Seattle Fire scolds Kshama Sawant over lax take on homeless camp cleanups

Seattle Fire Fighters Union, Local 27 says Kshama Sawant’s answer to illegal homeless encampments is not the solution.

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In a letter to Sawant obtained by KING 5, Kenny Stuart, the president of Local 27, says there are an “increasing number” of emergencies stemming from encampments.

“While Seattle Fire Fighters will always respond to those in need and facing fire and medical emergencies, the high volume of trips to unauthorized encampments in recent years poses very real health and safety concerns to our members,” Stuart writes, citing the dangers of being stuck with needles, bio-hazards, and assaults that firefighters face “every day.”

Earlier this month, Sawant proposed the city stop its encampment sweeps. She also proposed funding for sanitation, portable toilets, and trash removal.

Sawant has long advocated to stop the sweeps of homeless camps and pushed to provide sanitation services. In June 2016, Sawant wanted to see “The Jungle” cleaned up with sanitation services added.

While Stuart condones what Sawant suggested, he supports the city’s Navigation Team. The team, composed of contracted outreach workers and specially-trained police officers, is designed to engage with homeless people and attempt to get them services before sweeps of illegal camps.

“The Navigation Team has been the most effective response to the homelessness crisis,” Stuart writes.

On Monday, Sawant, councilmember Kirsten Harris-Talley, and several other well-known community members opined in the South Seattle Emerald that instead of solving the city’s affordability problem, “elected officials have instead prioritized ‘sweeps,’ moving unauthorized homeless encampments from one location to another.”

Sawant and her co-authors say there were 601 sweeps in 2016, pushing about 135 encampments around Seattle. Though Mayor Tim Burgess “has proposed a budget that provides incremental improvements,” the op-ed argues Seattle needs a budget that “stops the sweeps and instead uses the millions of dollars to fund services, sanitation, and healthcare for people living in expanded encampments.”

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