Dozens protest homeless sweeps with City Hall camp-out

Dozens of homeless people, their supporters and activists pitched tents in front of Seattle City Hall on Sunday evening to protest the city's policy of sweeping out homeless encampments at parks.

It was the third annual overnight protest camp-out, and organizer Timothy Harris said advocates are frustrated about the city's revised policy on sweeps, calling it unfair and inadequate.

They planned to take the issue to the streets this morning — specifically Fourth Avenue, which Harris and several other activists will try to block around 9:30 a.m.

"We feel it's time to make the strongest statement we can, and say that we withdraw our consent from the way the city is being run," said Harris, the executive director of Real Change. The group publishes a namesake newspaper on homeless issues.

Alex Fryer, a spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels, said the sweeps policy tries to balance the needs of the homeless with protecting the parks.

"We do a lot of outreach to folks who are in the park," Fryer said Sunday evening. "We really make sure that we tell them about shelters and give them referrals [for services]. But these encampments are very rough on the parks. As a matter of policy, we simply can't have encampments like these in our public spaces."

About 150 people were camped out in the plaza on the west side of City Hall Sunday evening. Some of their tents bore messages such as "How many paychecks are you from being homeless?" and "Whom would the Dalai Lama sweep?"

A kiosk sported hundreds of colored plexiglass chips, some of which memorialized the 270-plus homeless people activists say have died outdoors or through violence in King County since 2000.

In April, Nickels signed an order allowing the city to expel camp inhabitants with 72 hours' notice and an offer to help them obtain city services, including shelter and drug and alcohol treatment. Belongings left behind are to be stored at a warehouse and discarded after 60 days if not claimed.

The city also promised to fund 20 additional shelter beds — a number Harris called woefully inadequate.

The policy also provides that anyone warned to move on at one camp won't get the same courtesies if they're found at another: They will be expelled without a three-day grace period and won't be allowed to retrieve their belongings. Harris called those provisions inhumane and punitive.

City officials have estimated that between 100 and 300 people live in roughly 25 camps around Seattle. Two weeks ago, the city swept through several squatters camps in a stretch of city parkland on the west slope of lower Queen Anne Hill.

Some of the camps had apparently existed for years, and at least three dozen people were displaced — most leaving before the 72-hour notice expired. City workers hauled away 21 tons of belongings and rubbish, including syringes, mounds of alcoholic beverage containers and old mattresses.

Jack Makovsky, a 48-year-old construction worker, said he camped in Woodland Park for a few weeks after arriving in Seattle from Butte, Mont.

He stayed in a shelter one night, he said: "Bedbugs up the wall, crack addicts in the bathroom at 2 in the morning — I said, 'That's not me, man.' "

Makovsky said he now lives in an old Ford conversion van, which he often parks in Ballard. He said he works remodeling jobs steadily — making about $8.20 an hour, cash under the table — but would rather save up for a new tool kit than pay rent.

Harris said the city's offers of help for the displaced homeless campers are short in both substance and foresight.

While the city is funding the 20 additional shelter beds for those driven from the camps, 140 emergency-shelter beds available to the homeless every winter will fold up as milder weather arrives, Harris said: "It's a bit of a shell game."

According to Real Change and other homeless advocates, there are about 5,000 total shelter and transitional housing beds available in Seattle. Most of those are used by families. Harris said about 1,000 beds are available for single homeless men and women.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com.

Drew DeSilver: 206-464-3145 or ddesilver@seattletimes.com