(The Center Square ) – A Seattle City Council committee on Wednesday approved Mayor Katie Wilson’s plan to expand tiny home villages for the city’s homeless population.
The plan could almost double the 600 beds in 15 tiny home villages while also creating new villages.
The approval by the committee came as legislators put guardrails on Wilson’s plan to build 4,000 new units of housing for the homeless in the next four years.
Some tiny home villages have led to complaints from nearby residents about drug addicts occupying some of the units and an increase in neighborhood crime.
The revised housing plan approved Wednesday will require shelter operators to implement public safety programs to prevent crime and establish community councils made up of local residents to monitor whether the shelter is responsive to community concerns.
“I believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that the rollout of this expansion is well planned and has clear communication with the public,” said Councilmember Dionne Foster.
“I believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that our shelter locations are well-staffed,” she added.
Another part of the plan includes requiring shelters with more than 100 beds to be staffed with two employees 24 hours a day and mandating a 1-to-15 ratio of case managers to residents for residents of facilities with high needs.
“I think there’s board alignment on the desire to see this done right, to meet all of our community,” said Councilman Eddie Lin.
But Lin said the council needs to be ready to pivot if certain aspects of the homeless housing program don’t work or need to be changed.
Andrea Suarez, executive director of the community organization We Heart Seattle, said the problem with the guiderails approved by the city council to ensure accountability of tiny village operators is that they don’t have any teeth.
Suarez said there is no penalty in the city council resolution for not following the rules, such as providers not having a plan to prevent crime.
She said the ultimate issue is that tiny home villages are low-barrier shelters, meaning they are open to anyone, and don’t have rules prohibiting the use of drugs in the tiny apartments.
“There’s no requirement to get off drugs and drugs aren’t free, so the neighborhoods are impacted by crime,” she said.
The entire Seattle City Council is expected to approve the Wilson homeless plan later this month.
