Former site of large Kent homeless encampment remains empty

If the removal of a large homeless encampment along South 272nd Street on the West Hill continues to serve as an example, the city of Kent just might be making some progress with its new unlawful camping laws.

“It’s gone completely,” said Richard Brown, manager of The Village of Newport Apartments, during an Aug. 1 phone interview about an encampment next to the complex in the 2500 block of South 272nd Street, just west of Interstate 5 and the under construction Sound Transit Star Lake light rail station. “It’s been about a month or so. So far, there’s nothing. A clean-up crew cleared it and the people went with it.”

The encampment became a focus for city officials after Brown and about eight residents of the apartment complex testified at the June 6 Kent City Council meeting that something needed to be done. They complained about shootings, fires, drugs, vehicle thefts and generally feeling unsafe.

“It’s fantastic news,” Brown said. “At the meeting we expressed our concerns and it seems to have had an impact. …We’re absolutely thrilled the encampment is gone.”

An estimated 50 or more people lived at the camp, many in tents and others in cars and vans on the other side of a fence from the apartments, Brown said. He said the tents went deep into the nearby forest.

Apartment residents told the council the camp started small during the pandemic and then grew larger and larger.

Brown said he knows people often go somewhere else when kicked out of one encampment, but he hasn’t seen any new camps pop up in the South 272nd area.

The council late last year approved a new unlawful camping ordinance in an effort to combat the numerous homeless encampments around town on public and private property.

A three-officer special operations unit, under Kent Police Cmdr. Mike O’Reilly, focuses on the homeless encampments to try to get people the help they need and to remove camps. Two officers from the Neighborhood Response Team also support the unit.

Sgt. Andy Kelso, a member of the unit, said during a July 18 report to the council about the camping ban that the South 272nd Street encampment was on private property and adjoining city property. He said there was a delay to removing the encampment even before residents testified at the June council meeting.

“We were able to go in there post warnings and hold up contracts to be signed,” Kelso said. “If clean-up crews had been available, we would not have had a barrage of citizens here if contractors to clean up the site were ready to go. …Once contracts were signed, we were able to move very quickly to get it cleaned up.”

Sites are expected to be cleaned up quicker after the council on June 20 approved an $175,000 a year contract with Totem Logistics, of Auburn, to clean up waste from dumping and abandoned encampment sites when city staff is unavailable.

Under the new camping ban, camps on certain public properties can be removed immediately, such as portions of developed parks, recreational structures, picnic shelters, play fields, city-owned buildings, critical areas of water supply, streets and sidewalks.

In other public areas, 48-hour notice is given before removal of an encampment. Kelso said warnings are posted and police will serve as an escort for a contractor at a large site, if necessary, to tell people who are still there to grab their belongings and get going so the contractor can clean the site.

Service agencies, such as Union Gospel Mission and Catholic Community Services, will go along with officers to provide resources to the people who want it. Officers also can arrest someone for unlawful camping.

“We are still doing the same job prior to the (new) ordinance,” Kelso said. “The law provides clarity, if you don’t comply, here’s the result. …I don’t like to dance around issues, if you provide people good, clear information this allows us to do that and it’s the reason we are seeing some compliance, 48-hour notice. here’s resources, and if you come back, you can be arrested for unlawful camping.”

O’Reilly said people at the encampment are initially open to resources, but some decide they are not ready yet.

“Intervention shows somebody might be homeless and have drug or alcohol issues, but it takes one to two to 10 times before they’re ready,” O’Reilly said. “But the word gets out, and some look to avoid arrest if they agree to use resources and then change their mind later, that’s something we see.”

And if someone has mental health concerns and injuries, they might not be bookable in the city jail, which often is full and the mandatory bookings are for domestic violence and DUIs, O’Reilly said.

“But people are moving on when told the law,” O’Reilly said. “And if they have a warrant for their arrest, they go to jail.”

Kelso said numbers can be tough to track in response to a question from Councilmember Brenda Fincher.

“We are not seeing a ton of repeat customers at repeat locations,” Kelso said. “It’s not like in the past, with it tied into the ordinance, they are more accepting of shelter. We are looking for compliance, so we’re seeing less repeat customers, seeing less than a year ago.”

Councilmember Zandria Michaud recently went along with officers to encampment sites and came away impressed.

“We visited two encampment in two hours and I witnessed officers who were compassionate and professional,” Michaud said. “We had an FD Cares team, a firefighter and social worker, and everyone was treated well.”

Plenty of problem areas, however, still remain, including encampments along the Green River Trail and Interurban Trail.

“It’s staffing driven,” Kelso said. “If we get staffed up we can go back to what we had with the special operations unit with downtown bike patrols and the ability to be interactive and proactive in the downtown core and in hot spots. If we had better staffing in our area, we’d deploy bike officers out there.

“Right now, with myself and one officer (the second officer has been out with an injury) we have a hard time to keep up with calls for service from the public, parks, public works and other officers. …primarily it’s a manpower issue.”