RantWoman here posts almost verbatim the article from the UFM newsletter about the Forum on People living Unhoused in the U District. RantWoman is DEEPLY grateful for the detail of these notes and for how well they capture key points that RantWoman would have to fish out replaying the video. There is a link to the video RantWoman mentioned in her earlier post. RantWoman will offer additional comments and questions below the text of the article.
Notes from Forum at UFM on People Living Unhoused in the U District.
Over twenty-five members of the UFM community gathered with
six panelists on Saturday, March 6, to learn about the presence and needs of unhoused
neighbors on our campus and in our community.
First, our lifelong member Merlin Rainwater gave this historyof
UFM’s relationship with houseless people: In the mid 1990s, UFM became aware of
a group of people camping under the eaves of our building. Our caretaker at the
time, Luke Painter, was an advocate and friend to this community and
comfortable with setting behavioral boundaries.
Luke left in 2002. In 2003, UFM released our member Larry Gaffin
for a ministry of accompaniment with homeless people. We also set up a portable
toilet for campers and established a
hygiene center for some days when showers, laundry and haircuts were available.
By 2006, the encampment had become hazardous and UFM decided in business meeting that we would no
longer allow camping on our grounds. We established a Committee on Homelessness
to explore other ways of responding to the needs of unsheltered neighbors. This
committee then worked with the
SHARE-WHEEL organization to host a self-managed shelter in the worship room.
Meeting reviewed and renewed this
relationship every 6 months for the next 9 years, until SHARE-WHEEL closed its
church-based shelters in 2016.
In 2017, UFM welcomed Operation Nightwatch to manage a shelter
for 50 men in the old AFSC offices, and Facing Homelessness to serve people at
its Window of Kindness, using our old childcare space. Operation Nightwatch has
left due to the pandemic; Facing Homelessness continues its presence.
We heard next from the following people:
Cruz Valentin
Our current caretaker, who took that job after four years of
knowing UFM as a SHARE member
Cruz sees the strain in the U District of the loss of the 50
Nightwatch beds on our campus as more people look for places to camp. He offers
agency and shelter phone numbers, and water when he has some, to people who
come onto our campus. Most unhoused people respect his statement of UFM’s
no-camping policy. He calls David Delgado when an interaction becomes difficult.
Cruz would like to see UFM interact more with U District business and property
owners, in hopes of increasing understanding of the humanity of people who are
unsheltered.
Raven Crowfoot
An Apache tribal member, advocate and activist who has lived
on the streets for the past 17 years
Dee Powers
An advocate and activist who has lived in a motorhome since
being priced out of an apartment in 2015; Dee also slept at UFM for two weeks
in 1996 when their parents kicked them out for being gay
Raven and Dee both encouraged us to get to know unsheltered
neighbors as individuals. Find out what people are good at, Raven urged,
remember that each person is someone’s mother, son or loved one. We are your
neighbors, said Dee, and you are much closer to homelessness than to being Jeff
Bezos. Raven suggested that unhoused people might get keys to foreclosed homes
that are sitting empty. Both Dee and Raven addressed the question of the
language used about homelessness vs houselessness. Raven said “the” is a
problem, identifying a group as “the homeless” others people who are having the
experience of living without shelter and othering is like racism. Othering,
with a “the,” implies that some people are better than others. Dee reminded us
that homelessness is an experience, not an identity.
Dee offered that folks could contact them on Facebook or by email
dee@beseattle.com
if we have more questions. They also addressed the need of
houseless people for drinkable water, especially in the summer. If anyone is refilling
plastic milk jugs with tap water, we should be sure to label them as tap water
to not harm those who need distilled water for medical or drug use. Having a
shower would also be very helpful.
David Delgado
An outreach social worker with Evergreen Treatment Services David
talked about the greater need for “low-income housing” vs “affordable” housing,
because people he works with cannot access housing that is classified as
affordable. “Affordable” housing is still way too expensive. Many people who
are currently unsheltered need permanently supportive housing, which includes
social services. This is in very short supply in Seattle. David also expressed
frustration with SPD and the sweeps, which are materially costly and break
relationships with support services. His experiences with SPD overall have not
been good. Officers often don’t recognize him as a professional outreach
worker, especially when he looks homeless.
