Why do World Cup visitors receive a cleaned up and safer version of Seattle?

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is admittedly not a sports fan, yet the world’s largest soccer tournament will be her first major test. Specifically, the mayor’s evolving strategies on homelessness will be tested as 750,000 international visitors are expected in the region for the 2026 World Cup.

Seattle will host six matches as the 2026 World Cup takes place in 16 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico from June 11 through July 19 (Vancouver, British Columbia, will host seven matches as well). According to the tourism association Visit Seattle, the soccer tournament will generate $929 million in economic activity and create approximately $100 million in local and state tax revenue.

Wilson won the 2025 contest for mayor while touting a more progressive approach to city government than that of defeated incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell. Wilson’s homeless platform was centered on increasing the amount of emergency housing (promising 4,000 new units by the end of her term in 2029) and ending the city’s encampment sweep policies.

But it appears she has altered her approach as she has learned the nuances of being Seattle’s mayor, a change first displayed during her initial week in office when she approved a modified sweep of a rapidly growing encampment in Ballard.

This removal pleased Ballard’s community leaders and small business owners, but some of Wilson supporters questioned why she abandoned her promise of no encampment sweeps.

Mayor Wilson downplayed her policy reversal and stated that her team had worked hard to find shelter for the encampment residents. The mayor highlighted a woman and her three dogs, saying her staff had found her free shelter at the Interbay Tiny Home Village. The mayor was later embarrassed by the woman rejecting the tiny home due to growing black mold in the unit she was offered.

This woman wasn’t the only person to refuse the city’s offer to move into a tiny home village, as nearly all the residents packed up their belongings and moved two blocks down the road. One news report stated this new encampment is actually larger than the one the city had cleaned up.

Regardless of the problems uncovered in the Ballard encampment sweep, Mayor Wilson announced her plan to add 1,000 tiny home units by the end of 2026 as the first installment of the 4,000 units she has promised. More importantly, the mayor wanted 500 tiny homes completed and ready for tenants by June 1 – just days before the first World Cup match at Luman Field.

Reports have surfaced that the city will not meet the mayor’s deadline since the Seattle City Council has not to authorized the purchase of more tiny homes. Even if the council passed the ordinances in the next couple of weeks, the mayor’s office admits the earliest homes can be deployed is mid-July, weeks after World Cup visitors have left the city.

Meanwhile, there are multiple reports of more encampment sweeps in the city’s high tourist areas, most recently in Belltown and South Lake Union.

City taxpayers are upset that it took a major sports event to motivate city officials to clean up parks and sidewalks. Many of these encampments have been undisturbed for long periods of time and they have taken root in their locations. As soon as crews left, many people returned to set up their tents.

The homeless who repeatedly refuse help are termed “chronically homeless” or “service resistant.” Experts state that addiction and mental health reasons are behind why they refuse assistance. Many will likely never get off the streets. For some, recovery from their addictions through treatment is their only hope.  A 2024 Biden Administration report revealed that Washington has the highest number of chronic homeless in the country.

This is the second time in four years that city officials have cleaned up encampments near the stadiums and major hotels before a big event. In 2023, Mayor Bruce Harrell did the same thing before the Major League Baseball’s All-Star game.

While encampments are currently being removed from the city’s tourist areas, tents remain in several Seattle residential communities. In the Rainier Beach neighborhood, residents were promised that if a tiny house village was opened in their community, the city would prevent encampments from returning. Yet after the Southend Little Home Village was opened, a large homeless encampment has been allowed to grow just off Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Neighborhood leaders, upset by the broken promises, are calling for more accountability on the issue.

As the residents of Rainier Beach now know, there appears to be a double standard for how city officials remove encampments. Out-of-town sports fans can walk from their downtown hotel to Lumin Field without having to navigate around sidewalk encampments. But workers, who pay city taxes, have been fearful for years of working or shopping downtown because of the encampments, associated public drug use, and increased crimes (one reason why downtown has a record breaking 36% vacancy rate). Also, neighborhood residents wonder why their taxes are funding the clean-up of downtown, while large encampments are allowed to grow in their community.

While officials are working hard to conceal Seattle’s flaws to an international audience, the real test will come after the last visitor has left Seattle in early July. Candidate Wilson’s campaign rhetoric of banning encampment sweeps and building more tiny home villages are not the answer. However, the mayor’s willingness to experiment with a modified sweep in Ballard is a good sign that she is eager to listen to different approaches.

If Seattle officials believe we should clean up our city to impress a soccer fan from Tulsa, Oklahoma, then we should also keep it clean for the taxpayers from West Seattle, Lake City, Seward Park, and other places where encampments have taken root to become permanent. Seattle residents are paying the taxes; they should be able to receive the benefits.

Photo: Homeless encampment in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. April 2026. Photo by Change Washington.