An Overdose Death at the Broadview-Thomson Homeless Encampment
There is a group called “We Heart Seattle”, led by Andrea Suarez, who have been very good at working with the homeless.
Andrea reports on their Facebook page that a man named Nicholas Bjarnson overdosed at the encampment next to Broadview-Thomson K-8 on May 28th. He was 35 years old.
In her posts, Ms. Suarez seems unhappy with “turf wars” and said, “Keeping people, especially addicts, comfortable in parks, on schoolyards or anywhere until they are ready is nothing short of assisted suicide. Please wake up Seattle.”
We Heart Seattle’s mission statement:
- We Heart Seattle is a grassroots coalition of people who believe we must act to better protect people, parks, and our shared environment. Through our direct civic engagement we lead the way to a more compassionate and healthy community.
To meet these goals, we:
- Create a sense of community by welcoming everyone to be involved in real civic engagement
- Build a network of people who no longer walk by neighbors in need and areas needing repair while expecting someone else to help
- Utilize all available safe housing, shelters, and treatment facilities for anyone who is readyHouse our neighbors quickly without the typical restrictions, delays and inefficiency that has kept many on the streets
- Clean litter and eradicate graffitiDevelop great partnerships with like-minded stakeholders
- Work cooperatively with city and county employees and leaders
Comments
At this point, I applaud anyone who steps away from their keyboard to be productive IRL, and moves the conversation in a positive direction. Thank you Andrea!
Balancing Test
We Heart Seattle had this to say: "And I'm shocked to say...how are we allowing this to happen and allowing people, in my opinion, to slowly die rather than empowering them to make a decision to live. By letting people camp there without the right resources in unsanctioned, un-serviced grounds, on school grounds is nothing short, IMO, of a slow form of suicide that we're allowing as a community, as a city, as leaders."
I don't see the district effectively managing or removing this encampment from Seattle Public School property. I expect the encampment will be there for a very long time.
Reader
Check out 9th circuit court rulings on homelessness. It’s been ruled unconstitutional to penalize people for having bodies and taking up space, so the ‘Seattle approach’ is beyond Seattle. Until the Supreme Court rules otherwise, camps can only be cleared when the camper is offered an alternative. I don’t think your comparison of Seattle to E Coast cities is apples to apples.
Balancing Test
Reader
Helen Schinske
There are major differences in approaches, services etc. between cities within WA state, which is one reason why Seattle draws more homeless. Most became homeless in another part of the county or state prior to coming to Seattle. There are also major differences between states, which is why Seattle has such a visible homeless population. Each state has different laws, social services and medical policies, and other conditions which influence the number of homeless persons, and what services are available to homeless people in each state. WA has the homestead act that allows campers. There are ideological differences definitely as to why this is the case, with WA being more libertarian. E Coast states with a long history of densely populated cities have a different history. NY state had provided a constitutional right to shelter since the early 80's that greatly reduces the number of visibly homeless.
Reader
The best strategy for district leadership, given its goal of city-wide policy change, is to leave the campers exactly where they are at so they are an irritant and draw attention to the district's cause.
The unfortunate reality is that this is now a political game and district leadership is using kids and families as pawns.
Here is the problem with Chandra Hampson, DeWolf and Rankin's demand: The city is dealing with thousands of homeless and services might need to be triaged.
What is stopping more people from moving onto district property?
SM