Patty Fong
Patty Fong
The King County Department of Community and Human Services plans to spend $66.5 million to build a 24/7 homeless shelter in the Chinatown International District (CID) that will house more than 500 people in an area already severely affected by COVID-19. Popular and troubled, anti-Asian violence and crime, drug addiction, tent camps, homelessness and small business closures and exiles.
I know what it’s like to have a “quick” like this near your house. The City of Seattle approved a homeless shelter near me without reasonable, timely community notification or a clear engagement plan, but only after the contract was awarded.
The CID and Little Saigon experienced the devastating consequences of the low-barrier shelter, the DESC Navigation Center—the city withered. The notorious and long-standing open-air drug and booty market at 12th Street and Jackson is the most egregious example. Despite a pleasant, superficial, symbolic visit by the King County Executive, it took months to shake off. The event has since moved across the street, and users and dealers have taken over all bus stops in the area, just a few blocks from the navigation center. The Seattle Police Department whack-a-mole, but the real mole is the center of navigation.
Before it was placed here, there was no urban blight. To this day, we don’t know if the Navigation Center adheres to the city’s Neighborhood Policy or any other required accountability. The city and King County subways can barely provide safe streets and unobstructed bus stops here.
Others surrounding homeless shelters can be found at the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC), Glen Hotel Apartments (operated by the Low Income Housing Institute), and the Morrison Hotel on Third Avenue (operated by DESC) An example of urban blight. Glen Hotel Apartments used to have TJ Maxx, Steak ‘n Shake and Starbucks as neighbors. They all went out of business, and the notorious open-air bootleg and drug trade, as well as brazen drug use, flourished there for months without city council or police action.
Did you see the pattern? Urban blight around homeless shelter services, lack of city/county attention/safety, loss of businesses and residents.
The city and county have selected CID as the beneficiary of another homeless housing social experiment. They know they can get away with it because the community is politically powerless, the city is indifferent, and because the county doesn’t meaningfully engage the community — as the white affluent community demands — with not only informed or superficial meetings, but failures to pass Detailed, transparent oversight, accountability, and a good neighbor plan to take into account community considerations and concerns (Good Neighbor Agreement, 2019, the City of Seattle, which the county is also obligated to abide by). Buying is the key here, why shouldn’t it?
Without considering the impact on already struggling immigrant communities of color, and without involving community leaders in meaningful, committed planning, oversight, and transparency and accountability mechanisms, counties and cities have reduced CID to an incompetent, politically Convenient dumpsite homeless social services, undesirable but more strongly resisted by other communities, are harmful not only to CIDs, but to potential shelter residents as well.
The county clearly has no plans, no accountability, no transparency, and no worries, only in CID they can get away with it!
The bad reputation and concerns of homeless shelters are not unfounded, but blamed on service providers and their funders rather than community residents and business owners as a matter of course.
Projects like this need at least a formal community oversight committee that provides participants with stipends to monitor outcomes and ensure accountability, accountability, and responsiveness to historically sound community issues, particularly public safety issues. LIHI provides property on Third Avenue as a police station. NYC should consider this for CID. Mitigations are in order here, such as city support for public safety and support for small businesses.
What is the detailed plan of the King County Department of Community and Human Services for this homeless shelter? Is it submitted to community leaders and the public for review and comment like an environmental impact statement? If so, how long is the review and comment period? Have other sites been considered, and if so, where or why not? Are there plans for community monitoring, engagement and communication? Should shelters comply with city regulations regarding hygiene, health, and public safety, and do they exist? What assurances does the county provide to be accountable to CIDs and taxpayers under New York City’s 2019 Good Neighbor Agreement? Can an understaffed and underfunded police department keep CIDs safe and law-abiding?
Cities and counties must consider the detrimental impact of the DESC Navigation Center on CID and Little Saigon residents, business owners and visitors, as well as the already disproportionate burden on CID’s DESC and LIHI projects along Jackson’s line. Also, unfortunately, the evidence points to negative consequences along Third Avenue.
If cities and counties fail to document and guarantee not only the expected safety rights of community members, but also the right to shelter for residents and funders, counties should halt or suspend their programs until sufficient time is agreed and allow for better, fairer, and equitable planning and participation. We also have rights and we demand respect, listening and inclusion!
That said, the location of this 500-person low-barrier shelter in the CID was not appropriate. Remember, Sound Transit also wants a block of historic Chinatown. Thousands of deaths are happening, and I urge the people of Seattle to stand up for the Asian American community.
Failure to do so would be a shocking indication of anti-Asian and immigrant racism, and would certainly hasten the continued and inevitable demise of Seattle’s only immigrant community.
