Tensions mount over homeless car camping as city tests new approach

When you visit Ballard’s Klassen Engine, it can be a
challenge finding a place to park because of all the
homeless people crowding the street with RV’s, vans and
other vehicles they now call home.

It’s nothing new in the neighborhood or many other parts
of Seattle. But after a decade of dealing with the the
long line of vehicle campers constantly lining NW 50th
Street next to the Ballard Bridge, owner David Rowland he
says he’s reached his tipping point.

“Enough is enough. I’d like to see them gone,” says a
frustrated Rowland. “Why should they be allowed to be a
burden on us?”

It’s more than just an eyesore or minor nuisance. One RV
has been running a noisy generator for hours at a time
directly outside his office. Rowland says the homeless
regularly go to the bathroom behind his building, while
neighbors regularly complain of noise, drunken fights and
other problems throughout the night.

“It’s just very demeaning to us,” he says of the way he
and his neighbors feel about the ongoing problem. He’s
particularly frustrated the city only sporadically
enforces 72 hour parking limits and other restrictions and
doesn’t more aggressively ticket and tow the car campers.

But city leaders say it’s not that simple. It’s estimated
at least 1,000 people now live in their vehicles in the city alone, according to Seattle City Councilmember Mike
O’Brien. And the numbers continue to grow.

“We get that a business owner or resident doesn’t want
them parking in front of their business or home. But
simply sending them down the road doesn’t solve the
problem.”

“I don’t see why the city can’t do something to make some
kind of a park or rent a vacant space of some kind and let
them camp there,” Rowland says.

O’Brien says there
are a number of significant challenges, from providing
bathrooms for a large group, to electrical hookups and
other services. He says the city simply doesn’t have
the resources or expertise to manage such an endeavor.

But O’Brien has helped launch a new pilot program that got
underway in March at a Ballard church. Under the “Safe
Parking Program”, Our Redeemers Lutheran Church provides
parking for up to five homeless campers. The church also
provides access to the restroom and sanctuary.

It’s not meant to be a permanent solution. A social
services agency works with the campers to help them
transition into regular housing and potentially
employment.

O’Brien admits it’s a drop in the bucket for a problem
that’s plagued the city for years. But he says it’s an
important start that shows tremendous promise.

“If this is a program that over the next year or two we
can bring up to scale and maybe start accommodating a
couple of hundred folks citywide, that starts to make a
dent in that population.”

O’Brien says he hopes to expand the pilot program to at
least one other church in the next month with more to
follow.

In the meantime, Rowland is left to deal with the daily
parking, noise and other issues. He says he has plenty of
sympathy for those down on their luck. But he doesn’t
understand why he should pay the price for it.

“Do something. Just please, get them out of our
neighborhood.”