When tasked with a long, difficult undertaking it’s important to celebrate the victories when they happen. King County’s decision to nix a planned homeless megaplex in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID) represents an unexpected and important success for sound homelessness policy, public safety, and common-sense governance.

As we’ve written on repeatedly, this entire project was thoroughly flawed from the get-go. As Discovery Institute reporter Jonathan Choe has extensively documented, it was proposed after little to no outreach had been done CID communities, which has been the modus operandi for regional and local officials. There were numerous concerns about public safety and accountability regarding who would manage what parts of the programs offered. In a recent video, independent journalist Brandi Kruse recalls efforts by elected officials to also avoid accountability from both the public and watchdog media.

According to Choe, County Councilmember Reagan Dunn played a significant role helping CID residents “navigate the negotiations,” but all of you who reached out to the county also made this outcome possible.

Nevertheless, we can’t let our guard down or act like this has settled the issue once and for all. It’s not over yet.

Here’s why.

In a press release statement, King County Executive Dow Constantine wrote the following (bold emphasis added).

“Over the past six weeks, community members have shared their feedback about the current state of public safety and other concerns in the Chinatown-International District and surrounding neighborhoods. It is clear that building trust and resolving underlying concerns about the conditions in the community today will take considerable time before we can move forward with any added service capacity. At the same time, the crisis of homelessness — and the health of every person living outside — requires urgent and immediate action. Recognizing these competing tensions, it is incumbent on King County to change course so we can utilize term-limited, one-time federal funding and invest in actionable projects in the months ahead. None of these problems will be solved without building more housing and safe, dignified shelter, and we will continue to seek out opportunities in every part of the region to bring more of our neighbors inside.”

In other words, this merely represents a pause or delay by the county. They eventually intend at some point to put up another shelter like it somewhere. This means we must remain vigilant in monitoring the county’s activities around issues like homelessness.

Make Your Voice Heard!

Contact County Executive Dow Constantine and the entire King County Council and tell them the county needs a standardized community outreach process for any future homeless shelters!

Contact Councilmember Reagan Dunn and tell him you support his work with CID residents on the homeless megaplex.

It’s clear Constantine and others involved were totally unprepared for the immense blowback they received. They may have expected small ineffective protests, but not strong resistance that would throw a wrench in their plans. But as time went on it became clear that opposition would only intensify.

However, it would be a terrible error to let the momentum from this dissipate, as if the issue has been fully resolved. The efforts by you and others reaching out to elected officials brought about change in this situation, and that advocacy must continue.

As one CID community advocate told Choe:

This is a good first start but the two biggest concerns that we have been advocating for have not been addressed: Public safety for everyone, including the unhoused, as well as community outreach and engagement plan.

Moving forward the county and cities like Seattle need a standardized community outreach and engagement process for all proposed homeless shelters. That would ideally include:

• Preemptive community outreach during the proposal phase.
• A committee or work group composed of local residents who can speak to public safety concerns as the project is developed.
• A public safety plan made in collaboration with the local resident work group, the local police department and King County Sheriff’s Office, and county officials managing the shelter.
• Behavioral standards for those living in the shelter.
• Publicly distributed information on organizations involved in the shelter and their roles.
• Developing an emergency process to close the shelter in the event of increased crime, drug activity, or other problems negatively affecting quality of life.

In the meantime, communities throughout King County should look at putting together their own neighborhood groups that keep an eye on the county for any similar plans in their area that are being done without their input or involvement. If so, the group should have a plan in place to rally their neighbors and fight back, whether it’s protesting in public or speaking out during public comment at county or city council meetings.

It is important to keep in mind that this is not just about homelessness and public safety. This is about good governance, or the lack thereof. The chief cause of the CID protests wasn’t so much the shelter itself as it was how the county handled the whole matter. If it had been done correctly, concerns would have discussed and addressed beforehand, negating the need for people to hold rallies in order to have their voices heard.  

We can’t simply vote in a general election and then leave governing to those elected in the hopes they set the right public policies. Public scrutiny is necessary to either support or oppose elected so we’re not kept in the dark.

The outcome in CID shows what people can accomplish when they work together.

But make no mistake: there’s more work to do.

Contact Dow Constantine and the entire King County Council and tell them the county needs a standardized community outreach process for any future homeless shelters!

Contact Councilmember Reagan Dunn and tell him you support his work with CID residents on the homeless megaplex.