Belltown ‘tent mansion’ and homeless camp cleared out

The City of Seattle cleared out a highly visible tent encampment in Belltown near the Space Needle on Tuesday.

The encampment at Third and Broad began April. Notices there said the cleanup would begin at 9 a.m. KIRO 7 reporter Rob Munoz said the city’s Navigation Team was at the site Tuesday morning.

One resident told Munoz he would be moving his stuff to the other side of the building.

BELLTOWN – Seattle Navigation team clean up homeless encampment at 3rd/Broad. Resident says he’s moving “to the other side of @KIRO7Seattle” pic.twitter.com/KUPBcotVFp

— Rob Munoz (@RobKIRO7) July 3, 2018

The structure, complete with glass French doors connected to wooden-pallet walls, surrounding interior furniture, could be easily seen by Seattle tourists heading up and down the Space Needle elevators.

“When in Rome, you modify, adapt and overcome,” said one of the homeless carpenters who built the structure, which passers-by have dubbed the “Tent Mansion.”

The encampment has been a lightning rod that’s brought even more attention to the city’s homeless crisis.

KIRO 7 first met Melissa Burns and her husband in April. They said they rejected offers to live in shelters since they didn’t want to follow the requirements to stay there.

“We’re not going to cower in our tent like we’re scared of the world,” she said. “We’re going to come out and live and we’re going to help other people, because we feed other homeless people with food bank food, and we plan to set these up all over town,” said Burns.

The city said about 37 percent of people they encounter reject similar offers. But after refusing offers of help, last week, Burns and her husband received tickets for flights to Kansas to be with family.

The City of Seattle told KIRO 7 they’ve gotten complaints about 400 unsanctioned homeless encampments. They say their outreach teams are stretched so thin they average removing only two to three per week.