SEATTLE — Hundreds of asylum-seeking refugees from South America and Africa are now staying at an encampment at Powell Barnett Park in Seattle’s Central District.
Around 200 refugees are at the park, including about a hundred children, and they tell us hundreds more are coming.
It’s a story KIRO 7 has been covering for months.
In 2023 over 600 refugees came to the Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila. Most of them are from Venezuela, Angola and Congo.
Hundreds are still staying in an encampment at the church, the rest are staying at other locations in King County.
In October the City of Tukwila proclaimed a state of emergency to “help address the crisis and raise awareness.”
In January during a cold snap the city assisted some of the refugees with temporary housing at a Kent hotel.
After their stay was supposed to end, these refugees refused to leave and marched on Seattle City Hall. The City of Seattle then assisted them with temporary hotel accommodations.
Since that time, they have been in and out of various King County hotels and once staying temporarily at another encampment in the central district before receiving private money to return to the Kent hotel.
Now that money is gone and the refugees that were staying at the hotel and many others have gathered in Powell Barnett Park.
Meanwhile, we are told grant money from King County is now being used to house some of the refugees.
The Refugee Women’s Alliance recently received grant money from King County and is working in partnership with Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute. LIHI tells KIRO 7 they are moving refugees into 30 Seattle housing units.
Most of those being housed with LIHI are ones currently staying at the church encampment in Tukwila. It’s not clear how or when the many hundreds still in need of temporary housing will receive it.
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