With no deadline, homeless return to the ‘Jungle’
Jun 8, 2016, 5:48 AM | Updated: 8:35 am
The Seattle Union Gospel Mission says a dropped deadline to clean up the Jungle has derailed its outreach efforts. (City of Seattle)
(City of Seattle)
A two-week effort to clean up Seattle’s “Jungle” has gained momentum, but without a deadline, the homeless are returning.
“We had people ready to move; they were there,” Jeff Lilley, president of the Union Gospel Mission, told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz. “And now they have backed off and there is a question of if they even have to move.”
Related: How Seattle police tracked down an arson suspect setting fires around The Jungle
Lilley says he feels frustrated, especially given that the Mission was making progress.
“It’s pretty obvious the first couple of days we saw some significant movement, people wanted help and services,” he said. “When there was a sense of wavering that movement slowed down. Over the Memorial Day Weekend, we saw about 25 people move back in. It was the type of thing where they look at it and say ‘Gosh, maybe the city doesn’t really mean this.’ At that point, it slowed way down.”
UGM has worked hard to connect the homeless with the services they need, helping them get back on the right path. They do this by making personal connections with those living on the streets, earning their trust. And they’ve seen results. Lilley estimates that about half of the estimated 336 people living in the area were moved out; 44 people got direct services, including addiction recovery, shelters and women’s services for domestic violence.
But the Seattle City Council passed a resolution slowing down the clean ups. They’ve even spent time debating what to call the area. Council member Sally Bagshaw indicated that she won’t call the space the “Jungle” anymore.
“We somewhat agree with [Bagshaw] that words matter, however, it’s had a name for 20 years,” Lilley said. “And to be disappointed that it has a name, yet be OK that people can live there is counter-intuitive in our mind … the issue is the place, not the name. How can you want to change the name, but not where they are living? That’s the issue for us.”
“The reality is that in most cases we refer back to the ‘Jungle’ when we want people to know where we are talking about,” he said.
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