Homeless voices of Seattle: From Murray’s Triangle to Clown Town

Krystal lives with her boyfriend in a pocket of Clown Town underneath the West Seattle Bridge. Nobody has a great explanation for how this mini homeless society consisting of dozens of cramped tents, derelict RVs, and barrel fires got its name, but that’s what the inhabitants of the area call it.

Related: Homeless crisis is not a partisan issue

When Krystal approached the Union Gospel Mission’s Search and Rescue van for hot chocolate and blankets, she immediately stood out to KIRO Radio’s Ron Upshaw. First, because she looked like a teenager. Second, because she didn’t fit any of the stereotypes Ron had seen up to that point, after traveling to various authorized and unauthorized homeless encampments around King County.

“That’s the thing, what is the stereotype?” Crystal asked Ron. “Do we have to look like our clothes are complete garbage, or do we have to smell like garbage to be a homeless person? There are resources where we can get our clothes cleaned; we can get new clothes from the UGM. And also, there are places where we can go and shower, too. So we don’t have to look like a frickin’ garbage pit. Yeah, some do, but that’s their thing. I personally would like to be clean.”

Krystal’s was among the dozens of stories Upshaw and Don O’Neill heard on their late night trip with the Union Gospel Mission, a non-profit advocacy group that provides emergency care and long-term recovery services to homeless people in the greater Seattle area. Don said that, of the 20 to 25 different conversations he had with homeless people, most came to Seattle from elsewhere looking for a better life, only to get trapped in heroin’s grasp. The tales would continue with how they ended up in a tent on the side of the freeway or in an RV bought for cheap at an auction. Most all of them appeared to be high on something during the conversation.

Krystal did not appear to be one of those people. She told Ron a tale familiar to many: Pregnant at 21 and unprepared both financially and maturity-wise to care for the child. Things fell apart. She’s been living in Clown Town since July after a bad fit with a roommate and a homeless shelter stay that didn’t work out.

“It sucks. Like, honest to God, it sucks. But, me and my boyfriend, we make the most of it,” she told Ron.

“My daughter, she’s now living with her grandma, just because it’s winter, really cold and not really a good mix for a 3-year-old.”

Related: Thousands of pounds of garbage, debris removed from Seattle’s former ‘Jungle’

Krystal says she takes several hours and many buses to attend school, on her way to a culinary certificate, with hopes of getting a job and ultimately a degree to become a baker.

“It’s a bit of a pain going to school and being down here but I’m hoping to still make it work. I’m in my second quarter,” she said.

“Most people just think that homeless people, everybody is addicted to substances like alcohol or drugs, but the truth is not everyone is. And some of us are just kind of down on our luck and (in) unfortunate situations or trying to get out of one.”

Stories from beyond Clown Town

Debbie, who lives in a tent under the freeway in SoDo, near the Mayor’s RV safe lot, said she tries to understand why people in Seattle are upset about people like her.

“If housing wasn’t so hard because there’s such a long waiting system; if they were to work on somehow doing something different to change that, and got more people in their housing and kept their stability of them in the housing, there wouldn’t be that much fluctuation,” she said. “However, there’s gonna be some anyhow because it’s just the way the system’s running.”

She also had this suggestion for Mayor Murray about The Triangle.

Richard Michael Mcadams, a search and rescue specialist with the Union Gospel Mission, explains how he snapped out of homelessnes after years of abuse that left him broken and wandering.

Robz, who lives in an RV lot near the West Seattle Bridge, lives off of Social Security. He has medical issues and, after his divorce, his wife got the house and most of the stuff, while he got the RV.

“Most of the people here have had a very, very rough life,” he said. “Along the way somewhere, things have happened. Like me, I don’t have a support network. Most of my family is deceased, and no support network, guess where you end up? Yeah. And so that’s a lot of the problem out here, is people don’t have that support network to keep them off of this level, and then you’ve got some people that just want to live out here. And I’ve got no problem with that so long as they’re clean and they’re not causing a problem.”

Josh is a 37-year-old former drug addict who was kicked out of his apartment and lives in a shanty under the West Seattle Bridge. He says he’s planning to move because people are stealing his food and antibiotics while he’s at the Methadone clinic or doing other errands. He says he’s willing to do any job and has construction experience, bonding with Don over their love of demolition work.

“I try to get a job and stuff but as soon as you tell somebody you’re homeless, they kind of shun you away. It’s like, man, how are we supposed to get up off the street if we can’t even get a job to get the money to get off the street … Give me a chance, really.”

“Throwing a toilet out a window — that’s how I look at (demolition work). If you had the opportunity to throw a toilet out the window and not get in no trouble for it, especially a two, three-story building. Would you? I would.”

Karen does not live on the streets but volunteers with UGM since her son, Adam, is in prison because of his problems with drugs and homelessness. She admits feeling guilt over her relief that Adam is locked up.

“I’m relieved, isn’t that awful?” she asked. “I’m relieved, because I don’t have to worry now that I’m gonna get that phone call, or he’s gonna come banging at my condo where he has done some damage and no one likes him. Or I’m not gonna see him across the street because he used to come to work to get money from me, when I worked for the Mariners. And that was awful.

“People tell you, stop enabling him, you’re enabling him, blah-blah-blah, but here, right here,” pointing to her heart, “is that little mommy that runs around and says, ‘That is your first born!'”

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