City council votes on 'temporary' emergency housing to help homelessness crisis in Burien
Burien passes plan to open homeless shelter
In a 4 to 3 vote, the city will move forward with a proposal to accept $1 million from King County.? The money would help fund a tiny pallet village for up to one year.??One of the conditions for the funding was to have a set location.
BURIEN, Wash. - After months of back and forth, the people of Burien now have a temporary solution to their homelessness crisis.
In a 4 to 3 vote, the city will move forward with a proposal to accept $1 million from King County. The money would help fund a tiny pallet village for up to one year. One of the conditions for the funding was to have a set location.
The council agreed to establish temporary housing at the Seattle City Light lot with 90% of shelter space designated just for those experiencing homelessness in Burien.
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The vote made just three hours before the offer expired Monday night. Many questioned why it took six months to make a decision.
Mayor Sofia Aragon said, "We need to know where the dollars were going to go, and how long, and also it was really valuable to hear from the community during testimony because the motion that was made today could not have been possible until unless people spoke up and really talked about their fear for safety."
Burien camping ban goes into effect
A temporary sanctioned encampment for the unhoused is opening up to help relieve Burien of the ongoing problem. City Councils' encampment ban goes into effect Nov. 1, and those caught camping will be fined unless shelter space is not available.
City leaders also voted to amend their zoning permits which currently prohibit a tiny home village within city limits. The move allows them to move forward and inform King County Regional Homelessness Authority about their designated lot and the King County Executive.
The latest decision comes as law enforcement is set to enforce the no-camping ordinance beginning Dec. 1. It prohibits camping in the city of Burien citing those caught with a misdemeanor, unless there is no shelter space available.
This decision is a big one for a local shelter on the Southwest corridor who anticipated the need only getting greater this winter. Keith Hughes, Commander of the American Legion whose building serves as the Westside Neighbors shelter in West Seattle has been keeping a close eye on the situation.
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"The need gets bigger because we're still in this attitude of not on my front door," Hughes said.
King County offered Burien $1 million to help fund a tiny home or pallet village. City council has been weighing options since May including the Toyota lot. A motion to terminate the agreement failed in May with one of the major deal-breakers being the potential of loss of jobs.
"When you get a city like Burien that makes it nearly impossible for anybody to be anywhere other than a home within their city limits, I would like to talk to that city council, that Mayor, face to face and just ask one question. Where do you think they go?" Hughes said.
Two other options: the lots at Boulevard Park and Seattle City Light.
"They know exactly what property they own and exactly what's available they just don't want to," Hughes said.
The back and forth is impacting the 76-year-old commander, who is doing his part to help.
"They just move to somewhere else," Hughes said. "They're moving here. They're coming here. So it's going to get worse for me."
The commander is worried about capacity. He said between noon and 5 p.m. Friday he received phone calls from other shelters, hospitals and organizations in Bremerton, Mount Vernon, Rainier Valley, Virginia Mason and Harborview inquiring if he still had space. In the week he's been open, he says more than a dozen men and about three to four women have stopped by daily.
"I'm 76 years old. It's a little beyond my ability to handle more than about 25 to 30 people, so I try to keep it at that level," Hughes said. "I would love to be able to expand. I would love it to be a full-time shelter."
Meanwhile, leaders also established rules and guidelines for the shelter. The approved measure requires a security and a community liaison to be present. Occupants and visitors must abide by the code of conduct which says drugs and alcohol are not allowed; guns are prohibited, and registered sex offenders will not be allowed in.
"We need a more robust mental health and substance-use and health care system," Mayor Aragon said. "We're hoping the crisis care centers that passed in the last ballot will help, although that's down the line. So that's another piece that we will need to be successful as a whole community, but you're right. There are limited places for people to get treatment, but that's part of the city, as well to lean on our state legislators, our County Council's, our federal partners and our federal legislators to get more resources in that direction."