Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn agrees to close Nickelsville homeless camp

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says he’ll shut down the Nickelsville homeless encampment by Sept. 1 following demands from a majority of City Councilmembers.

Seven of the nine members sent a letter Monday to the mayor, asking him to close Nickelsville by Sept. 1, The Seattle Times first reported.

Mike O’Brien and Nick Licata were the only ones not signing the letter. Both have been working on new homeless encampment legislation for some time.

The letter says the councilmembers would allocate up to $500,000 from the city’s general fund for housing and services for the residents.

It also asks the mayor to direct the city’s Department of Human Services to provide “immediate targeted outreach and engagement services to Nickelsville along with immediate provision of shelter, housing and other services.”

Council members are reportedly in talks with Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission to provide housing, a source told the Times.

Mayor McGinn issued the following statement:

“I appreciate the work of Councilmembers Licata and O’Brien for working on expanding legal options for encampments, which built upon the work of an advisory task force I assembled in my first year in office. For some time we have delayed enforcement of the law against encampments on industrial lands while the City Council examined these proposals to provide more opportunities for legal encampments in the City of Seattle. In light of the City Council’s clear statement of intent that they will not expand encampments further, and that they expect Nickelsville to clear the property by September 1, motivated in part by the desire to sell this property to Food Lifeline, I have no further basis to not enforce the law.

We will provide additional services, including extended winter shelter hours through the summer. Absent a change in direction by the City Council, by September 1 we expect the property to be vacated and we will follow the City Council’s direction to evict those who remain.”

The letter says the councilmembers don’t want to “simply displace campers” and want to take steps to meet both “the immediate and the long-term needs of the individuals at Nickelsville.”

The councilmembers say the city remains committed to expanding shelter and services for homeless across the city as part of the goals of the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. But the letter says they oppose creating “an environment that facilitates or invites substandard living or increased and more permanent camping in Seattle as you have allowed at the West Marginal Way SW site [Nickelsville] and nearby.”