other volunteers carrying tents and other belongings at Denny Park near the Space Needle after the park was cleared by city workers of several dozen tents and people lacking housing
With apartment buildings in the background, pedestrians walk past tents used by people lacking housing at Denny Park in Seattle on March 3
In January, King County announced plans to buy as many as a dozen hotels to permanently house hundreds of homeless people and provide them with services
The image above shows a sign posted on a tree in Denny Park on March 3 after city workers cleared a tent encampment
The initiative is called Health Through Housing, KING5 reported.
It uses revenue from a .1 per cent sales tax increase to develop a network of apartment-like shelters, with the goal of getting people out of tents, off of sidewalks, and into safe, clean homes.
The county hopes to eventually house 45 per cent, or 2,000 people, out of its chronically homeless population of 4,500.
The goal for 2021 is to create housing units for 1,500 people countywide, in former hotels and nursing homes throughout the county.
That plan could run into hurdles in cities like SeaTac, where the city voted to temporarily restrict the county from opening any additional shelters within city limits.
Last year, during the opening weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, King County took swift action and moved homeless people out of crowded shelters and into a SeaTac Quality Inn, where they’d have their own rooms and would be less likely to spread the virus.
SeaTac city officials complained that the county hardly coordinated with them, except at the last moment.
Flor said the county now has more time to coordinate with cities and plan long-term solutions.
‘Right now, we are not actively pursuing any property in a city without talking to that city’s leadership first,’ he said.
