Olympia to sweep some homeless RV residents from road near Providence hospital
Matt Reeves has been towed more times than he can remember.
For that past six or seven years, Reeves, a lifelong Olympia resident in his mid-50s, has lived in a van and, more recently, a travel trailer he acquired for free from a good Samaritan who no longer wanted it. He’s been chased off of Deschutes Parkway, ticketed in downtown Olympia, and booted from parking lots across the city.
Three weeks ago, his sedan was impounded for having expired tags.
“Even in my van it was really difficult,” Reeves said. “You park in a parking spot and they come wake you up and kick you out.”
Reeves is about to be woken up again.
He is one of at least 20 vehicle residents who will soon be forced off of Ensign Road, as municipal leaders attempt to control an expanding settlement of RVs just outside the county’s largest hospital.
In early 2020, Reeves became one of the first people to park his van on Ensign Road near the intersection with Martin Way. About four months ago, as the settlement grew and became noisier, Reeves moved further up the street towards Providence St. Peter Hospital and settled in his current spot across from Mother Joseph Care Center.
Before too long, others followed him, and about two months ago this stretch of Ensign Road, close to the emergency room turn-off, “really blew up.” It’s now nearly as crowded with trailers and vehicles as the spot Reeves left.
Unfortunately for Reeves, the location’s newfound popularity with homeless vehicle residents has reached a tipping point for hospital leadership, who have long-held concerns about emergency vehicle access. Intercity Transit also has rerouted its buses away from Ensign Road.
On Friday, Thurston County and city of Olympia officials confirmed plans to remove the vehicles from the part of Ensign closest to the hospital. But the timeline for their removal — or where they will go — is not clear.
Providence CEO Darin Goss confirmed the request in an email to The Olympian.
“The ask is to remove all parking on Ensign Road from Lilly to the east to Woodard Creek allowing one safe passage of emergency vehicles to the hospital,” Goss wrote. “We feel protecting safe access for ambulances and supply trucks to the hospital (which serves as a critical resource for our community) is warranted.”
Last year, ambulances coming from Olympia began rerouting to Lilly Road to avoid colliding with RVs or debris from the settlement, which sometimes spills out into the roadway. Goss added that Providence has tried to minimize the disruption to the majority of RV residents — who are parked on Ensign closer to Martin Way and will not be moved — by relocating ambulances to Lilly Road.
“This remains the longer route to the emergency room for ambulances coming from the west (downtown Olympia), However, this route requires the least disruption to those living on Ensign,” Goss wrote. “My concern is if we do not protect one safe route for ambulances, we will disrupt many more as the encampment continues to grow.”
City and county officials did not give a timeline for when the 20 RVs would be forced out, but County Manager Ramiro Chavez called the situation urgent and said he hopes to have it resolved in the next three to four weeks.
“It’s probably yesterday when we needed to do something,” Chavez said.
The city’s “intention,” according to Assistant City Manager Keith Stahley, is to locate an alternative spot where displaced RV campers can relocate. But there will not be enough time to do that in the time frame Chavez described.
At last week’s regional housing council meeting, Stahley asked the county and neighboring cities to assist in purchasing a 5.9-acre property on nearby Franz Anderson Road adjacent to Interstate 5 to use as a sanctioned RV parking site. The property is listed on Redfin at $1.8 million. However, such a site would take a minimum of six months to set up.
“Even under the best, best-case scenario, acquiring the Franz Anderson Road property, now that’s going to take 90 days, and then doing the work is going to take another few months,” Stahley said. “So there will need to be some interim solution, but I don’t know what that is at this point.”
Like many on Ensign, Reeves has no idea where he will go unless the city designates a legal space for him to park. Reeves has no income, and relies on occasional help from family members. He applied for but was denied social security disability support. His trailer doesn’t even have a working engine, although a mechanic is helping him fix it pro bono.
“I’m kinda panicked about the whole thing,” he said.
Reeves disputed the idea that emergency vehicles are struggling to access the hospital. In his observation, they usually “fly right by.”
“Are you going to get in the way of an ambulance? Really, no. C’mon man, that’s ridiculous.”
Last year, city and county leaders spent months trying to create a safe parking site where the Ensign RVs could legally park in Lacey’s Urban Growth Area, but ultimately punted on the idea. Instead, the county voted to spend up to $1 million on a “scattered-site” program, which funds case management and cleaning encampments, including the one at Ensign.
Stahley acknowledged that the city has in the past forced homeless people to move without offering an alternative, but said they’re trying to do things differently this time.
Last October, the city announced a sweep of Ensign Road that was called off at the last minute, although dozens of people left anyway. The planned sweep was undercut by a letter from the Attorney General warning it could violate Gov. Jay Inslee’s eviction moratorium. That order has since expired, and the governor’s “bridge” order, which limits most evictions until Sept. 30, does not cover non-traditional housing arrangements such as hotels or encampments.
The 20 RV residents who will be moved have been informed of the plans, according to Stahley, and the city’s homeless coordinator, Kim Kondrat, is offering to repair people’s tires and fill up gas tanks as incentives to move. Those who don’t move willingly will have to find an alternative spot for themselves, Stahley said.
“By no means is Ensign Road a permanent — at least from the city’s perspective — by no means is Ensign Road intended to be a permanent settlement,” Stahley said.
“We do not think it is the right spot for people to be camping, but again, we think that the right way of managing that is to find a suitable alternative location and assist people in moving and providing them the services and support they need to be successful.”
This story was originally published September 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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