Seattle Mayor Ed Murray says the plan to clear out the crime-ridden homeless encampment known as The Jungle is not an inhumane “sweep.” But he says it still needs to happen as quickly as possible.
“For folks who are in particularly dangerous situations, we should move them. When people are being raped, when people are setting themselves on fire, we’ve got to go in and do something,” Murray said, “and unless someone is engaged in breaking the law, such as a sexual assault, we’re not going to criminalize homelessness.”
A resolution before the Seattle City Council puts forward a compromise that would move people out of the encampment beneath I-5 section by section, effectively slowing it down. There’s talk of adding portable toilets and trash disposal in some areas to make it safer for those who stay.
Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who chairs the city’s Human Services and Public Health Committee, says otherwise the people there who don’t want to live in standard shelters will just spill onto the streets of adjacent neighborhoods.
“Because if we don’t have specific places for them to go, they’re going to be moving into Chinatown International District; They’re going to be moving into neighborhoods. And it doesn’t make sense just to chase people around,” Bagshaw said.
Mayor Murray says it’s fine to slow down the plan if needed. But he says they’re having some success already getting people to move out of the area.
Still, Murray says there’s urgency when they can tell people they have to go before bulldozers from the state Department of Transportation move in for a major cleanup.
“I think getting people located in services out of there is a better answer, especially because the number has become a fairly manageable number.”
So far, the Union Gospel Mission says that after two days of intensive outreach with an individualized approach, they have had contact with 158 homeless individuals. Of those, 28 have committed to moving into shelters or services to get them out of Seattle’s most notorious encampment.
