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An estimated 1,000 people are believed to live in their vehicles in the city of Seattle, congregating in neighborhoods like this one in Ballard. (Josh Kerns/MyNorthwest.com)

Tensions mount over homeless car camping as city tests new approach

BY Josh Kerns  on May 8, 2012 @ 9:45 am (Updated: 11:21 am - 5/8/12 )

When you visit Ballard's Klassen Engine, it can be a challenge finding a place to park because of all the homeless people crowding the street with RV's, vans and other vehicles they now call home.

It's nothing new in the neighborhood or many other parts of Seattle. But after a decade of dealing with the the long line of vehicle campers constantly lining NW 50th Street next to the Ballard Bridge, owner David Rowland he says he's reached his tipping point.

"Enough is enough. I'd like to see them gone," says a frustrated Rowland. "Why should they be allowed to be a burden on us?"

It's more than just an eyesore or minor nuisance. One RV has been running a noisy generator for hours at a time directly outside his office. Rowland says the homeless regularly go to the bathroom behind his building, while neighbors regularly complain of noise, drunken fights and other problems throughout the night.

"It's just very demeaning to us," he says of the way he and his neighbors feel about the ongoing problem. He's particularly frustrated the city only sporadically enforces 72 hour parking limits and other restrictions and doesn't more aggressively ticket and tow the car campers.

But city leaders say it's not that simple. It's estimated at least 1,000 people now live in their vehicles in the city alone, according to Seattle City Councilmember Mike O'Brien. And the numbers continue to grow.

"We get that a business owner or resident doesn't want them parking in front of their business or home. But simply sending them down the road doesn't solve the problem."

"I don't see why the city can't do something to make some kind of a park or rent a vacant space of some kind and let them camp there," Rowland says.

O'Brien says there are a number of significant challenges, from providing bathrooms for a large group, to electrical hookups and other services. He says the city simply doesn't have the resources or expertise to manage such an endeavor.

But O'Brien has helped launch a new pilot program that got underway in March at a Ballard church. Under the "Safe Parking Program", Our Redeemers Lutheran Church provides parking for up to five homeless campers. The church also provides access to the restroom and sanctuary.

It's not meant to be a permanent solution. A social services agency works with the campers to help them transition into regular housing and potentially employment.

O'Brien admits it's a drop in the bucket for a problem that's plagued the city for years. But he says it's an important start that shows tremendous promise.

"If this is a program that over the next year or two we can bring up to scale and maybe start accommodating a couple of hundred folks citywide, that starts to make a dent in that population."

O'Brien says he hopes to expand the pilot program to at least one other church in the next month with more to follow.

In the meantime, Rowland is left to deal with the daily parking, noise and other issues. He says he has plenty of sympathy for those down on their luck. But he doesn't understand why he should pay the price for it.

"Do something. Just please, get them out of our neighborhood."

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (31)


