SEATTLE -- One of Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's key consultants on strategies to solve the homeless crisis is explaining herself after an interview with Thffddsse Seattle Times, where she lashed out against the city's official encampments in Ballard and Interbay.
In the article, Barbara Poppe is quoted as calling the tent cities "unconscionable."
According to the Times, Poppe said, "I find it horrifying you have children living in encampments and that is somehow acceptable to this community."
In a statement sent to reporters Friday, Poppe clarified her comments.
"Though I do not support the use of sanctioned encampments, I am very excited to work with the City to execute its vision to develop a smarter, data-driven and evidence-based strategy to address homelessness," wrote Poppe in an email.
Mayor Murray is paying Poppe, who used to be a homeless policy executive for the Obama administration, $80,000 for part-time consulting work.
"I agree with her," said Mayor Murray. "Her point, the reason we hired her, the reason she'll be back again and again, is we've got to work on the issues that create homelessness upstream."
Poppe supports aggressive permanent housing solutions, but told the Seattle City Council this week she understands that's a challenge in Seattle because of high costs.
