Representatives of the homeless encampment nonprofit SHARE/WHEEL say they’ve reached a deal with King County and the City of Seattle that will allow them to reopen their network of 15 homeless shelters beginning Monday.
The organization, which receives city funding to operate basic shelters in church basements and other buildings, shuttered their shelters in March after announcing they were $75,000 in debt. At the time, the organization blamed decreased county funding for their financial troubles, arguing the money they received from the city was not enough to cover their costs. But city officials said the organization’s $611,000 contract with the City of Seattle was in fact enough to shelter 250 people.
After SHARE closed its shelters, more than 200 people formed the Tent City 6 encampment in the plaza outside of the King County Administration building in protest of the county funding cuts. The encampment became “the elephant in the room,” said Clint Crowder, a SHARE board member.
“Without shelter, people die,” said Crowder. “When we closed the indoor shelters, we were able to stay together and stay safe and bring in new community members. We had as many as 243 people a night. … When it began, we didn’t know it would be this long, [but] we had a successful protest and the county accommodated us.”
SHARE representatives say they’ll be able to reopen the shelters thanks to a new partnership with Catholic Community Services of Western Washington (CCS) and the Church Council of Greater Seattle. CCS will serve as SHARE’s financial trustee and manage its existing contracts with the county and city. The organization will disperse those funds to SHARE as needed.
The remainder of SHARE’s 2016 contract with the City of Seattle—about $328,000—is being transferred to CCS. CCS will also receive an additional $50,000 from the county, according to one SHARE official who described that new money as the “missing piece” of funding SHARE needed to reopen its shelters. The Stranger was not able to immediately reach county officials for comment. The city’s Human Services Department confirmed by email that it has entered into a contract with CCS to oversee the SHARE contract and expects 200 shelter beds to open Monday.
In addition to the new involvement of CCS and the Church Council, the Low Income Housing Institute will provide SHARE residents with volunteer caseworkers through 2017.
During the five-month protest at Tent City 6, SHARE representatives say the organization received about $45,000 in donations, but that wasn’t enough to pull them out of the weeds. While that money helped pay off some of their $75,000 debt, much of it went toward operating the nonprofit’s other tent encampments. The organization remains in about $40,000 in debt.
So far, the new county money has helped SHARE purchase $19,000 worth of bus tickets and sleeping mats for their homeless residents. It has also helped pay for necessary amenities like porta-potties for their shelters. This fall, SHARE officials plan to apply for more county funding designated for homeless service providers. The organization has been denied that for the last three years, Crowder said.
As the indoor shelters reopen, SHARE plans to close and clean up Tent City 6 and another pop-up encampment on Goat Hill at 5th Avenue and Jefferson Street.
“We have achieved this socially progressive victory while maintaining the ideals of security, safety, human dignity and democracy of the homeless community,” SHARE officials wrote in a press release. “We would like to thank the community at large for their generous moral, financial, and physical support during this most difficult time.”
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