Daily Action for Tuesday, May 24th, 2022
Last week, Mayor Bruce Harrell held a news conference where he spoke glowingly of a successful “intensive outreach” process that connected the unhoused residents of Woodland Park with transitional housing. When asked by the Seattle Times of the supposed success of this approach, Mayor Harrell and Deputy Mayor Washington nonetheless stated that it was not needed, because “we have regular shelter bed availability that can probably meet the needs on a regular basis.”
These are all outright lies. A staff member at a local shelter confirms that shelters absolutely do NOT have enough beds regularly. The city ended funding for hotels and shelters need to run at reduced capacity because of COVID.
Publicola reports that at the same news conference, Mayor Harrell is quoted as saying, “Under this administration, we don’t sweep. We don’t chase people out. We treat and we house.” This is another outright lie. Stop the Sweeps has been tracking sweeps and Mayor Harrell has been perpetrating sweeps of unhoused people several times each week. Seattle simply does not have enough tiny houses, enhanced shelters or other transitional housing to keep up with the unhoused people that are evicted in these sweeps.
We’ve said this many times before but since Mayor Harrell insists on continuing to sweep, we must tell him again that sweeps are ineffective, inhumane, and must be stopped. As Stop the Sweeps says: Sweeps do not move people out of homelessness, only temporarily out of sight.
ACTION: Email Mayor Bruce Harrell, Seattle City Council and the King
Mayor Bruce Harell: [email protected], (206) 684-4000
Deputy Mayor Washington: [email protected]
Seattle City Council: [email protected]
King County Regional Homeless Authority:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Script
Hello, my name is NAME and I live in Seattle. I am outraged that despite the CDC’s recommendations to NOT clear encampments during a global pandemic, your administration insists on continuing to clear encampments of unhoused communities. These are communities of people that have nowhere else to go. Sweeps not only do nothing to prevent homelessness, but they actively make the problem worse by breaking apart established communities. Mayor Harrell said last week at a news conference that “Under this administration, we don’t sweep. We don’t chase people out,” yet Stop the Sweeps has tracked multiple sweeps per week, sometimes multiple in a single day. Stop lying about the sweeps and actually DO something about them. Sweeps do not move people out of homelessness, only temporarily out of sight. STOP, STOP, STOP the sweeps.
Background
Action alert from Stop the Sweeps
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR3uLQhzsuju_HE3uKHfvl1cZVb0lMmSEWEj3dhCIrmJLDBlsI5_AsoxKkBsUdhoflF8w5wtz4rjyL1/pub
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd6AkMRl08g/
Publicola: “We Don’t Sweep,” Seattle Mayor Says as Sweeps Continue
https://publicola.com/2022/05/20/prosecutor-candidate-says-he-wont-participate-in-right-wing-event-city-employees-demand-action-on-hate-crimes-we-dont-sweep-seattle-mayor-says/
Seattle Times report on the Woodland Park sweep
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/officials-tout-outreach-success-at-seattles-woodland-park-mayor-bruce-harrell-promises-homelessness-plan-in-may/