Olympia City Council calls for day center, sanctioned camp sites for homeless

Members of the Olympia City Council walked out of a special meeting on homelessness Tuesday evening with plans to open a day center and city-sanctioned homeless camps.

“It’s reality based. It acknowledges that we don’t have the housing stock, we have people camping and so it should be safe,” council member Renata Rollins said of the sanctioned camps, which would include restrooms, storage and trash cleanup.

Tuesday's meeting was an attempt to map out the city's short- and long-term responses to a growing homeless population. Council members acknowledged the city's response so far has not been enough.

"We lack an articulated direction, which is fueling frustration," Mayor Pro-Tempore Nathaniel Jones said.

There was no talk of where the day center or camping areas would go, how much they would cost, or where that money would come from.

Council members said they also want city staff to work with staff at the Providence Community Care Center in downtown Olympia to support their work and lessen the impact on nearby businesses.

The Community Care Center opened in September at the corner of Franklin Street and State Avenue and was designed to connect people with service providers. It has become a de facto day center, with crowds spilling onto the sidewalk and camping in adjacent parking lots.

Mayor Cheryl Selby talked about the need for oversight at the new day center and balancing compassion with accountability.

"Managing behaviors around the day center is one of the things ... I hear the most of in my inbox,” she said.

Council members said they want to hear from service providers and policy experts to help guide the city’s homeless response. The city recently hired its first homeless response coordinator, who was at Tuesday's meeting.

Beyond those immediate steps, council members discussed partnering with Lacey and Tumwater on a regional response plan, studying what policies are working in other cities, and the need for more new housing in Olympia.

The council will meet next week at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

This story was originally published May 9, 2018 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Olympia City Council calls for day center, sanctioned camp sites for homeless."