West Seattle Blog editor
West Seattle has no full-time homeless shelters. It has one city-sanctioned tiny-house encampment, usually at capacity with about 50 residents. Just about everyone else living unhoused in West Seattle is in a tent, or a vehicle, or maybe a doorway.
Right now, one group of tent residents on a South Delridge business-district sidewalk has been drawing increasing attention.
The site has grown steadily over this spring, starting on the east side of the building on the northwest corner of Delridge/Roxbury, now extending onto the sidewalk outside businesses on the north half of the block, more than a dozen tents in all, covering most of the sidewalk all the way to the curb.
Robert DeWitt takes down his tent as Seattle Police and Seattle Parks and Recreation arrive to set up a perimeter before sweeping unhoused people from Denny Park on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, in Seattle. DeWitt had stayed overnight with the hopes of talking with outreach services but was only approached by police. Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer
People living outside struggle to get on Seattle s housing waitlist as homelessness rises Apr 09, 2021
More people than ever are living outside around Seattle. A recent survey shows a 50% increase in tents since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkanâs office says the city is rapidly expanding shelter bed space, as community groups take on their own efforts to get people inside.
People living outside struggle to get on housing list
CASEY MARTIN, KUOW
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With the defunding of the city’s Navigation Team last August, Seattle has since changed the shelter referral process. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
SEATTLE (AP) On a cold and drizzling afternoon, Shawn Murphy carried a heavy, gray tarp to his tent. His is one of the larger tents among a small group on a stretch of grass in South Lake Union, pressed right next to the constant hum of Aurora traffic in Seattle.
At the camp, a friend told Murphy an outreach worker had just been there giving out info about overnight shelters. But wasn’t clear what the outreach worker said.
The barricaded encampment of unhoused community members is shown moments before Seattle police officers cleared the area on Friday, December 18, 2020, at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer
How the Cal Anderson sweep went down â and why it s so contentious Dec 21, 2020
The warning notices went up around Cal Anderson Park last Monday: A sweep was coming.
When word got out, hundreds of protesters descended on the park. Before the pandemic, sweeps were part of unhoused life in Seattle â the city came in with outreach services, then cleared them out.
But this sweep on Capitol Hill stuck out: Kick people out of their tents one week before Christmas, in the middle of a pandemic? Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people not be displaced and moved between shelters right now.