Neighbors of proposed homeless camps say city is moving too fast

Following an emergency declaration related to homelessness, Olympia’s proposal to open two managed homeless camps has caught some neighbors of the sites off guard.

“I could not believe that it was that far along in the process and nobody in our entire community had heard about it,” said Tim Teets, who lives a third of a mile from one of the proposed sites.

City staff last week presented plans to put the camps on a quarter-acre lot the city owns off Plum Street Southeast and on a 1.1-acre property on Martin Way East at Pattison Street Northeast near some of Olympia’s largest makeshift camps.

Staff has said they want to open both camps by December.

Mayor Cheryl Selby said the city is trying to both respond to a homeless crisis and make sure people are comfortable with the response.

“I think that we’re finding that balance is really delicate,” she said.

The Plum Street site is down the street from Saint Michael Parish and its school. The Rev. Jim Lee said he learned of the plan in The Olympian and is concerned the City Council is moving too fast.

“We want to support the city in their efforts — this is so important to our city — so we want to be as helpful as we can,” Lee said. “I think their lack of listening to their constituents and having input in the process is going to backfire and cause trouble.”

Lee said there are already four homeless camps within a half mile of the church, which houses an overnight shelter in the winter and has other services for people in need. He sent a letter to parishioners encouraging them to contact council members or attend Tuesday’s regular council meeting.

On social media this week, people debated the city’s plan and larger role in combating homelessness. Some suggested last month’s emergency declaration was meant to shut down public input.

Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones said council members have heard these concerns. He said the emergency declaration was meant to call attention to the problem and speed up the process of spending money on the city’s response.

The council created an ad hoc committee a year and a half ago to study housing and homelessness. Meanwhile, Jones said, the number of homeless people in Thurston County continues to grow and the city needs to act.

“Once we start spending dollars to address the problem, it does catch people’s attention,” Jones said.

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 5:30 PM.