Mayor Katie Wilson gave the go ahead for a planned sweep of a Ballard encampment to continue in a closely watched policy test for her young administration.
In January, Wilson paused the clean-up near NW 41st St and the Burke-Gilman Trail as she issued an executive order on homelessness and shelter hoped to speed better solutions for the city’s crisis.
This week, Wilson said it is time for the clearance to move forward after city services were able to connect additional people to shelter and housing before the removal.
“However, we weren’t able to find places for everyone. Significant safety hazards have been identified at this site, and notice will soon be posted for the site to be cleared in the next 48 hours,” Wilson said in the update from her office on the situation this week. “This is not an ideal outcome, but I believe that moving forward to clear this encampment is the right step at this time.”
Wilson said her office will also be doing more to shape the Unified Care Team charged with tracking and executing clearances and make sure “best practices” are followed, “including conducting early outreach to people living on-site prior to any posting of a removal, allowing flexibility when housing placements are imminent, and prioritizing responses based on neighborhood impact and public safety concerns.”
The mayor said she is also asking UCT staff for recommendations “to improve our processes to achieve better outcomes for people living unsheltered.”
Wilson said one of the main thrusts of her executive order will continue with a push to create 1,000 new units of shelter or emergency housing this year.
Wilson’s homelessness executive order is hoped to speed up the creation of new shelter and affordable housing with a new “interdepartmental team” tasked with identifying “options for financial incentives, permitting changes, and other policy changes.”
The order also calls for the process to identify city-owned public land “and other public lands” which could be used to site new emergency shelter and housing.
According to the order, the team is planned to complete its recommendations by March.
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