Olympia homeless on notice to clear out

OLYMPIA — The city of Olympia plans to clean out homeless camps in city parks and along the Woodland Trail after receiving complaints from neighbors about zoning, sanitation and drug-abuse issues.

Lt. Bill Wilson said Olympia police have given residents of camps along the Woodland Trail about 30 days' notice that they need to move. He said they will be warned again before camps are cleared.

"We are just now starting the process that will invite the Police Department, the Parks Department, Community Planning and Development, possibly the Public Works Department to address the homeless encampments in our parks," Wilson said.

Camps have become larger and more visible, particularly along the Woodland Trail, a hike-bike trail that runs through Olympia and Lacey, and another hike-bike path, the Chehalis Western Trail. Many of the camps are on private property.

Some neighbors have brought their concerns to the Olympia City Council in the past couple of weeks.

"In the past year and a half, things have changed here dramatically," said Carol Rainwood, who lives a couple of blocks from the trail. "Camps are huge, built right off the trail, boldly claiming ownership of the woods. We cannot walk from Eastside Street to Frederick Street without seeing piles of sodden, left-behind clothing, sleeping bags and trash strewed on and next to the trail.

"I am no longer comfortable walking here alone," Rainwood said.

She said the city needs to address the situation before there's a confrontation between trail users and homeless people.

Her husband, Jim, suggested the city needs to go after landowners who allow illegal acts on their property, such as violations of sanitation, zoning and drug laws. He said some squatters have built shanties on properties.

"We have landowners that are allowing human waste to just be disposed of on their property," he said.

City Manager Steve Hall said the city plans to clear camps but was waiting until it conducted a count of homeless people in January. He said the plan is to move the camps from parks and trails in the next month.

"We, too, are concerned about confrontations, about accidental encounters, about safety and sanitation," Hall said.

The annual Thurston County Homeless Census, conducted by the city, found 1,082 homeless people in an initial tally. The number of unsheltered homeless people increased from 164 in 2009 to 344 in 2010, a 110 percent increase, according to the count.

Advocates for the homeless have said that moving people from camps doesn't solve the problem that they don't have a place to sleep at night.

"I think it's kind of a futile effort for the city," said Phil Owen, a volunteer host at Bread & Roses, a shelter for single women and families in Olympia. "What they're doing is reshuffling the problem."

Jack Horton, president of the Woodland Trail Greenway Association, which made the trail possible, agrees that the camps should be moved away from trails and parks, but he thinks a permanent camp needs to be offered as a solution.

But Owen said the solution is permanent housing, particularly rental subsidies that allow people to be placed immediately in existing housing.

Moving homeless people around doesn't work, he said.