An emergency order was issued to close an encampment after last week’s explosion. Police reports said it may have been the result of multiple bombs being detonated during an ongoing feud for control of the encampment. On Friday, work employees cleared several truckloads of trash from the camp along I-5 close to Harborview Medical Center.
The homeless site of the explosion last week won’t be completely cleared up and restored until next week, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). Fencing was put up by workers to further secure the camp. It was broken into late Thursday night, less than an hour after the first day of cleanup work there was over.
WSDOT issued an emergency order to close the camp. Emergency orders to disperse an encampment, according to WSDOT’s James Poling, are “extremely rare.” The news about the homelessness crisis and residents complaints have put pressure on WSDOT to act more quickly to remove further encampments from the freeway. It took the state several months to remove a camp on I-5 in Seattle that was the scene of drug use, gun violence, and the trafficking of stolen goods.
Closing camps require services for those that were in the camp. In order to provide homes for those who live alongside freeways in King County, the state has given King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) $50 million. This is a positive step. According to KCRHA, 280 housing and shelter units have already been made possible by those funding.
“We will continue to partner with the city and law enforcement on this site, as we do to some degree on every encampment on our right of way within the city. We rely on law enforcement partners to take appropriate action to address criminal activity,” said WSDOT spokesperson James Polling.
