A large homeless encampment on the shores of Bitter Lake between a school playground and a public park was removed Thursday morning after more than a year.
The encampment ignited controversy with the neighborhood — some neighbors calling for its removal, others asking the city to install hygiene facilities so the camp could stay cleaner. It even became a campaign stop for Mayor-elect Bruce Harrell, and the Seattle school district vowed to help homeless campers off their land.
But the district isn’t used to helping homeless adults, and when a group of volunteers called Anything Helps approached district officials, the school district agreed to reimburse some of the cost of helping people move into housing. That total was at least $5,000, according to a school district spokesperson.
The approach was somewhat like one at Ballard Commons, which was cleared of a large homeless encampment earlier this week. City officials have started to favor deploying outreach workers to one encampment, who repeatedly come back and work with people living there in hopes of getting everyone inside rather than simply dispersing residents to pitch tents blocks away.
Those volunteers and city outreach workers as of Thursday morning were almost entirely successful in getting nearly all 60-plus long-term homeless residents into shelter or housing, but it’s taken months of work.
Seattle Public Schools has put up fencing around the camp. It is unclear how long that area of the park will be closed. K8K-8