The Law Enforcement Diversion group is a special group that
wants to help, but they still don’t have the experience and expertise to deal
with mental health issues. Since the George Floyd protests started, the Seattle
police have exhibited an “anti-social-worker” attitude, not cooperating much
with David and his colleagues. On the other hand, there are three officers of
the University of Washington PD who have been more receptive to David’s
suggestions. He has a list of businesses that used to call the police, but now
call him instead. He can solve many situations by offering a cup of coffee. David
had asked for a meeting with UFM to talk about ways we might support his work,
which directly supports our campus. He said there are four things churches
might do: direct service (providing food and shelter), working with community partners
(taking care that we evaluate the qualifications, attitudes and impact of any
groups we might support), advocacy, and education. He recommended Seattle
Mutual Aid as a possible partner.
He noted that, since the pandemic began, only business and property
owners attend meetings of the University District Partnership Clean and Safe
committee and suggests this could be a place for UFM to step up. [We have since
learned that UFM is a dues paying member of the University District Business
Improvement Area, of which the U District Partnership is the Program Manager.
Thus we could have a significant impact there.] Those partners have different
motivations than UFM people, so our voice would help advocate for the houseless.
Their solution is to hire security guards to make homeless people feel
uncomfortable.
Education is another area where help is needed. Other organizations,
especially of property owners, in the area are spreading hate speech about the homeless.
The only solution to homelessness is housing. He told us, “A small church can
have a big voice,” and urged us to find ours.
Karina Wallace
Staff at the Window of Kindness
Karina has seen the numbers of people who come to the Window
of Kindness increase from seven to ten each time it is open to 40 or more since
the pandemic began. Facing Homelessness has not had volunteers at the window
during the pandemic because of the small space available but may be able to add
a third window soon.
UFM volunteers might be able to organize supplies. Friends could donate snacks and water (mark as tap water if not distilled) to be given out at the Window; At least one member of the UFM community does this regularly. Liana, our QuEST fellow, suggested sandwiches, oatmeal, chips and snacks as useful offerings. To volunteer or donate, Friends can email Karina at
karina@facinghomelessness.org
Facing Homelessness has a donated sink that could be installed for handwashing. Karina wishes they could offer a day center with hygiene services.
Liana Kostak A QuEST fellow who works with Facing Homelessness Liana spoke about the Facing Homelessness Block Project, which provides permanent housing in 125 square foot houses in neighborhood backyards. Stable housing is often only one of the needs of currently unhoused folks, and her work with the Block Project includes wraparound services. She also noted that living on campus has been “peaceful,” and attributed that to Cruz’s efforts and UFM’s patience and tolerance.In response to a question about issues for lobbying David, Raven and Dee all said that Seattle needs to stop sweeping encampments. Dee pointed out that any of us can attend a City Council meeting and sign up to give comments; they said that we need to divorce law enforcement and out-reach to people who are unsheltered. Raven noted the waste of resources in sweeps, for instance, people lose tents that have been donated. Sweeps undo David’s work in building relation-ships with people, work that moves them towards housing. Da-vid and Dee both said that, while the visibility of unsheltered neighbors makes housed people uncomfortable, we need to see the housing crisis, not move it out of sight. Dee and David also cautioned against supporting people or groups that value “parks over people.” These groups may use euphemistic names like “Safe Seattle” or “We Heart Seattle,” but act in ways that are harmful to our unhoused neighbors.
Final suggestions• Cruz: Influence business and property
owners to under-stand the situation.• David: Find the place in the U District
where your voice will have the most impact.• Raven: Don’t judge people by their
appearance; get to know them.• Dee: We all need to learn to say “Yes” a little
more, choose tolisten. Avoid those “helpers” who focus on the garbage in the
parks. • Karina: “Just say hello”: support Facing Homelessness’s campaign to
humanize homelessness. Be supportive however you can, establish relationships. •
Liana: mindset, keep listening, change the narrative around unhoused people.
Advocacy groups, legislation.The forum organizing committee thanks Katherine
Spinner for taking notes! Video of the event is available for viewing on Vimeo.
Questions that we didn’t get to:• How could we use our
space? A place to sleep? Hygiene? Laundry services? Storage?• What have David
Delgado’s experiences with the North Precinct Community Police Team been?•
Could Facing Homelessness use grant writing support?• Where did the U-District
“Clean & Safe” group come from?
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