Burien city manager claims King County ‘created’ homeless encampment in the city

BURIEN, Wash. — The City Manager of Burien Adolfo Bailon claims in an email that King County officials have “created” an encampment of homeless people that has grown in the city.

The encampment is in the parking lot of the King County District Court with several dozen tents and people living inside. Today, KIRO 7 witnessed the installation of permanent fencing around the encampment, something Bailon claims proves the county is “establishing” the camp.

“My patience on this issue has now run out. I now demand from King County answers to the questions listed below.” Bailor said in the letter first reported by PubliCola.

He lists eight questions ranging from any outreach King County conducted in “establishing” the camp, what organizations it is considering to “manage” the camp, asking King County to address public health and safety issues, and questions about bathrooms, biohazards, assistance with a service provider.

“King County did not establish this encampment. I can only assume that individuals began camping on this property given they had no place else to go.” said Shannon Braddock, the King County Deputy Executive.

The lack of alternative places for people without a place to go, Cydney Moore says, is a product of the City’s own doing by creating zoning regulations that prevent shelters in certain areas, banning camping in public places, and not enforcing illegal dumping when rocks are dumped on sidewalks to prevent encampments.

“The city has continued chasing people around the city from patch of dirt to patch of grass to rubble of rocks and people have nowhere else to go.” said Moore, “So, by default they have sought the next spot where they can lay their head down at night and that happens to be by the courthouse on county property.”

Moore is the director of Burien Community Support Coalition and was formerly a Burien City Council member.

When asked for evidence King County created the camp, a Burien spokesperson pointed to the installation of a permanent fence around the tents and the County providing portable restrooms and handwashing stations as proof.

“Per my email to you on June 27...wherein you asked what we were doing for sanitation at that site, including asking if services could be made available within the encampment given the limited options near the site; King County has provided port-a-potties, portable handwashing stations, and a dumpster.” Braddock said.

Braddock and a county spokesperson also said the fence was to limit the size of the encampment as it sits on a parking lot still used by courthouse patrons.

“The City Manager and this current City Council have a habit of deflecting and pushing blame onto others and refusing to take responsibility for the state of the community,” said Moore.

The portable toilet, handwashing, and restrooms cost around $3,338 per week according to the county and the fencing costs $85,000, adding to the tab the county has racked up trying to address homelessness in Burien.

Last year, the county granted $1 million for the creation of a pallet home or tiny home village to house up to 70 people in the city. Moore says, city councilors changed the zoning for the proposed site to prevent the shelter and the county says, because the $1 million went unused, it reallocated the money to the King County Regional Homeless Authority to address homelessness in Southern King County, including outreach, shelter, and housing.

Braddock revealed that an agency hired by Burien to conduct outreach in the city was told by the leaders to not conduct outreach at the Courthouse Encampment.

“It makes absolutely no sense that they would then specifically prohibit that outreach organization to address homelessness in our city, then specify that outreach organization cannot go and engage with the population that the city has had so much consternation with.” Moore said.

A Burien Spokesperson says the city can’t legally authorize outreach to occur on county property and that the county hasn’t responded to the request from Burien.

A county spokesperson says the county would not “be footing the bill” outside of the $1 million already allocated and Braddock wrote in her email “if there are other ways to partner, we are happy to explore those.”

Bailon also called out County Councilor Teresa Mosqueda saying the city “needs assistance from its representative on the King County Council. I ask you directly for your help on this very important issue.”

“We know that this issue is far bigger than one jurisdiction’s borders and we will continue to work in partnership to address the crisis of homelessness across our region and country.” Mosqueda said in a statement.

She points to $20,000 granted to the Highline Methodist Church to operate a day center as part of the assistance, as well as another $1 Million the county provided to Mary’s Place to expand their shelter spaces for Burien residents experiencing homelessness.

Moore says shelters like those are desperately needed. Specialized shelters for women, families, and children are available around the city, but she says not much exists besides that.

“As far as shelter that can accommodate the general population, we have nothing in the immediate surrounding area.” Moore said.

Both the City of Burien and King County exchanged lawsuits around homelessness, with Burien also facing suit from people experiencing homelessness.

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