SEATTLE — Gov. Jay Inslee visited the Myers Way homeless encampment on Monday and highlighted the work of the Right of Way Safety Initiative.
He was guided through the encampment by WSDOT and outreach workers. The latter spent months getting to know the people living there and building relationships. That slow, personal work is why 30 out of 36 people accepted help to move into safer, more stable housing.
On the tour, Inslee thanked the outreach and WSDOT workers who've spent over 1,000 hours working at the sprawling encampment. It was a high-priority encampment for the state to address because of its location: dangerously close to State Route 509.
The money used to clean up the encampment came from the state's Right of Way Safety Initiative. The governor showcased the success they've seen across the state because of the initiative.
"Not only are we closing these encampments, we're getting people into healthy housing," Inslee said. "Over 800 people have now found better housing situations thanks to our investment."
Multiple encampments have been cleared, including Camp Hope, which used to have 600 people living there. Pasadena up north and Michigan Avenue encampments are also gone.
State lawmakers allocated $143 million for the program in 2022. It focuses on cleaning encampments along highways and providing those living there access to social services.
Despite this progress, there's concern people may try to come back to the site.
"It's been a long time and it's happened too many times," Diane Radischat, who lives in a senior community near the site, said. Radischat has been featured in several KING 5 stories about the Myers Way encampment. She's frustrated the encampment was allowed to grow despite her frequent calls to WSDOT.
In the months since her complaints, someone was killed in the encampment. There was also an RV fire along with numerous 911 calls for other issues believed to have originated from the encampment. Radischat thinks all of it could have been prevented if state leaders had acted sooner. However, she's remaining hopeful and is happy to see WSDOT following through on the promise made to her and other residents of SHAG Arrowhead Gardens.
"It's not sufficient to merely relocate people from one corner to another. That doesn't solve the problem," Governor Inslee said. "We are tackling the root causes to establish long-term solutions to homelessness in encampments across the state of Washington."
The governor did note legislators will have to allocate more money in the upcoming session to continue addressing the homeless encampments across the state.
Several RVs, a boat and other vehicles remain on the site. WSDOT plans to remove them as soon as they are allowed under state law. According to James Poling with the agency, an effort will be made to contact the owners of the vehicle using the VIN. If the owner is contacted, they will have a minimum of 15 days to claim their vehicle. WSDOT will only be allowed to start moving vehicles after the state law has been followed.