While public opposition has been shown to the location of the city-designated Ballard encampment, community leaders in Seattle neighborhood Yesler Terrace want to see a city-regulated place for their homeless residents.
According to a KING-TV report last Friday, some in Yesler believe that recurring problems with homeless people living along I-5 could be solved with a safe, regulated camp.
Yesler Terrace Community Council member Kristin O’Donnell represents those searching for a better way to prevent fights and shootings surrounding the homeless population in the area. Exampling this concern, back in March a woman was shot and killed while inside a tent in the Yesler Terrace neighborhood.
Most of the homeless in Yesler Terrace live on Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) property so the city says their hands are tied as they cannot regulate the current resident-made camps.
If a camp was to be city-sponsored in Yesler, the land would have to be donated unlike the city-owned preferred plots including 2826 NW Market Street.
