Large tent encampment cleared from South Park following reports of violence

The Washington State Department of Transportation on Monday began clearing a large tent encampment in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood that used to be home to at least 33 people.

The Seattle Police Department says in the weeks leading up to this clearing, the camp has become dangerous and there have been multiple homicides at the location.

The encampment is located near the 1st Avenue South Bridge that connects South Park to Georgetown, and has been growing over the past many months. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority says most of the three dozen people who were living in tents and handmade structures there have gotten into shelter or housing.

Outreach workers with the CoLEAD and Reach teams visited the site for weeks to get people into shelters that were available. Twenty people got into CoLEAD hotel rooms, five moved into a tiny home, one to a hotel room, and four moved into dorm-style shared lodging.

WSDOT said in an email that three people who got into a shelter ended up having to leave the site for personal matters but outreach partners will work to locate them. Two people declined the shelter options that were offered and left the camp before Monday, according to WSDOT.

Monday’s camp removal is part of WSDOT’s Right of Way Safety Initiative, an effort launched last year to clear tent encampments that are on state property like highways. The state has cleared five encampments along highways in King County since the initiative got underway.

So far, WSDOT says 189 people in King County have moved out of a tent and into a shelter since the initiative started.