Tensions have long existed between housed and homeless neighbors in the Northwest.
At the turn of the century, the region was home to many transient workers employed by the lumber, mining or fishing industries. Many of these early Seattleites lived in unstable conditions or in single-room-occupancy hotels. When the Great Depression hit the Northwest, they were forced out on to the streets.
According to Leonard Garfield, executive director of Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry, Seattle was home to one of the largest homeless encampments in the country. This tent city, called Hooverville, sprawled across what is now the SoDo district. More homeless communities popped up in Interbay and other industrial neighborhoods.
At the time, concerned citizens wrote to the Seattle City Council both protesting the encampments and encouraging more resources for the homeless. The letters show striking parallels to today's civic debate around homeless communities in the Northwest, especially the notorious encampment under Interstate 5 called "The Jungle." But Garfield notes a few differences between the two eras.
"I think there was much more visibility to Hooverville," Garfield says. "I mean the Jungle is visible if you look for it. Hooverville was pretty hard to avoid. And so therefore it became a more obvious presence in the community. And in some ways a more accepted presence."
Sound Effect's Gabriel Spitzer talks with Garfield about Seattle's history with homelessness and what it tells us about today's communities.
