‘Where would they put them?’: City-sanctioned homeless camp proposal faces location, budget concerns

Following the arrest of a 46-year-old man living in a homeless encampment who allegedly kidnapped and sexually abused a five-year-old girl in his tent, a Seattle City Council member proposed a city-sanctioned homeless encampment with 24-hour security and mobile drug treatments.

KIRO hosts Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin addressed the homeless epidemic across Seattle, drawing concerns over the steep costs it would take for the city to monitor a homeless encampment, and where the city would choose to place them, on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

“We have to do something about people who are unhoused. We also need to do something about preventing people from becoming unhoused,” Gee said. “I think [city-sanctioned homeless encampments] sounds good, but where would they put them?”

“There are a couple of other things, too. Running a sanctioned camp with sanitation, security, and staff, the estimated cost would be like $1,000 to $2,000 per person per month,” Ursula said. “You could do subsidized housing for that money. I understand the idea is they need to go somewhere before permanent housing is built, but like you said, where would it go?”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.