Efforts to Help Homeless People on Washington State Properties See Steady Success
By Joel Moreno, KOMO News Reporter Thu, February 29th 2024
SEATTLE — Efforts to help the homeless on state properties are seeing steady success and many of the people being helped off the streets are remaining in housing even weeks or months later.
In King County, 11 encampments have been cleared with work on a 12th now underway as part of the state right-of-ways initiative. The intensive outreach that preceded these resolutions has brought 361 people into shelter or housing, according to a blog post by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA).
However, doubts remain for some neighbors who lived next to these encampments about how long the state-run program can keep the tents and trash from returning.
What was once a notorious and drug-fueled homeless camp along Myers Way in West Seattle is now a quiet space behind a chain-link barricade, and people who live nearby welcome the change.
“They cleaned it out twice, and they came back a second time. Now they’re not back there anymore, thank goodness,” said Beatrice Funke, who lives in a senior housing complex just across the street.
The Myers Way site was one of the early encampments targeted by the state’s right-of-way initiative. Neighbors complained of ongoing crime and watched as homeless campers set up a swimming pool where they would smoke fentanyl.
“It was a problem, I mean, people were getting assaulted,” said Travis Macklin, who also lives in the senior complex. “People were out here at night with, pop, guns going off at all times of the night.”
A major milestone for the state Encampment Resolution Initiative is the rate of keeping people indoors. According to the State Dept. of Commerce, 89% of the homeless people living along freeway shoulders or other state properties were connected to housing, and 18 months after the initiative began, 73% remain stable and inside.
However, encampments that get cleared often get re-occupied and neighbors said the state needs to be vigilant to stay on course.
“If they don’t keep it going it’s going to get worse again,” Macklin said. “If you don’t help these people, what are they going to do? They are going to be in your yard next.”
The most recent camp to be cleared was in Seattle’s University District on the eastside of I-5. Other sites include Myers Way in West Seattle, Snoqualmie Street and Airport Way, Northgate, South Park, Dearborn and the Chinatown-International District.
Gov. Jay Inslee has asked the Legislature to approve $100 million to continue this work statewide.