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  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    The bathroom problem is not easily solved...
    May 8, 2012 10:48 am
    After all, it costs six million dollars to build a single outhouse with no running water.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    @Krazy Town
    May 8, 2012 3:16 pm
    Most of the RV size vehicles have facilities to at least temporarily retain sewage. Porta potties can get hauled out and dumped in a public restroom.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hnuh wrote...
    05-08-2012 Tensions mount over homeless car...
    May 8, 2012 11:12 am
    Keep voting democrat and watch the numbers increase. Heck, Seattle may become Detroit west if you keep it up long enough...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • demo wrote...
    What?
    May 8, 2012 12:15 pm
    I believe it was under the Bush watch that the jobs started disappearing at an alarming rate. Then housing collapsed, then 401k's, the America. Thank God Obama has brought the stock market from Bush's less than 10,000 to Obama's over 13,000. GOP is systematically destroying America.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Steve Dallas wrote...
    demo
    May 8, 2012 12:21 pm
    Well, Washington State has been all democrat for years, and had 33% increase in spending from 2004-2010, with only a 16% increase in revenue. Personally, I think it's BOTH parties that are at fault here, but here in our state...it's the Democrats. Frankly, we need to VOTE EVERY SINGLE POLITICIAN IN OUR STATE OUT OF OFFICE!!!! Anyone who was part of our government these last 12 years needs to be gone, Republican OR Democrat.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Mine isn't the conservative suggestion you might expect, but...
    May 8, 2012 11:13 am
    why not supply some space for these people ? This is a city that puts up with occupiers and homeless in tents. And goes gaga to spend whatever it takes to keep the bicycle nazis happy. And it's not all homeless living in campers - some of which are well over $20,000. Downsizing might mean you've sold your house but kept the RV. ........... Clue to McGinn - a lot of these people might PAY for space, if they didn't have to find street space to park.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    Why this space?
    May 8, 2012 11:26 am
    trailer parks still exist outside of Seattle proper.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    why not Interbay, right across the Ballard bridge ?
    May 8, 2012 1:01 pm
    Trailer parks outside of Seattle, you need to be 100% retired. A lot of these people DO work, but need to be close enough to walk or find a bus.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    thanks ron
    May 8, 2012 1:24 pm
    I appreciate the completely non-hysterical honest answer. :)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    @ron... Wherever the homeless want to park, the Mayor's office runs out and posts signs that read....
    May 8, 2012 3:20 pm
    "No Parking, 2 AM to 6 AM, violators will be towed." They're all over Ballard now, including entirely industrial streets that have no residences to annoy or disturb.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    And how safe are industrial areas ?
    May 8, 2012 3:49 pm
    This McGinn plan is to house some at churches, etc. A fine idea, but far too few spaces - and immediate, proximate residential chafing. Interbay HAS the space for a goodly number, at least as many as are in Ballard now, and other areas of the city have land that could be similarly used. ........... OK, maybe campers and RVs only (car sleeping might need a different solution) - and set up dumps. With policing these urban RV parks could be quite nice. .. And for some older people, like I said, it's not that they lack money. I have a 78 year old friend whose RV IS his home, yet he does have enough money. Just no place to park in any urban residential area for more than 24 hours legally. .....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    @kata....
    May 8, 2012 3:17 pm
    It can cost as much to rent a pad in an RV park for a night as to rent a cheap motel room; and a lot of these people don't have the money for either. Legally parking on a public street is the cheapest alternative.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Seattle pols don't care about businesses or taxpayers.
    May 8, 2012 11:46 am
    Those who are least deserving get the most, thanks to the liberals in charge. How to solve this problem? Impound them. In order to get them out of impound the drivers/homeless must prove ownership, prove insurance and prove they have a current, valid license. After 30 days the RVs get auctioned off. Done.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • joebigsky wrote...
    Car Campers
    May 8, 2012 12:33 pm
    If these people are homeless. What address do they use to get a vehicle license?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    @joebigsky......mailing addresses for the homeless are available
    May 8, 2012 3:22 pm
    at most food banks.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    if this roland cry baby hates it so much
    May 8, 2012 12:38 pm
    why doesn't he pull up his skirt and move already?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • alaskarowland wrote...
    Rebuttal
    May 8, 2012 9:45 pm
    You sound like one of the black hooded anarchists that has no direction in life. I've worked hard, probably something you don't understand, making a living and providing jobs for people in Ballard. We are a small business, but try to help our community, including regular support of the local food bank. Your comment sounds like it comes from one of the unsavory sorts that often camps here. If everyone had your attitude, and the neighborhood became bad enough, I would do everything in my power to move the business and take the jobs where there are decent people, and honest labor and values are appreciated.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Hayduke wrote...
    I say, FORCE the churches to host the campers
    May 8, 2012 12:38 pm
    After all, the city council gave the churches a free pass to inflict "tent cities" on their neighbors with little to no advance warning. Their neighbors then have to put up with the consequences of having bums hanging out in their neighborhood. People with kids living in residential neighborhoods watch helplessly as vagrants with unknown criminal backgrounds drink, fight, defecate, and steal from them during the daytime. I can say this because of experiences in the last two years with two churches near me.

    The churches are allowed to do this because they say it is their "mission" to help the poor. So why not, as a condition of their being given "special rights" to impose tent cities on the rest of us, make any church not located in a residential neighborhood allow the homeless RVers to camp out in their parking lot?

    At least then, homeowners and business owners like Rowland are less likely to encounter some dirtbag drinking or taking a dump in their back alley.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    @hayduke, Two problems with the state *forcing* the churches to do anything...
    May 8, 2012 3:33 pm
    The initial one is the First Amendment. Would you be happy with the state *forcing* churches to perform marriage ceremonies for gays? No? Then why should the state be able to force the churches to do anything else? Is it OK for the state to force churches to do something you want done, but not OK for the state to force churches to do something you oppose?

    The second is that your characterization of Tent City runs absolutely opposite the prevailing sentiment in most neighborhoods where Tent City has operated. Share Wheel, etc, make enormous efforts to clean up any drug use, litter, panhandling, or other problems (often existing before Tent City even arrives)in order to establish and maintain positive relationships with the neighbors.

    There are some folks who *won't stay* in a Tent City simply because they are expected to abide by the following code of conduct:

    http://home.jps.net/~tayles/Affordable_Housing/tent_city/code_of_conduct.html

    The Tent City Security committees enforce order not only within the boundaries of the camp, but also in the surrounding neighborhood so that fewer people will develop the opinion that you seem to hold.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    Ronald Reagan
    May 8, 2012 2:15 pm
    Why the big fuss over the homeless during Ronald Reagan's term or for that matter any Republican. Barack Obama = Depression and if he gets re-elected (Heaven Forbid)he will drop the hammer.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    No Parking 2 AM- 6 AM...so as soon as the *bars close*,
    May 8, 2012 3:40 pm
    some of the people who have been drinking are forced to get into their vehicle and drive, or be towed away.

    Fewer RV's on the street, but more drunks on the road? Really not a smart solution, is it?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }