(Image: CHS)
The Seattle City Council is expected to finalize and approve legislation Tuesday afternoon to clear the way for larger Tiny House Villages in the city as part of efforts to speed the creation of new temporary shelter in Seattle.
The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections is recommending the council pass the legislation part of Mayor Katie Wilson’s plan for “Shelter Acceleration” in the city that will raise legal limits on residents at “transitional encampments” to 150. The bill will also allow one “interim use” 250-resident village in the city.
Several proposed amendments were rejected in committee. One brought to the table by council president and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth on behalf of Councilmember Maritza Rivera would have restricted larger Tiny House Villages in the city from being placed near parks and schools, putting the proposed emergency shelters in the same category as pot shops and strip clubs.
Tuesday, the full body will consider additions from the council including an amendment that will require operators to provide trained security staff overnight for encampments of more than 100 occupants. Another would require that operators of new or expanded encampments “with more than 100 micro-modular structures or vehicle shelter units be divided into neighborhoods of no greater than 50 shelter units.”
A third proposed amendment is a bit of a catch-all revision to the Hollingsworth-Rivera proposal. The new proposed amendment would “provide authority for the City to negotiate additional operating requirements for shelter near existing transitional encampments and schools.”
According to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections recommendation, the mayor’s plan would create more than 500 new beds across the city’s existing Tiny House Villages.
On Capitol Hill, CHS reported on plans for a new 32-house tiny village on Belmont Ave are not part of the plan for expanded, 100+ resident villages. The Low Income Housing Institute will operate the planned Capitol Hill village.
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