(The Center Square) – Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is accelerating her plan to find interim housing for the homeless with a new goal of getting 500 residents off the streets before the June 15 start of The FIFA World Cup at Lumen Field.
Wilson had announced a plan on March 4 to create 1,000 shelter beds for the unhoused by the end of the year.
But on Monday administration officials presented to the city council an emergency plan that would create 500 shelter beds before the start of the first World Cup Game.
“We’re looking to accelerate this progress with the first 500 units, with a very ambitious goal of trying to open them before the World Cup, which would be the end of May,” said Jon Grant, a senior policy advisor for the mayor. “We know this is a stretch goal and our hope is to open as many of these units as soon as possible.”
Estimates are that the six games of the FIFA World Cup in Seattle could attract as many as 750,00 visitors.
Wilson ran as a progressive and socialist in last year’s mayoral elections, with a major goal of finding housing for the homeless. Still, tourism is a driver of the city’s economy, visitors stay in hotels and eat in restaurants, bringing revenue to the city and its businesses.
City officials and downtown business and tourism officials want to present a positive face of Seattle without the homeless encampments that have become a fabric of the city.
The latest estimate last year from the King County Regional Homeless Authority shows more than 4,000 persons living in the streets, with a large concentration in downtown Seattle and parks.
Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, is just a mile south of downtown.
City officials didn’t talk Monday about creating an environment where the homeless are not seen during the soccer matches. But a slide in a power point presentation they showed to council members also made the message clear.
“Seattle is entering a period of major activity from a busy summer season to FIFA 2026,” it said.
“We must accelerate shelter expansion for more people to have a safe place indoors, ” the next paragraph read.
The summer, with its usually pleasant weather, is a popular time to visit Seattle. Increasingly Seattle has also become a major cruise port for Alaskan cruises during the summer months.
Grant told the city council that the Wilson administration is looking to quickly build several tiny home villages or rent out entire apartment buildings for the homeless. He said neighborhood association will be notified of the sites scheduled for their communities in the next several weeks.
Grant said community hearings will be held before the city decides on approving the sites.
Critics have called the tiny home villages in Seattle “shantytowns” because of the basic nature of the 120 feet structures. They offer community bathrooms and kitchens. But proponents have argued that they are better than tents.
More than a dozen such villages operate in Seattle.
Andrea Suarez, executive director of community organization We Heart Seattle, said in an interview that the villages will provide more housing for the homeless, which is a positive thing.
But she said that the offered social service and mental health services at the tiny home villages aren’t mandatory, meaning that loitering and drug addicts shooting up in the streets can remain issues.
“We’re talking in part about a service-resistant population,” she said,
Grant told the city council that their approval won’t be needed for the initial 500 units of shelter housing.
He said the council, however, would need to approve later the $17 million plan for the second trench of 500 more beds for the homeless.
Grant said that’s because the city will be asking the council to increase the limit of persons allowed under Seattle law to live in a tiny village or other shelter from 100 to 150 beds.
Grant said the 100 person limit is too small and that larger tiny villages have operated in other cities in the U.S. without problems.
